Quin Hillyer, writer and reporter here at the American Spectator, wrote something today that I found astonishing. Rather than argue with him via email, I thought I’d put my argument here at the blog and we can hash it out in public.
Here’s what Quin wrote about the controversial figure Milo Yiannopoulos:
On the other hand, why was Yiannopoulos invited to speak in the first place? Of course he has a right to speak, and a duly constituted student group has a right to invite him. But why, pray tell, were the College Republicans hosting him? Does he really represent Republican values? Sure, he says he is against abortion and against leftist speech codes. But so are many thousands of accomplished speakers who don’t feel the need to insult people gratuitously, transgress norms of discourse just for shock value, and find as many different crass ways to refer to genitalia as a ten-year-old trying haplessly to be included in the cool kids’ club. [Emphasis added.]
Quin, like so many Republicans, doesn’t understand what’s at stake. Genteel and well-mannered until the end, these do-gooders would tsk-tsk the rabble from the outside and continue to lose and lose and lose because they refuse to see the battlefield. Like the British troops against the Americans, they line up against an enemy hoping the other side will follow the rules.
The Left never follows the rules of civil engagement. They don’t follow the rules of civil discourse. They are not tolerant. They are intemperate.
Since they simply won’t be decent, they must be met where they are and either discover the virtues of virtue or reap the consequences of their own boorish behavior.
To be clear: This is NOT eye for an eye. Had the Right been reflexively punitive, there would have been rioting when President Obama won. There’d be braless chicks who strip off their T-shirts in every Democratic hearing and speech. There’d be firebombing, beatings, and mayhem. There wasn’t.
No, to train the Left, there must be boundaries imposed and hypocrisy exposed. The boundaries come in the form of government: removing regulations, reducing bureaucratic control, empowering individuals, enforcing laws, ensuring law and order.
Exposing hypocrisy, though, is best done by individuals. That’s where Milo comes. Milo knows how these close-minded totalitarians work. He knows that all it takes is irreverence, gumption, and a message of freedom to cause chaos within the ideological enemy. It exposes them.
Jesus Christ, in his own mission against the entrenched leadership didn’t just give inspiring speeches and heal people. He went into the teeth of the power center and overturned the money-changers. He exposed their hypocrisy, dramatically and emphatically.
The Right needs to come to terms with how close our culture is to being lost and to recognize what’s at stake. As Margaret Thatcher said this is no time to “go wobbly.” It’s time to turn over the tables and make the Left defend their bigotry. Since they can’t, it’s time to demand that they change.
Right now, there’s no indication that the Left is of a mind to even consider that someone believes differently than them. It will take time. It will take courage.
So defund their ivory towers, undermine their sanctums of lies, and expose their prejudices.
Milo is doing a great public service. It would be nice if folks on the Right would recognize it.
Maybe watch a little bit to get a feel for the “crazy” ideas Milo espouses:
