My Thoughts on Milo

I�ve noticed that the majority of my recent articles have pertained to a certain controversial figure in our society right now: Donald Trump. And as I thought about it, the average reader of this blog probably has heard plenty about Mr. Trump and that�s probably the last thing they want to read about. This man has single-handedly overwhelmed every facet of our lives with his bizarre presence, so I decided that I�m not going to let his actions dictate my writing. In this way I can both protest him and give you, the reader, a break from the constant circus of his presidency. Now, I�m not going to act like he does not exist. If something comes up in his presidency that demands me to write about it, I will not hesitate. But we all need a break from this routine of eccentricity and take a look at what else is going on in the world.

            It was at this point in the writing process where I feverishly picked up my phone and began looking for events where I could provide my opinion. To my dismay, almost every news outlet imaginable only had articles on Trump and out of frustration I was ready to click the �backspace� button on my keyboard and completely scrap the first paragraph and dive back into Trump-related commentary. Luckily, before I could do such a thing I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the trending section on Facebook. I proceeded to click on what I saw and behold the headline read: �Milo Yiannopolous Resigns from Breitbart after Underage Sex Comments.�

            I had found my story.

            If you are not familiar with Milo Yiannopolous allow me to provide some history. Milo (as he calls himself) is a gay British journalist and is the unofficial face of the alt-right movement that helped You-Know-Who get elected President. He is a man surrounded by controversy and rightfully so as a result of his comments that slammed feminism, the LGBT community, and groups like Black Lives Matter. His speeches delivered at universities across America have generated massive protests, most notably the riot at UC Berkeley earlier this month which actually prevented him from speaking. While I do not agree with what those rioters did, I understand their frustration and anger towards this man who spews hateful rhetoric and attacks people from his podium.

            Now I could address this issue in a smug manner and criticize Milo and mock his downfall, but I�m not going to. I happened to watch Real Time with Bill Maher last week on HBO and none other than Milo was a guest on the show and was involved in a panel. I was hoping that the panel would make a fool of Milo and expose him as the fear-monger that I believed him to be.

            To my surprise, that did not happen. While he did have some tense encounters (particularly with Larry Wilmore on the subject of transgender bathroom rights) he never lost his cool. I found myself laughing and oddly relaxed as I watched the panel discuss important issues in a casual manner. Bill Maher did a good job of providing balance to the conversation and being critical and supportive of both sides on various topics. I was ready for a fight as I sat down to watch the show, but I stood up surprisingly refreshed at the civil discourse that I had just witnessed. In a way, the discussion brought about the human side to the hateful machine that I believed Milo to be.

            So as I saw this headline I almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. I still hold a dislike for him, and his comments about underage sex certainly do not improve his image. But I hope he rebounds. And if he does, I hope that he will mature and act the way he did on Real Time and not the way he did on Twitter when he claimed that Leslie Jones (an actress and comedian on SNL) was �barely literate.�

            There is hope for him. In a press conference on Tuesday Yiannopolous said, �I�ve never been more sorry about anything in my whole life,� in response to the firestorm over his comments. So maybe this event will be sobering to his personality and he can find a way to bounce back as a reasonable political figure and change his rhetoric. With that said, if he does not change I will continue to loath him and remain outspoken against his actions. We will see what happens.