How is Milo Yiannopoulos even funny

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:38 am

Even from a comedy standpoint, idgi. He talks a lot about how liberals are censorsing comedy and making certain jokes off limits (and personally, I don't think any subject should be off limits for jokes, but things like "I hope you get raped lol" or "women are stupid" aren't jokes), but most of the time what he's doing is just bog-standard bullying, not comedy. Like this incident where he mercilessly mocked a trans student in front of thousands of her peers while live-streamed on Breitbart:

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/12/mil ... milwaukee/

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:04 pm

A lot of comedians these days seem to be hiding behind "free speech" to distract from shitty views they hold.

And I say this about several comedians I otherwise like- Milo isn't one of them and just seems like a piece of shit in general.

Cassius Clay · Post by **Cassius Clay** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:43 pm

Comedy should be used to uphold the truth, or make painful truths more tolerable. Piece-of-shit comedians tend to use comedy to obscure truth and promote dangerous lies.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:15 pm

He's a "provocateur", not a comedian. He makes people laugh by shocking and offending other people, not by being funny.

I haven't listened to him much, but from what I can tell he doesn't have any natural wit or sense of comedy at all. He just says stupid things and smirks when people get angry. I don't even see the point of him.

phe_de · Post by **phe_de** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:50 pm

Adelaide Kramer has issues.

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:39 am

Adelaide Kramer has issues.

Honestly, as someone who recently got outed to about a thousand people by accident because a stranger posted a screenshot sent to them from a private whatsapp group chat to their very popular FB to mock, and my name was the only one they missed blanking out, I actually thought the rage in that letter was completely proportionate and personally cathartic for all the swearing I didn't do that day. What Kramer experienced was many scales of magnitude worse than what I went through. Apart from that letter, I don't know enough about Kramer to say either way.

But even if that were the case, it's still no excuse for what Milo did. Even if Kramer were a severely mentally ill student, there is absolutely no justification for a famous rich dude mocking a vulnerable person on a public, nationwide platform and painting them as a dangerous pervert - which could very well endanger their life. The same would apply to anybody who isn't a public figure. If Milo were to discover an embarrassing photo of you and project it on the screen with your name in front of tens of thousands as he made fun of your worst insecurities just to get laughs, it would be just as despicable.

Comedy should be used to uphold the truth, or make painful truths more tolerable.

Yep. It's one reason I'm strongly against any subject being off limits for comedy; I've seen hilarious rape jokes that targeted rapists and society's attitude to rape, and ended up empowering rather than further wounding their victims.

Monk · Post by **Monk** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 2:27 am

I got great satisfaction when Larry Wilmore told him to fuck off the other night on Bill Maher. I think what pisses me off about him is that I'm sure he knows the stuff he is spewing is complete and utter bullshit, but it gets him clicks and attention. He's a troll to the extreme.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 2:58 am

So what did you think of him on Bill Maher last night? Both what happened and the fact that he was invited in the first place.

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 6:44 am

I think what pisses me off about him is that I'm sure he knows the stuff he is spewing is complete and utter bullshit, but it gets him clicks and attention.

this. It was clearest during his GamerGate phase, given that previously he used to mock gamers all the time as ugly pathetic losers who smell bad and can't get laid. But then he was offered a soapbox for his misogyny, and suddenly he's their champion and they're all fawning over him.

On one hand it says something about humanity that someone can get rich and famous just by insulting people, or have your name almost instantly splashed in newspapers across the globe if you, say, go shoot up a school or something, or how if you spend over a year spouting the most outrageous lies and hatred and ignorance and bragging about sexual assault you might just end up elected President of the United States, and maybe that's one of the statements he's trying to make. He's still a sociopath.

EDIT: wtf his book was top of Amazon's bestseller list

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:08 am

Milo deserves the Richard Spencer treatment. Seriously, fuck their so-called "free speech," all they're doing is fanning the flames of anarchy and inciting violence. Somebody should give Milo a good 5-minute ass-kicking and then post it online. I bet he'd shut up for at least a year.

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:48 am

lol someone compared him to George Carlin. yeeeah no.

Cassius Clay · Post by **Cassius Clay** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:26 am

Maher compared him to Hitchens and I almost threw up. Hitchens was a piece of shit in a few ways, but he was charming, witty as fuck, had a very sharp mind, a scary command of the English language, and had a healthy skepticism/disrespect of authority(not just empty-headed contrarianism). Milo is a wannabe...a try-hard contrarian piece of shit. I was surprised by how angry I got when Maher said that dumb shit. I didn't realize how much I respected Hitchens until such a blasphemous comparison was made.

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:29 am

I hate Hitchens and had a similar albeit much less drastic reaction.

I got great satisfaction when Larry Wilmore told him to fuck off the other night on Bill Maher.

Just watched that. It was very satisfying.

I'm fairly certain about where he got that inaccurate stat about trans people being disproportionately involved in sex crimes; can't remember if it was Breitbart or elsewhere that made that claim with links to news articles supposedly filled with examples of transgender sex offenders. But the examples they gave were of sex offenders who:
- collected pieces of women's clothing, particularly lingerie, from their victims or otherwise because they got off to that
- occasionally cross-dressed for sexual purposes
- liked watching trans porn
- had expressed sexual interest in transgender women

These were all used to claim that these people were transgender, which. wtf.

Post by **aels** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:37 pm

Apparently Maher said '“If Mr. Yiannopoulos is indeed the monster [man who didn't want to appear with him, Scahill] claims—and he might be—nothing could serve the liberal cause better than having him exposed on Friday night." Except... we don't need to know any more about Yiannopoulos than we already know. We know who he is and what he believes. You can type his name into Google, congratz u have exposed a monster. You are not serving the liberal cause by legitimising a fuckface.

Eva Yojimbo · Post by **Eva Yojimbo** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:40 pm

I've never watched/read him without rolling my eyes and completely, utterly failing to laugh. I think Monk nailed it by calling him a troll, and not a particularly good/clever one from what I've seen. I am interested in seeing him on Maher.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:13 pm

I mean, considering the fact that his whole shtick is to piss people off, I'm pretty sure Larry Wilmore just gave him exactly what he wants, so... yeah, no, it didn't give me much satisfaction. Larry Wilmore is a fucking idiot.

Maher compared him to Hitchens and I almost threw up. Hitchens was a piece of shit in a few ways, but he was charming, witty as fuck, had a very sharp mind, a scary command of the English language, and had a healthy skepticism/disrespect of authority(not just empty-headed contrarianism). Milo is a wannabe...a try-hard contrarian piece of shit. I was surprised by how angry I got when Maher said that dumb shit. I didn't realize how much I respected Hitchens until such a blasphemous comparison was made.

Ikr? That was exactly my reaction. I was just completely dumbfounded that he actually said that. What an unbelievably stupid person. I can't believe I was offended on Christopher Hitchens' behalf.

Eva Yojimbo · Post by **Eva Yojimbo** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:35 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote: Larry Wilmore is a fucking idiot.

What makes you say this? When it was still on I thought his Nightly Show was better than the Noah Daily Show.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:55 pm

Well, because he took Milo's bait. Milo said that for no other reason than to get a rise out of someone, and Larry just delivered exactly what he wanted. That's always been Milo's playbook, as anyone who researches him for five minutes would know. Did Larry not know who he was before he went on, or did he just not care? The only reason Milo has any power or influence at all is because people like Larry keep giving him some. He's basically a vampire; he feeds off the negative attention he receives, and if he can't get any he'll burn up.

Milo shouldn't be getting college and talk show invites in the first place, but now that he is, the way to defeat or shrink him is not to display outrage, but to brutalize him in debate. Interrogate him and very calmly yet ruthlessly destroy all his "points", such as they are. This should be really, really, really easy to do. Show him and everyone else just how empty he really is. Show people that there's just nothing to him at all. If people actually challenged him continuously, he'll lose his aura very quickly.

The Nightly Show was a mixed bag. Parts of it were very good and necessary, but often his guests stated frankly horrifying opinions with usually no pushback. Like that one panel with Bill Nye or that one panel where almost everyone agreed that people should beat their kids more. I'm not going to praise a show which helps spreads opinions like that.

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:59 pm

I didn't understand the outrage over the Bill Nye panel, other than how it made him look bad when he struggled with easy questions like "Why should anyone care about water on Mars?", as if that wasn't a valid thing to ask.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 6:18 pm

He spent like two minutes answering that...

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 6:43 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:He spent like two minutes answering that...

And if he had done a good job the million think-pieces about that episode would have been about that and how awesomely he explained the significance of water on Mars instead of how he was "disrespected" by the panelists.

I mean I like Bill Nye and I agree NASA is important, but it wasn't his finest moment. The "less than half" quip was pretty good though.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:04 pm

He did a good job. It doesn't matter what the think-pieces say. He got the point across, I'm not sure what else you're wanting.

phe_de · Post by **phe_de** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:25 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:Milo shouldn't be getting college and talk show invites in the first place, but now that he is, the way to defeat or shrink him is not to display outrage

Good advice. Too bad Adelaide Kramer didn't follow it.

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:31 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:He did a good job. It doesn't matter what the think-pieces say. He got the point across, I'm not sure what else you're wanting.

I just think if he had strongly had gotten the point across that's what would dominated discussions about that episode.

We may just have to agree to disagree.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:51 pm

I'm just gonna say that I feel pretty proud of myself for having no clue who Milo Yiannopoulos, Adelaide Kramer, or Larry Wilmore are.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:27 pm

Gendo wrote:I'm just gonna say that I feel pretty proud of myself for having no clue who Milo Yiannopoulos, Adelaide Kramer, or Larry Wilmore are.

On the one hand, good for you. On the other hand, you are missing out on some quality outrage/ranting/raving.

Post by **OpiateOfTheMasses** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:30 pm

Gendo wrote:I'm just gonna say that I feel pretty proud of myself for having no clue who Milo Yiannopoulos, Adelaide Kramer, or Larry Wilmore are.

I was reading through this thread thinking "I have no idea who any of these people are". I'm glad it's not just me.

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:23 am

the way to defeat or shrink him is not to display outrage, but to brutalize him in debate. Interrogate him and very calmly yet ruthlessly destroy all his "points", such as they are.

I thought that's what Wilmore did, actually. He came across as calmly matter of fact rather than emotional, which made his insult all the better.

Good advice. Too bad Adelaide Kramer didn't follow it.

The outrage wasn't directed at Milo. Either way, while I usually kind of like respectability politics, this is an excellent example of when being unrespectable was wholly justified. Milo endangered her life and humiliated her in front of the country. Kramer can swear as much as she likes.

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:42 am

Gendo wrote:I'm just gonna say that I feel pretty proud of myself for having no clue who Milo Yiannopoulos, Adelaide Kramer, or Larry Wilmore are.

I didn't know the second two until this week. Yiannopoulos is a senior editor at Breitbart and spokesman for the alt-right. He finds it hilarious that it's so easy to offend people, because it's 'just words'. So he goes all out on that front, being a fountain of egregious misogyny, racism, and all those other things, delighting in crossing all the lines, sometimes targeting specific individuals because it brings joy to his heart to see them upset by 'just words'. Got banned from Twitter after rallying people to spam Leslie Jones with racist tweets. Fancies himself the ultimate troll. Basically got famous by bullying people under the guise of caring deeply about 'free speech'. He probably doesn't believe most of the things he says, but many of his followers do.

The question is how to counter him. Getting outraged only fuels him, because he loves the attention. Ignoring him while he hurts people is ethically uncomfortable. What DA suggests is probably best.

...oh wow he just got disinvited from CPAC.

"The event organizers disinvited Yiannopoulos after video clips surfaced in which the right-wing celebrity appeared to defend pedophilia"

HAHAHAHAHA
He said his comments were taken out of context, and it looks like they were, but I think they just needed a good excuse to disinvite him without admitting they shouldn't have invited him to begin with.

though tbh I was actually slightly looking forward to the prospect of Mike Pence having to hear him speak.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:06 am

Also he just lost his book deal:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/ ... ng-outcry/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Breitbart is making noises about dropping him:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/201 ... s.amp.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:10 am

lol yes I just came here to post that.

To quote a reddit commenter: "I am nearly overwhelmed with schadenfreude."

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:17 am

So, in America:

white supremacy = okay

misogyny = okay

transphobia = okay

advocating child molestation = not okay

Got it.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:24 am

Anakin McFly wrote:To quote a reddit commenter: "I am nearly overwhelmed with schadenfreude."

I'm so happy I could crap myself.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:25 am

Derived Absurdity wrote:So, in America:

white supremacy = okay

misogyny = okay

transphobia = okay

advocating child molestation = not okay

Got it.

This is a supremely stupid country.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:35 am

Also, apparently the POTUS is allowed to commit fraud, sexual assault, and treason as long as he's a Republican, but a British homosexual can't discuss his own trauma without consequences. To be honest, I almost feel sorry for the little twerp.

...almost.

Post by **aels** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:07 am

Chuckles_Otoole wrote:Also he just lost his book deal:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/ ... ng-outcry/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Breitbart is making noises about dropping him:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/201 ... s.amp.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

nyahahahahaaaa

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:17 am

Derived Absurdity wrote:So, in America:

white supremacy = okay

misogyny = okay

transphobia = okay

advocating child molestation = not okay

Got it.

you left out grabbing women by the pussy = okay

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:48 am

But they let him do it!!

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:24 am

Someone pointed out how his name will now be forever associated with pedophilia.

The more I think about it, the more gloriously fitting it is that his comments were taken out of context to paint him as a sex predator, because that's exactly what he regularly did with trans people and Muslims. I doubt it would permanently taint him in the same way, because most people seem to agree that he wasn't actually supporting pedophilia, but it's great to have an easy excuse to stop him from speaking in public again.

We just had a sermon at church about loving one's enemies, but I'll repent when I'm done enjoying this. :|

Cassius Clay · Post by **Cassius Clay** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:51 pm

Coincidentally, I was going to make a post about this very thing when people were recently saying Milo should be allowed to spread hate at colleges because "free speech" and "market of ideas blah blah". Someone made the point somewhere that all these people defending Milo's speech(and saying we shouldn't punch Nazis) wouldn't be doing so if he was going to colleges advocating for pedophilia. Yet pedophilia is as morally repugnant as Nazism/white supremacy. That suggests that people don't think white supremacy is that big a deal. They think it's bad, but not that bad.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:31 pm

It just proves that everyone is willing to draw red lines somewhere. The fact that you aren't willing to draw it at white supremacy and transphobia (Milo), Nazism (Spencer), or nationalism (Trump) doesn't prove that you have no red lines and that you support "free speech" in all cases (as stupid as that would be), just that you don't think those things are a big deal.

Eva Yojimbo · Post by **Eva Yojimbo** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:51 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:Well, because he took Milo's bait.

Fair enough. I haven't seen the ep. but I may check it out soon.

Derived Absurdity wrote:Milo shouldn't be getting college and talk show invites in the first place, but now that he is, the way to defeat or shrink him is not to display outrage, but to brutalize him in debate. Interrogate him and very calmly yet ruthlessly destroy all his "points", such as they are. This should be really, really, really easy to do. Show him and everyone else just how empty he really is. Show people that there's just nothing to him at all. If people actually challenged him continuously, he'll lose his aura very quickly.

I agree in principle, but in reality I think we both know that isn't going to happen. Controversy has "sold" since... well, since forever, and as long as it sells there will always be people out there taking advantage of it. You might be right, though, that certain people like Maher/Wilmore and most colleges should know better.

Derived Absurdity wrote:The Nightly Show was a mixed bag. Parts of it were very good and necessary, but often his guests stated frankly horrifying opinions with usually no pushback. Like that one panel with Bill Nye or that one panel where almost everyone agreed that people should beat their kids more. I'm not going to praise a show which helps spreads opinions like that.

I was typically more interested in his other segments than his panel discussions, which I tend to find annoying in general due to how much interruptions and talking over/past people takes place, and how moderators almost never do their fucking job in not allowing that to happen. I did see that Nye segment and agree with you on how frustrating it was. I missed the "beating kids more" thing, though.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:57 pm

According to a random Facebook post, he just resigned from Breitbart.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:06 pm

Here it is on the Washington Post website:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... h-is-over/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:10 pm

I have to say, I am thrilled to pieces.

Free speech is not a sufficient argument for the behavior of people like Milo Yiannopoulos. Milo is what an Internet troll looks like in the real world if they actually get paid to behave that way. He incites violence and then laughs and wafts his palms and says "all in good fun." It's not okay, and I hope more people like him begin suffering real-world consequences.

Next on the list: Rush Limbaugh.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:41 pm

I guess in interests of fairness, I have to present Milo's comments on this whole thing on Twitter. He makes some good points:

https://twitter.com/account/suspended

Anakin McFly · Post by **Anakin McFly** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 1:40 am

According to a random Facebook post, he just resigned from Breitbart.

there is a God.

I'm currently debating a Milo fan who's been trying very hard to convince their depressed and possibly suicidal trans sister not to transition and to instead seek a 'natural cure' of exercise, meditation, no drugs, and a clean diet, because of blatantly false views that Milo has been instrumental in popularising - that trans people are all disturbed sex perverts, and 'the majority' of them regret transition* and go on to kill themselves. It's very possible this has led to deaths elsewhere. I am very glad to see his platforms drying up.

*the largest study on transition regret covered 767 trans people who transitioned from 1960-2010. Regret rate was 2.2%, hardly a majority, and has been declining steadily over time as social acceptance increases. Transition is meanwhile the key factor in drastically reducing suicidal ideation and has been shown to significantly improve mental health in over 70 studies done on the subject.

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 1:57 am

Glad to see Milo is losing a platform.

I wonder how Bill Maher is feeling right about now.

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:25 am

Derived Absurdity wrote:I guess in interests of fairness, I have to present Milo's comments on this whole thing on Twitter. He makes some good points:

https://twitter.com/account/suspended

Chuckles_Otoole · Post by **Chuckles_Otoole** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:29 am

Raxivace wrote:Glad to see Milo is losing a platform.

I wonder how Bill Maher is feeling right about now.

I'm pretty sure it's no coincidence that the week after Milo appeared on "Real Time" and got ranked out on national television, his whole works has gone kaboom. This was a public execution. Not sorry, but not surprised either.