Matt Lewis
MATT LEWIS
02.20.17 7:55 PM ET
The Breitbart provocateur’s invitation to speak at CPAC—since rescinded, along with his book deal—tells you all you need to know about the state of American conservatism.
BIGGEST TENT
Why Conservatives Fell for Milo Yiannopoulos
The Breitbart provocateur’s invitation to speak at CPAC—since rescinded, along with his book deal—tells you all you need to know about the state of American conservatism.
Matt Lewis
MATT LEWIS
02.20.17 7:55 PM ET
A few years ago, conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly sat alone at a booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) exhibition area.
Hundreds and probably thousands of people―most of them young―stampeded past her, not giving her so much as a glance or even recognizing her.
How could they overlook the woman who helped propel Barry Goldwater’s presidential nomination with her best-selling self-published book A Choice Not an Echo, and who a decade later almost single-handedly stopped the seemingly inevitable Equal Rights Amendment?
The parade had passed her by because even a conservative parade craves novelty. What headline have you made lately? Even a CPAC―maybe especially a CPAC (or, at least, the people who run it)―craves novelty and momentary celebrity over real quality or achievement.
Which is why Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos was invited to speak at the 2017 CPAC. Invited, that is, until he wasn’t.
CPAC is, by far, the largest gathering of conservatives every year. Thousands of young conservatives will flock to National Harbor in Maryland this week to hear speeches from conservative luminaries. What started as a small meeting of conservatives four decades ago (where Ronald Reagan was among the first to accept a speaking invitation) has turned into a huge annual spectacle.
Over the years, however, Reagan gave way to Ann Coulter (and a kid named Jonathan Krohn... and Sarah Palin with a Big Gulp...). Coulter gave way to Donald Trump. And then, for a few moments this week... Yiannopoulos.
Yiannopoulos is depraved and decadent. Ultimately, he was done in by videos that surfaced with him proudly praising sex between boys and older men, as well as him speaking highly of a priest who allegedly had sex with him when he was underage: “I wouldn’t give nearly such good head if it wasn’t for him,” he jokes. In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Yiannopoulos rationalized the sexual encounter, saying: “It was perfectly consensual. When I was the [sic] 14, I was the predator.”
(It’s worth noting that he denies that he supports pedophilia. But he defines pedophilia as an “ attraction to children who have not reached puberty.” In other words, “Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old, who is sexually mature.”
Yiannopoulos told The Daily Beast that he regrets his comments. But he regrets them only because he finally went too far. He has repeated them on multiple occasions—with reckless abandon.
After defending the decision to invite Yiannopoulos, Matt Schlapp, who runs the American Conservative Union, which sponsors CPAC, cited the “revelation of an offensive video... condoning pedophilia,” as the reason for rescinding his invitation. It’s good that CPAC finally did the right thing, but really, there is no excuse for inviting him to speak in the first place. (The same goes for Simon & Schuster, which canceled a book deal for Yiannopoulos on Monday, after paying a $250,000 advance.)
Among his greatest hits, he has bragged about liking “black dick,” wearing an iron-cross necklace (which isn’t necessarily tied to Nazism, but certainly evokes the imagery), and writing an essay ostensibly meant to explain the “alt-right”; however, the piece actually seemed to normalize it by framing it in the best manner possible. Also inexcusable: He refers to Trump as “Daddy.”
But this isn’t just about Yiannopoulos. The invitation to speak at CPAC tells you all you need to know about the state of American conservatism and why it was so easily co-opted by Trumpism. So why was he invited in the first place?
Yiannopoulos, like Trump, is a paradox. On one hand, he brings a certain cosmopolitan flair to a group of people accustomed to being thought of as unsophisticated; on the other hand, he reinforces every negative stereotype imaginable. I was among those who criticized CPAC’s decision to baptize Trump by inviting him to speak at its 2013 meeting.
Now, that seems quaint. Once arguably too wonky and prudish, today’s conservatism, judging by CPAC’s invited speakers, is increasingly crude, vulgar, and lowbrow.
continued..http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...source=twitter
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