Milo Yiannopoulos is easily one of the most controversial personalities in politics. The flamboyant blogger’s mere presence was enough to send the left rioting in uber-liberal Berkeley. Frankly, he may be more polarizing than even President Trump these days.
The latest example of the left’s unhinged reaction to opposing viewpoints? Jeremy Scahill is dropping out of a booked appearance on Bill Maher’s Real Time show simply because Milo will be there:
The Intercept cofounder Jeremy Scahill posted a lengthy statement on Twitter explaining he informed the show’s producers he wasn’t going to appear as previously planned, noting that despite being a longtime supporter of the show, the inclusion of Breitbart News editor Yiannopoulos was “a bridge too far.”
“He has ample venues to spew his hateful diatribes,” Scahill wrote (full statement below). “There is no value in debating him. Appearing on Real Time will provide Yiannopoulos with a large, important platform to openly advocate his racist, anti-immigrant campaign. … Yiannopoulos’s appearance could also be used to incite violence against immigrants, transgender people, and others at a time when the Trump Administration is already seeking to formalize a war against some of the most vulnerable people in our society. … I cannot participate in an event that will give a platform to such a person.”
On Friday’s episode of Real Time, Yiannopoulos is booked as the top-of-show interview.
Feel free to have problems with Milo as a personality or a rallying point, mostly because of his intentionally confrontational and insulting style, but Scahill isn’t doing himself any good by backing down.
Milo will still be on Maher’s show. Ratings will soar, and Maher and Milo will trade barbs back and forth, probably assuring that he will be back. That’s what the show is all about, after all.
Meanwhile, Scahill, by refusing to engage him, indicates he is dodging him because of fear. Perhaps on some level, he knows the opposition is right about far more than he wants his audience to think about.
Or perhaps he doesn’t want to find himself on the receiving end of what the Left has dished out for decades. Criticism of certain policies or ideas was seen as racism, but Milo — as a gay man who says he has a preference for black men — can fire that right back at them, or simply invalidate it.
People like Scahill are bailing, and they’re claiming to make some grand stand for tolerance, but they’re not. They’re proving they’re incapable of dealing with disagreement and afraid of talented debaters.
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