Why is Milo Yiannopoulos popular among conservatives?
He smashes apart stereotypes.This is the popular stereotype of a conservative:This is Milo:His flamboyancy will slowly make you think: “Hmm, maybe conservatives aren’t a bunch of uneducated cousin screwing rednecks!”. And that is a important first step in having thoughtful dialogue.He’s also gay and married to a black man. This makes it harder for the left to throw out their typical insults such as “racist and homophobe”.He inspires young conservatives.These days coming out as a conservative in a left-wing environment is as hard as coming out as a gay or an atheist in a religious environment. Dare say anything politically incorrect, you lose your job. Wear that Trump hat to school, expect to lose friends. Say you don’t like Islam, you’re blasted as an Islamophobe.We can’t do this as often, but he can. He’s willing to get death threats and being banned from colleges. He gives the middle finger to the regressive left.He’s a troll, and you can’t go after him.People like to watch other people go crazy. Milo does exactly that. He causes SJWs to go swell up like balloons, go riot, or cry because he hurt their feelings. And liberals fail to realize that if you ignore him, he’ll have less time.Together with Ben Shapiro, they make a perfect team. Ben Shapiro may machine-gun out fact backed arguments, but he lacks the charisma and comedy. He more suited for debating against leftist policies and ideas.Milo on the other hand, is the one that breaks apart leftist propaganda machines like most colleges these days. He’s the one who will best help us in the culture wars. But won’t fare well in debates. Put him up against someone like Sam Harris, and he’ll flounder.If we were fighting a literal war against the left, Ben Shapiro’s the guy that fights the battles. Milo’s the one who keeps up the morale.
Is free speech under assault by the far left?
Free speech is always under assault. Everywhere, at every time. Free speech is one of the original dangerous ideas that grew from the Enlightenment and took shape in the newborn American democracy. It’s dangerous because it’s powerful and it also attacks power.No one can enforce a monopoly of ideas where speech is free. Nor a monopoly on political views, religion, or behavior. You can’t force people to obey your state if they can speak freely, and you can’t stifle their anger at oppression. It’s the all-purpose, deck-clearing, lie-destroying, tool of a free people.So yes, people on the far left would love to muffle, and punish, speech they hate. So would people on the far right. And even ordinary vanilla people like us are continually tempted to shut up speakers we dislike, and patrol the airwaves and screens we live among, and create weaselly terms like “hate speech” and “privileged speech” and “platforming” to mask our biases, because there’s nothing more durable than a person’s belief that he or she alone decides the truth. And should be allowed to enforce it.