Reading Milo

Less conservative photo of Milo.

I am in a Facebook discussion about Mr Yiannopoulos.  This time I am in the unusual position of defending the young scamp. I pointed out that if we discounted all Catholics who committed sins of impurity--which IMHO includes the use of a.b.c.--we would have a very small Church indeed. My interlocutor then countered by observing that Catholics who use a.b.c. don't construct an identity based on their sins. After that I was stumped. After all, Mrs Tony Blair, who wrote so frankly about the circumstances that led to her youngest son's accidental-to-her conception, isn't anyone's idea of a Catholic heroine.

Anyway, the point is that Milo has come to the attention of International Traddery, in part because he made a joke about the horrors of having to go to Mass in English. How very Trad: "Wait, is this openly homosexual, potty-mouthed, Greek/Jewish, Cambridge-educated, well-spoken celebrity a proponent of the Traditional Latin Mass? Would he like to come to the next Una Voce meeting? We need a new secretary."

I have receive pro-Milo emails from Polish Pretend Son, who approves very much of Sinéad's thoughts, so congratulations, Sinéad. I have rarely heard or read PPS utter such positive comments about a woman, and they were all inspired by your actual female brain.

Anyway, having received these emails, and  after having looked at dozens of photos of Milo, I decided I should give his oratory another chance. I watched five minutes of a video before getting bored and read this recent Christmas speech. My conclusions are that Milo is really good-looking when he lays off the bleach and that his language is not actually that bad. However, he merely skates across the surface of his subjects, pirouetting here and there.

Milo is very handsome, I have to admit. I would like to sit across from him at a dinner party just for that. However, if I had risked a beating by fellow students just to see him, I would want a bit more depth and a few more laughs. Reading Milo's Minnesota State U. speech, I did laugh two or three times, and as for what LSN assured me was an outrageous misogyny----Sinéad is right. This is a lot less offensive in the UK than Americans would imagine. [Update: B.A. disagrees. He says this word is absolutely vile, misogynist and offensive even in the UK.] Here the worst thing you can call a woman is--believe it or not--a cow (or, more likely, an f***** cow). Here men call only other men by that other C-word--who knows why? It's "cow" that is the deplorable name for a woman. British women burst into tears when called a cow, but as I am a Canadian, the epithet doesn't bother me at all. What really bothers me is being called a liberal feminist, which is no doubt why PPS calls me one so often.

Anyway, Milo starts off his Christmas speech by discussing what happened during his last appearance and, not being Justine, I thought he was moderately amusing about it. Good point about "violent speech". It is true that speech in itself is not violent although I personally draw the line right at "Death to the Enemies of Poland." Although I cheerfully joined in with "Smierć Wrogom Polski" at the Independence Day March, I wouldn't feel comfortable threatening to hang communists or any other  identifiable group from the trees. And frankly, I think Poland's biggest enemies are consumerism and the birth control pill. Let me see.... Estimated Polish Population Growth for 2016: -0.11%. Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Oh look, the UK has a higher birthrate than Poland does. Golly. Goodness me.

The "Why all white men are literally Hitler" joke is amusing because of the oft-misused "literally" and the frequent comparison in the past year of Trump with the German Stalin.

Good point about universities trying to quell freedom of speech by raising security fees.

Does Milo look dangerous to me? No. But he does call his act "The Dangerous Faggot Tour", so he shouldn't complain if somebody thinks he is dangerous.

Good points on advertising  and respect for customers. Good point regarding breakfast cereals; it's a better idea to eat porridge, really. Scrambled eggs are even better.

Wishing people a merry Christmas... On the one hand, that's an easy topic. But on the other hand, I haven't been a student in a politically correct campus for ten years. When my Polish professor complains about politics, I am irritated and bored, but not frightened for my grade. There are no grades. There are no exams. There is only showing up in a Warsaw hospital unaccompanied and having to explain in Polish that one has no Polish insurance. So I grant that university students might enjoy hearing someone on their campus riff on Merry Christmas. Also, it is a handy way of introducing the topic of Christianity. Meanwhile, he is right that normal people just say "Thank you, you too" or (to "I'm Jewish") "Oh, Happy Hanukkah" although I believe my mother--who lives on the eastern border of the biggest Jewish neighbourhood in Canada--says, "Have a merry Christmas anyway."

I laughed at the Hillary Christmas Card joke.

Hong Kong is a bad example because actually what is going on there IS diversity. It is, however, natural diversity driven by fashion and interests, not a forced thou-shalt-not-sing-Hark-the-Herald-Angels-Sing-in-Yon-Publicly-Funded-School.

The Ebeneezer Award stories were very interesting. The Starbucks story is a decent canary-in-the-mineshaft, but my reaction, when that canary croaked, was to say that nobody should be drinking their overpriced swill anyway. It's undrinkable without milk, and personally I don't like having to pay £3 for a cup of hot milk.

I personally would not joke about dreadlocked lesbian baristas having their throats cut.

I am not so sure of his sacramental theology. Twelfth century sounds awfully late to me. Amusing about Christmas parties although I do not know what "having a train run" on you "by six drug dealers" means. Probably something very bad. [Update: I have just been informed via combox it is very bad indeed.]

Good points about Scrooge. Prosperity gospel is a Protestant heresy, but he's probably kidding. I think he's quite right about capitalism fostering charity. Lightly-taxed Americans are much more charitable then heavily-taxed Canadians. Amusing point about young people and Amazon which speaks to my current predicament. Good point on the media being stupid about religion, and good reference to David French.

As for the gay jokes, well. He refers to himself as "Mrs", which is an appropriation of female privilege which sits ill on someone about to mock a "transgender" guy. He jokes that he has a complicated relationship with Santa, but as he mentions his sins, this could merely mean he's on the naughty list. Saying he's not a cheap date--well, I was never a cheap date either. I think I ate two whole student loans at fancy restaurants. Saying he was destined to  go to Mankato because there is a MAN in the name.... Okay, that's not Catholic humour. When Milo takes over Courage, he won't say things like that anymore. Meanwhile, I suspect the train thing is extremely rude and that if I made a joke like that, I would get a furious email from Polish Pretend Son.

This brings us to the subject of Milo's persona. I am hoping against hope that Milo's jokes about his love life are just jokes because he cannot plead invincible ignorance. If he claims to be a conservative and a Catholic, he knows the rules. But whether they are jokes or not, I suspect that they are a rhetorical device. After all, Milo says that if he "took a straight pill", his career would be over. Milo thinks he "gets away with it" because he is openly gay. However, if you read unflattering in-depth pieces about Milo, like this one, not only do you come to my first conclusion that Milo is a very naughty boy, but that he thinks so too. "I'm seven," he says. "It's my [unique selling point]."

Full disclosure: I don't agree with the Bloomsberg article on the so-called European so-called "far right." "Far right," I have been credibly told, is merely an insult. And certainly it is mad to think that Nigel Farage is "far right" or even that Geert Wilders is "far right." "Far right" is merely a synonym for "literally Hitler". Neither of those men is anything like Hitler. Nigel Farage gave up leading UKIP as soon as the UK voted for Brexit. His work there was done. And Geert Wilders is merely a Dutchman who wants Holland to be free and safe to live in; his political idol is apparently Margaret Thatcher. I'm sure people would love to call the late Baroness Thatcher "far right", but that would leach the words "far" and "right" of any meaning whatsoever--besides "I hate him/her", that is.