Recently Trinity found itself graced by the presence of internet darling and professional agitator Milo Yiannopoulos. Without taking up too much time and space to further the ego of the man himself, we would like to issue a short editorial on our thoughts regarding his most recent stop in his “Dangerous Faggot” tour.
Milo’s first impressions on stage were sharp “” hair any man or woman would be jealous of, an air of style and plenty of poise. Then he opened his mouth.
That’s where we lost interest.
Not that everything Milo had to say was useless or pointless. Far from it. He makes people uncomfortable and asks questions some others are too afraid to. That’s a good thing in our increasingly sensitive culture. We were not angry at his talk or his presence. We were just disappointed.
We will however give you a slight break Milo since you were sick (hopefully not with AIDS as you suggested). But, and this is not attempt to sound pretentious, we expect better from a lecture at Trinity. The event unfurled more like an entertainment segment or skit than a real lecture “” it made us laugh and kept us at attention, but after the cursing ended and the smoke and mirrors faded, we were left feeling a bit empty. Trump supporter or not, advocate for safe spaces or staunch opponent of them, there is a meaningful discussion to be had on these topics. Our last few editorials have attempted to do such “” it’s no secret that many of us at the Trinitonian are against what the Atlantic calls the “coddling of the American minds” in universities and communities across the country. Then again, many of our staff are supporters of political correctness and ideas like trigger warnings. As such we often engage in healthy debates around these very topics. And that’s is what Milo failed to do.
Cheered on by passionate supporters and heckled by disgusted opponents, Milo sat in the midst of it and smiled. He smiled as he ripped into a variety of topics, from feminism and the LGBTQ community to university policy and foreign affairs. But like the notecard he read off of from, the talk remained flat and lacked depth. He made some good points, however on political correctness, he offered up this gem: “The problem with microaggressions is that they have macro results.” There is a jumping point for a good discussion. Should universities crack down on microaggressions? Does doing so simply shelter the individual from opposing viewpoints that should otherwise be explored or exposed? How can we create a community where we feel safe and respected but equally challenged and exposed to different ideas? There are no easy answers to hard questions like these. But, even without an answer, we would have preferred to be asked, to be forced to think about the topics and issues in a substantial way.
And in a way, with all his talk and grandeur, maybe Milo is making us do just that. At the end of the day we found ourselves walking out of the auditorium just a little bit tired “” tired of the screaming and shouting and left wanting something more. Still, thank you to Tigers for Liberty for bringing Milo to campus; whether or not his talk was anything more than an evening of entertainment is up for debate. What it was however is another step to bringing more and more opinions to our campus, even ones we may not want to hear.
