Posted on 02/23/2017 9:32:07 AM PST by Kaslin
I had never heard of Milo Yiannopoulos until recently, perhaps because I don't visit some of the websites where his musings are published.
Milo, as he calls himself because of the difficulty some have pronouncing his last name, was disinvited from this week's Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC), the annual gathering of the right in Washington. Apparently the organizers were not bothered by Milo's association with the so-called "alt-right." CPAC withdrew the invitation only after a video surfaced showing him apparently endorsing man-boy relationships that qualify under the definition of pedophilia. Yiannopoulos has resigned as an editor at Breitbart.com and apologized for his remarks.
The editors of National Review, as well as other traditional conservative publications and individuals, criticized CPAC for inviting Yiannopoulos to speak. The conservatism of Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr. and Ronald Reagan was about ideas, not emotion and exclusion. Reagan, whom the modern right likes to claim as one of its own, was an optimist. Even when he criticized the left's policies, he almost always presented a superior alternative. He wanted to attract as many people to his worldview as possible by winning the argument and converting opponents, whom he always regarded as fellow Americans and "friends," even when he disagreed with them.
Today, conservatism has become known in the eyes of many for what and who it is against, not what and who it is for. Yes, part of this is due to media stereotyping, but not all. Traditional conservatism has been a positive "we can do better," an inspiring and uplifting philosophy that motivates rather than denigrates.
In his 1993 book "The Politics of Prudence," Russell Kirk set down principles he believed should define conservatism. Among them were the following: an enduring moral order; an adherence to custom, convention and continuity guided by the principle of prudence; the principle of imperfectability, meaning we don't look to government to create perfect men and women, or a perfect society, thus rejecting utopianism; the belief that freedom and property are closely linked; conservatives uphold voluntary community and reject involuntary collectivism; the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions; permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.
That last one bears elaboration, and Kirk offers it.
"The conservative knows that any healthy society is influenced by two forces, which Samuel Taylor Coleridge called its Permanence and its Progression. The Permanence of a society is formed by those enduring interests and convictions that give us stability and continuity; without that Permanence, the fountains of the great deep are broken up, society slipping into anarchy. The Progression in a society is that spirit and that body of talents which urge us on to prudent reform and improvement; without that Progression, a people stagnate."
One sees this in the debate over the Constitution between liberals, who believe it to be a "living" document, subject to constant change and updating, and conservatives, who believe it a rock of stability that serves as a guide even in the face of rapid technological and cultural change. Just as a GPS must have a starting point in order to arrive at an intended destination, so too must America have a source from which it can plot its direction and not get lost on the journey.
In 1962, William F. Buckley Jr. denounced the John Birch Society as "far removed from common sense" and urged the Republican Party to purge the movement from its ranks. So too must today's conservatives separate themselves from the "alt-right" white supremacists and anti-Semites and reclaim traditional conservatism as the authentic brand.
Conservatives can win elections and govern without beyond-the-fringe types like Milo Yiannopoulos. If they can't, they don't deserve to win.
“Nobody made Milo anything, besides Milo. This is just another Low T cuck trying to kick a guy while he’s down because the cuck is jealous of Milo’s charisma and fan base. Nothing more.”
I think that is an accurate statement. I’m pretty sure that Milo does not consider himself a conservative - thought he clearly said that recently on Maher’s show when he was introduced.
“What Happened to Conservative Optimism?”
Too many RINOs in Congressional leadership positions.
>He’s right. I don’t understand the rush to make Milo the poster boy for conservatism. Virtue signalling to the left (Look we can have gays make out onstage AND be a conservative! We aren’t homophobic!) accomplishes nothing.
Milo’s not a poster boy for conservatives. He is however a great weapon against the left. If want to continue winning we need to punish our enemies and not attack our allies at the media’s bidding.
Well lets see, Milo is a fag. Fags do things that I disagree with.
Secondly, Trump was largely a backlash against the all encompassing evil of PC. He smashed political correctness in the mouth the day he announced he was running, and he’s been #1 since. We will NEVER win anything if “our” opinions our considered outside of legitimate discourse like they are on campus.
This guy LEADS that fight on the ground. LEADS IT!
and......he’s a total whoopsie.
“There envy is filthy. They reek of it.”
It has opened people’s eyes to how much the conservative establishment has utterly failed the right. And how so much of the “conservative media” was just a paper tiger
My opinion: Milo was quite the oddity, and despite being invited for the keynote at CPAC (absolutely one of the most stupid things ever) was “tolerated” by conservatives who do not have the reaction (that they are perfectly entitled to AFAIC) on homosexuality. Me? I really do not want to know about his or anyone elses’ proclivities.
He was NEVER a “hero”.
He tickled the dragon’s tail and got his face smashed in. Them’s the breaks. I wasn’t interested in his ascendency and I’m not too interested in his decline. I think there are more important things to deal with. In fact I think almost anything in the universe is a more important thing.
Post of the day! My sentiments exactly.
Undisputed, but the root of that was embracing divorce and remarriage, not gays. Let me know when conservatives start pushing back and attacking people who get divorced the way they attack Milo.
>That’s not conservatism. If you like liberal cultural values, you aren’t a conservative.
Just because someone isn't a Conservative doesn't mean we can't make common cause with them against our enemies. That's how political coalitions win.
>And the rejection of Milo shows the importance of reclaiming conservatism as an intellectual and moral force.
Huh? Intellectual conservatism spent the last 2 years trying to get Hillary Clinton elected(Looking at you Little Benji and NRO). The intellectual conservative movement has been exposed as a fraud and won't regain it's power anytime soon. Morally D. Trump did more to protect and promote Christians and Christian values than any of the moralizes on the right has done in the last 20 years. Moral posturing is over, and group promotion and protection is the future.
>Tradition and core values matter - more than ever.
Sure, that's what I heard from the rats who worked endlessly against Trump. How about instead of attacking our allies we work to restore traditional values in our churches? Trump's promoting Christianity as the future of the nation because the church itself is overrun with progressiveness and degeneracy.
Thank you. I realized early on in the election cycle that I do not wish to be called a conservative or align myself with them. I am an American. Nationalist is a good term.
The “conservatives” now support globalism, the Chamber of Commerce, unlimited free trade and open borders. The proof of that is Ryan, Romney, Beck, Levin, Cruz, et al.
Milo has never billed himself as a conservative, he is for freedom - free speech, less government, borders. He points out the fallacy of the feminist movement, the social justice warriors, the pc environment and demands people think.
+1
The title of this thread has little nor nothing to do with the Milo saga, which as I posted upthread, I do not believe much of anyone cared about.
“Conservative enthusiasm” IMO has been badly eroded by the realization that; instead of having a tiny (yet not benign) fringe of political and Union-based operatives dedicated to a communist/Marxist takeover of the country as in the 40’s and 50’s...instead of having a bunch of Carter-era goofballs who wanna burn flags and that type of thing....that after 8 years of a viciously anti-American president who laid waste to as many American traditions as possible during his exhaustive tenure....that we now find ourselves with 30+% of the country who just simply hates this place and wants to burn the thing down. Not interested in cooperating, just interested in revenge and destruction.
It is like the realization that instead of having a faucet leak, someone has ripped out the entire plumbing of your house and you have a multi-year grim, expensive and dirty job in front of you and you won’t be able to flush your freaking toilet until you pay the money and do the work and chase the whole thing down.
He's somebody who would prefer to lose, than be less than "pure" in his conservatism. I'm not. I will ally myself with whoever I need to, in order to stop the Left from enslaving my kids and grandkids.
I have to agree. Not addressed here is that, at least on paper, Milo agrees with the main, non-negotiable tenet of civilization: He announces freely that he's a sinner, and is not vague about it like someone who is just "virtue-signalling." He's willing to cite you chapter and verse as to why the statement is true. He's not only brilliant at skewering the hypocrisy of the totalitarian snowflakes, he's humble about himself. Meanwhile, it's our lookout to bear in mind that he's still obviously a work in progress.
It's a tenet of real conservatism that you accept sincere conversions to reality and work with those people in line with their capabilities. I thought CPAC was stupid in making him keynoter and also in the way they turned around and flushed him out completely. But I know the politics within the organization are tumultuous and incoherent at times. (Log Cabins yes, but Milo no?)
I feel the same. I listened to some self described “traditional conservative” on Fox earlier today lamenting the growth of protectionism and xenophobia in the conservative movement. The fact that “traditional conservatives” have not done much of anything to stop liberalism in the past few decades seems to escape these great thinkers. President Trump may not be a “traditional conservative” but I suspect that he may do more to advance generally conservative positions in his first year than all the “traditional conservatives” have done in the last 20.
Cal Thomas, Bill Kristol, George Will - all showing their true allegiances...
None of what you said is accurate. He was never a poster-boy, he was actually taking the fight to the left. None of his support had anything to do with virtue-signaling, it was substance based.
I too am a Nationalist. Face it Conservationism is dying on the vine and hasn’t helped anyone since 1988. There is not a single “conservative” that has gotten anything done since then but to opine and get rich.
People like Milo, Mike Cernovich, Paul Joseph Watson and Trump are doing the heavy lifting. They are reaching disaffected Democrats and youth. The Republican party either grows in a new direction or we all fall to the sword of Globalism.
Oh brother, and Reagan said “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” I think that is the most insulting thing about that group using Reagan in their name. To my knowledge, Milo stayed to attacking the left for their illegal activities and stupid politically correct hypocrisy. He’s been more of republican than many I’ve seen boasting that he should have never been allowed to speak for us.
Real good comment, VanDeLoik
Thanks, poconopundit!
For people reading this thread, and want a sample of the type of content that exist in the alternative media world where Milo exist, and why these types of voices need to be promoted, here is just a partial list of the channels I’m subscribed to on YouTube. I will put up a full list in a few days under my About Me page!
Rebel Media (Canada)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGy6uV7yqGWDeUWTZzT3ZEg
Sargon of Akkad (England)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-yewGHQbNFpDrGM0diZOLA
Stefan Molyneux (Canada)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC3L8QaxqEGUiBC252GHy3w
On the Offensive (England)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcrgJyI1bSysVE92HPpNNiw
Dave Cullen (Ireland)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT9D87j5W7PtE7NHOR5DUOQ
Black Pigeon Speaks (Canadian based in Japan)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmrLCXSDScliR7q8AxxjvXg
Terrence Popp (Retired American vet)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwd_sSDZ8EQt6SEeOO2tBRA
Mister Metokur (American)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfYbb7nga6-icsFWWgS-kWw
SkepTorr (Israel)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDWmp9u3xBGwFR1iEIeEyOg
Rocking MrE (Wales)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzOnXvfwc32YEiwTe_8Nf-g
Chris Ray Gun (American)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCctjGdm2NlMNzIlxz02IsXA
Some Black Guy (American)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7e57qWIEAZTQAaFwHpKdlw
Benard Chapin (American)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr3qf3JVwW_41j4LUQZtu9Q
HoneyBadgerRadio (Canada-UK-US)
https://www.youtube.com/user/HoneyBadgerRadio
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