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Updated March 05, 2017 06:57:26

When I first met Jayda Fransen and Paul Golding they were charismatic and friendly.

It wasn't the welcome I was expecting from the self-described Christian crusaders, who lead fringe far-right political party Britain First an outfit known for its dislike of the media and one accused of inciting racial hatred.

"We want Islam banned in the UK," Ms Fransen told me, as she prepared to lead 150 supporters on a controversial march through the English town of Telford.

"We don't see why we should have to implement sharia law and sharia courts and have people wearing burkas, Islamic schools, mosques everywhere in our Christian country."

Members of Britain First claim Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe, Brexit and Donald Trump's election have helped make their views more mainstream.

Several believe the United Kingdom is headed for a holy war and most fear white British people will soon be a minority.

"That's the way things are going. Muslims are outbreeding native British 10 to one," Mr Golding said.

"They are going to be a majority within a few decades, it's going to lead to civil war.

"The bigger the Muslim population becomes the more terrorism, sharia law, the more problems that come along with them, Muslim grooming gangs that's why we're here today."

Many find those views very offensive and other right-wing groups, such as the UK Independence Party, have distanced themselves from the organisation.

But on Facebook the group has a whopping 1.6 million followers, including a significant number of Australians.

The page lures people in with patriotic memes but when you click through to the party's website there are also videos of their members "invading" halal slaughterhouses and mosques.

Mr Golding was recently jailed for breaching a court order banning him from entering mosques or encouraging others to do so, while in November Ms Fransen was convicted of religiously aggravated harassment for abusing a Muslim woman during a so-called "Christian patrol".

"I think there are individuals in Britain First that are out to subvert parliamentary democracy and to incite racial hatred," Labour MP Louise Haigh said.

Ms Haigh was a friend of Jo Cox the politician who was murdered by a neo-Nazi sympathiser in June and wants Parliament to debate listing the group as a terrorist organisation.

"We talk an awful lot about Islamic radicalism in this country whenever there is a terrorist attack but that's very rarely the case when there's an extremist on the other side," she said.

"When Thomas Mair murdered Jo, he was described as a loner with mental health problems. Well, he wasn't. He was directly radicalised by the far-right movement in this country."

Despite its large social media presence, Britain First regularly struggles to get more than 150 people at public events.

Total membership is probably fairly low.

The Telford rally began when dozens of national flags started fluttering, Rule Britannia blared from portable speakers and the group which features some men in homemade security uniforms marched behind a large banner.

Within five minutes, there was trouble as Britain First came face-to-face with a counter-demonstration by anti-fascist protesters, who chanted, "Nazi scum off our streets."

More than 600 police just managed to keep the two groups separated but a brick was thrown, sticks and insults flew, a woman was injured and there were a few arrests.

Emboldened by the encounter, Ms Fransen and Mr Golding later delivered long-winded speeches filled with anti-Islam rhetoric where they mentioned driving Muslims into the desert and "hanging" liberal traitors.

In the middle of it all they paused briefly for the Lord's Prayer.

"I don't think Britain First are going to be directing terrorist action", said Paul Jackson a lecturer from the University of Northampton who studies the far-right and extreme right in Britain.

"But they will legitimise views that then might lead somebody who wants to act violently to build on that culture."

The British Government is closely monitoring the broader far-right movement.

It recently took the unprecedented step of banning neo-Nazi group National Action, and even though jihadis are the main focus of its flagship de-radicalisation program, far-right referrals are up 74 per cent.

"The far-right, or extreme-right movement in this country is probably not growing but they are energised by recent world events," Dr Jackson said.

"I think we should see those figures as an increase in awareness in the potential problems posed by [the far-right], not an increase in overall activity."

For the record, Britain First claims it isn't racist and doesn't do anything illegal, though its star speaker for the rally, radical Polish priest Jacek Miedlar, was detained by border authorities en route and prevented from attending.

"We are being targeted ferociously and persecuted by the politically correct police authorities in this country," Mr Golding claimed when I asked why the group had so many encounters with the law.

"I've been arrested 10 times for confronting Islamic extremists."

It seems unlikely Britain First will be shut down but it isn't something that seems to particularly worry the group's leaders.

They claim they've got nothing to fear because God the Christian one at least is on their side.

Topics: government-and-politics, immigration, community-and-society, activism-and-lobbying, united-kingdom

First posted March 05, 2017 06:33:25

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Britain First: A day with the UK's anti-Islam alt-right group - ABC Online

(((Echo))) Parentheses When used around someone's name, a means of indicating that they are Jewish. The "echoes" are a reference to some old gobbledygook about Jews "echoing through history," but the parentheses are a handy tool on Twitter for anti-Semites to signal to one another when someone they dislike is Jewish. Once the tactic was exposed, some Jews and non-Jews started adding them to their own Twitter usernames as a way to subvert the practice and make it less powerful.

#AnimeRight Alt-righters who use anime avatars on Twitter and other online spaces. The kinds of people who hang out in spaces like 4chan or 8chan tend to also be big anime fans. Like many of the items on this list, this idea occupies a constantly moving point on the irony spectrum.

#HWNDU The hashtag used by Shia LaBeouf's He Will Not Divide Us livestream project, wherein people could go up to a camera outside a museum in Queens and say an anti-Trump message. This quickly became an IRL trolling destination for the alt-right.

14,88 A sort of code used among neo-Nazis and white supremacists. 14 stands for the number of words in the white supremacist creed, We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. 88 comes from the fact that H is the eighth letter in the alphabet: HH means Heil Hitler. Seriously, its that stupid. You would most often see this used in usernames or handles something like @examplename88.

Alpha male, beta male, etc. A ranking system based on perceived masculinity. It originated on bodybuilding forums and pickup artist sites and has been adopted by right-wing trolls. Obviously, the alt-right are alphas, and people who disagree are betas.

Baneposting A convoluted meme about Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. In the opening scene, Bane is brought onto an airplane by a CIA officer played by the guy who plays Littlefinger in Game of Thrones. While Bane, the anarchy-loving villain, seems like an obvious idol for 4chan, they became weirdly enamored with the CIA agent, partly over an awkwardly homoerotic piece of dialogue (CIA: Youre a big guy. Bane: ...for you.) While Baneposting isnt explicitly alt-right, its bled over. For example, a guy dressed as the CIA agent showed up at the counterprotest of Shia LaBeouf's anti-Trump art project He Will Not Divide Us.

Bernard the Polar Bear A forced meme that a polar bear cartoon purports to be an alt-right symbol. Theres a real cartoon show from South Korea about a polar bear named Bernard, but this isnt totally related. The meme is basically fake and spread only in hopes that people will fall for it. Thing is, if you force a meme hard enough, sometimes it works. So far, this is still pretty obscure.

BTFO "Blown the fuck out" similar to "owned." To be publicly humiliated, particularly by losing an online argument. Another more obscure version of this is "blacked the fuck out," a reference to Blacked.com, a pornographic website specializing in videos in which white women have sex with black men for the first time.

Bogdanoff Brothers An ironic conspiracy theory about a pair of French celebrities. Igor Yourievitch Osten-Sacken-Bogdanoff and Grichka Yourievitch Osten-Sacken-Bogdanoff did a popular science TV show in France in the 90s, and more recently had extensive plastic surgery (think Jocelyn Wildenstein). The meme is that they are secretly the masterminds and leaders of the alt-right (they are not). Its vaguely like pretending Tara Reid is the puppet master of the government.

Bogpilled To become aware ("pilled," a term derived from "redpilled," described below) of the Bogdanoff brothers. This is extremely jokey and ironic, and involves pretending that Donald Trump alluded to the conspiracy when he said the phrase "bogged down in conflict all over the place" in a speech.

Centipedes A self-adopted term for some Trump supporters. Its a reference to a YouTube series called "Can't Stump the Trump" that mashed up footage of President Trump in a Republican debate with audio from a nature documentary about a centipede killing a tarantula.

Cuck Short for "cuckold," or a person who watches someone have sex with their significant other. It's the most common insult among the online far-right.

Cuckservative A portmanteau of cuck and conservative, used for old-guard Republicans who arent on board with Trumps agenda. Think John McCain or Mitt Romney.

Dark Enlightenment An anti-democratic philosophy that believes in a return to monarchism, traditional gender roles, rejection of egalitarianism, and a libertarian economic model.

Discord A popular chat application for far-right groups.

Feelsman meme A black-and-white cartoon man who is the victim of Pepe the Frog's pranks. Feelsman is a sad loser, a beta to Pepe's alpha. The name "feels guys" comes from the meme's early beginnings when his sad face would mean "know that feel, bro."

Frog Twitter The alt-right on Twitter. Its a reference to Pepe the Frog.

Gassed A term for "blocked" or "banned." It's a reference to the gas chambers used to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust.

God Emperor A nickname for Donald Trump.

High Energy A complimentary term that references how Donald Trump calls losers like Jeb Bush "low energy" and refers to himself as high energy.

Incel "Involuntary celibate" and "voluntary celibate." A volcel is someone who is celibate by choice, but an incel is someone who wants to have sex, but can't find anyone to actually do it with. These terms get used a lot in the forums and subreddits to describe pickup artists and men's rights activists, who are known as the "manosphere." Think Elliot Rodger, the gunman who shot and killed people on his college campus and left a manifesto about how he was angry at the women at his school for not dating him.

Kek A replacement for "LOL." If you're an Alliance player in the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft and you type "LOL" to a member of the Horde faction, it'll be read as "kek."

The Cult of Kek/Kek the religion A joke based on the fact that there is an ancient Egyptian deity named Kek, who is supposedly a god of chaos and darkness and just so happens to be sometimes depicted as a frog like Pepe. The joke is that Pepe is a modern incarnation of Kek, and fans of Pepe worship him.

Lgenpresse German for "lying press." The term predates the Nazi period, but was used heavily in their propaganda to discredit the media. The word has been revived by the alt-right to describe the mainstream media as purveyors of fake news.

Meme Magic A term for when the influence of internet memes breaks through and causes real life consequences. The day after the 2016 election, 4chan users described getting President Trump elected as an example of "meme magic." Sometimes related to the whole "Kek religion" thing.

Moon Man A giant moonfaced guy from a 1980s McDonald's ad campaign, now a racist symbol, partly because of the fact that he looks a little bit like he's wearing a KKK hood. For years, it kicked around as a low-level meme where the Moon Man was combined with rap songs, but it gained steam recently by becoming completely racist. The absurdity of an obscure fast-food ad swearing allegiance to the KKK is not lost on the alt-right. The irony is thick here, but so is the actual racism.

NEET An acronym for someone "Not in Education, Employment, or Training." Basically, someone who lives in their mom's basement. It's a self-deprecating joke by people on 4chan and elsewhere that theyre all basement-dwelling NEETs whose mothers cook them chicken tenders for dinner. This isn't specific to the alt-right, but its very popular there.

Neoreactionism or NRx An alt-right ideology variation. As Rosie Gray describes in The Atlantic, "the alt-right can be seen as a political movement; neoreaction, which adherents refer to as NRx, is a philosophy. At the core of that philosophy is a rejection of democracy and an embrace of autocratic rule." A lot of the big proponents of this are popular on Twitter, and some of them are fairly ironic about it.

New Balance Comfortable sneakers. During the election, the CEO of New Balance came out with a pro-Trump statement, which made the neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer declare them "the official shoe of white people."

Normies Normal people, as opposed to internet trolls.

Pepe the Frog The meme that launched a thousand Twitter blocks. A cartoon smiling frog created innocuously by comic artist Matt Furie that has, over time, become the official mascot of far-right extremism in the US and parts of Europe.

Redpilled A reference to Neo choosing to see the truth by taking the "red pill" from Morpheus in The Matrix. Being redpilled means you've become aware of the truth about society (which, according to them, means typically alt-right viewpoints). The term redpilled predates the alt-right, and has been a staple of the soup of men's rights/Gamergate/pickup artist/Reddit/4chan internet for a while.

REEEEEEE! An angry shrieking sound. Used ironically in the voice of a typical 4chan user. It's part of a larger joke that most people on 4chan are NEETs who live with their parents, play video games all day, eat only chicken nuggets, watch anime, and are on the autism spectrum. Typically, it's used to show anger at "normies" for invading their online spaces. There are memes of Pepe the Frog making that noise when he's angry.

Robot A term for the users of 4chan's /r9k/ messageboard. Extremely withdrawn social outcasts who see themselves as unfeeling robots. Most of the time they just post about how they can't get girlfriends.

Shadilay A bad Italo-disco song from 1986. Someone in the alt-right discovered an obscure track called "Shadilay" by a band called P.E.P.E. (as in Pepe the Frog, the alt-right cartoon mascot). The song itself has nothing to do with the alt-right except the band name, but in a truly weird twist, the record has a cartoon frog on the vinyl label.

Shitposting A classic forum term for flooding a thread with worthless or annoying posts, either because you're bad at posting or because you do it on purpose to troll. The alt-right uses shitposting as a derailing tactic, kind of like a digital filibuster. The term is used flexibly to sometimes just describe any kind of online posting: tweets, memes, etc.

SJW An acronym for social justice warrior, a pejorative term for people concerned with feminism, civil rights, and liberal ideology.

Snowflake Short for "special snowflake," an insult to SJWs. The joke is that that they're fragile and coddled millennials who were raised on participation trophies and being told they were special.

The Overton Window A general concept to describe the limits ("window") of what the public finds acceptable. Some pundits have suggested that Trump has shifted the scope of this window, and that things like the "grab her by the pussy" comment would have previously been career-ending for a politician. The alt-right believes it's helping shift the Overton window for the public by making the movement's extreme speech normalized, and in its wake has opened up the path for Trump.

Trash Dove A popular Facebook sticker of a purple pigeon (aka Trash Dove). Trolls on 8chan decided to spread a rumor that the pigeon sticker is actually a pro-Nazi symbol. This is a good example of the thorny layers of irony in these memes: Trash Dove was created purely as a joke to trick people (especially the media) into believing this innocuous cartoon was a Nazi symbol, but then it kind of became true. If enough people believe something is a Nazi symbol, then that's what it is. This is kind of like what happened with Pepe, an image that had no inherent tie to racism or politics until people started using it that way.

White Genocide A conspiracy theory among white supremacists that immigration, globalism, and abortions rights are part of a larger conspiracy to exterminate white people.

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BuzzFeed News Reporter - BuzzFeed News

The former porn star and adult icon now spends her days retweeting conspiracy theorists, sharing anti-Muslim scare stories, and defending Milo Yiannopoulos. What happened?

Jenna Jameson is once again the talk of the porn industry. An icon with close to 200 adult films under her belt, Jameson is still idolized by many women getting their start in the biz. But there will never be another Jenna. The former Queen of Porn has achieved more mainstream recognition than any female porn star, despite remarking at the 2008 AVN Awards, Ill never, ever, ever spread my legs again in this industry. Ever. While shaming the adult industry is apparently forgivable, a series of alt-right social media tirades has forced even Jamesons most ardent supporters in the XXX world to reexamine the woman whos come to represent it.

Since the start of her conversion to the Jewish faith, a journey she embarked on in order to marry her shady Israeli jeweler/fianc Lior Bitton, Jameson has adopted a fierce and public anti-Islam stance, ranting against Muslims online and clapping back at those in disagreement. She regularly shares stories and videos about the alleged havoc wreaked by adherents of Islam from dubious far-right sites like the pro-Trump agitprop outlet Breitbart and conspiracy theory forum Infowars, along with bigoted replies from her army of close to 700,000 Twitter followers.

Her XXX industry defenders, who would mostly like to remain nameless, point out that the terror of ISIS hits a bit close to home for Jameson, who is eight months pregnant with Bittons baby. She tweeted: My husband is a morrocan Jew his family was forced from morocco by the escalating violent Muslim climate there.

But then there was the time Jameson made headlines for her apparent defense of the KKK. Jameson tweeted: Do the klu klux klan follow a religion that orders the death of apostates? When was the last time we saw a klan member blow up infidels?

Shortly after her alleged defense of the KKK, Jameson followed it up with another tweet clearly not in favor of the Klan, or Democrats: Yes, and thank god theyve been all but eradicated and forced into obscurity no thanks to the democrats who created them. (The KKK was affiliated with the Southern Democrats, but those people were mostly absorbed into the Republican Party following the implementation of Nixon and Goldwaters southern strategy.)

Jameson claims it was all a misunderstanding in the service of defending her family. She explained to The Daily Beast, Another Twitter follower compared ISIS to the KKK and I responded with facts. Saying I defend an organization that wants the death of all Jews is wrong. I am Jewish and so is my family.

Nonetheless, many who revered her as an outlaw-idol of porn now find her tirades on Twitter shocking.

Shes progressively gotten more aggressive and I feel like shes trying to be controversial, says 21-year-old porn star Janice Griffith. Being a sex worker people look down on us, were stereotyped and put into these rigid boxes of who they think we are and what we do, and now shes doing that to other people. I expected better from her.

Before entering porn almost four years ago, Griffith looked up to Jameson, admiring her shrewd business acumen and the space she carved out for herself, but now says she feels bad for her. I try to stay away from the crazy, I dont follow Jenna Jameson or Trump, says Griffith, whos changed her Twitter handle to janice hates trump to weed out the undesirables.

Arguing politics on social media is an exhausting waste of time for adult film actress Richelle Ryan, who says she learned her lesson after putting her two cents in during the election. When I came out and posted a couple of tweets supporting Trump I had so much backlash! It was so stressful to constantly defend myself, so I applaud anybody that can dish it back, says Ryan. Before she entered porn ten years ago, Ryan was an exotic dancer by the name Jenna, paying homage to her idol. And Ryans admiration for the former porn goddess hasnt dissipated. She has a lot of balls. I respect anyone that comes out and speaks his or her mind, says Ryan. Its extremely draining to argue with people over politics because youre not going to win. We all have our own views.

Its that lack of restraint that one of her old colleagues remembers most about her. As fellow contract girls for Wicked Pictures in the mid-90s, former adult actress Serenity (who left the industry over 12 years ago) encountered Jameson frequently over the yearson the same sets, signing at the same conventions, and attending the same meetings. The Jenna I knew back then wasnt so political but I dont find it surprising or out of character. Thats just Jenna, Serenity tells The Daily Beast. Jenna is a flamboyant personality. Its why she was separated from the pack.

Yet, some may wonder how its possible to respect Jamesons public defense of Milo Yiannopoulos, an alt-right fellow traveler who was forced to resign in disgrace from his perch at Breitbart after video emerged of him defending hebephilia.

Jameson tells The Daily Beast that she does not condone Milos comments, but empathizes with him. I think people were quick to judge and label him without realizing he was a victim of sexual abuse, says Jameson. Having been a victim myself, I know people can deal with the pain of victimization with callousness.

Shes had a lot of pain in her life, notes Serenity. It wouldnt surprise me if that were coming through on some of her stances.

The 42-year-old ex-porn star clearly appears happy to embrace the controversy of her alt-right views. She idolizes Ann Coulter (I want to be her when I grow up) and the illuminati-obsessed Paul Joseph Watson, has called Iran a cancer, regularly shares anti-Muslim scare stories, and even tweets anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros funding cabals of liberals (the irony is apparently lost on her). She even trolled Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who is a Muslim, into blocking her on Twitterbefore declaring him anti semetic for doing so.

Jamesons attacks on outsiders are rubbing the porn industry the wrong way, especially when so many women in porn understand what it feels like to be marginalized firsthand. Its shocking that someone who has represented the adult industry can be so intolerant. Born in Serbia, and then raised in a Serbian community in Canada, it wasnt until her teens that Nina Kayy relocated to the United States. Kayy, a 28-year-old adult actress, no longer looks up to Jameson and finds her controversial outbursts on social media disturbing. Shes a minority too: shes a woman and she was an adult performer. Shes also been harassed so I dont understand why she cant relate to other minorities, says Kayy. For me, its very important to not be complicit when it comes to race, bigotry or homophobia. You have to be active in fighting it.

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Identifying as neither Democrat nor Republican, Kayy says she simply has a problem with hate. I dont want to make excuses for her. Shes an adult woman with her own agency. She didnt grow up in a privileged environment. She was stripping as a teenager and her last name was inspired by a bottle of whiskey. She didnt have a perfect life so I dont know why she feels so privileged, says Kayy. Her comments are extremely ignorant and its disturbing to see hate speech like that from someone who should know better. She is allowed to have an opinion but we also have to call her out when its hateful and offensive.

As a fellow mother, Alana Evans, vice president of APAG (Adult Performers Actors Guild) and an active porn star, understands that being pregnant can be stressful and worries about Jamesons condition. When youre pregnant you cant always do other things, but its not healthy for a woman in this stage of her pregnancy to be engaging in arguments with people, says Evans. I would love to come over, turn the phone off, rub her belly and say its okay, were not going to talk to anyone until these babies are out because shes gone off the deep end.

Meanwhile, not everyone is surprised to see that Jameson has embraced the corrosiveness of the alt-right. Nothings changed, says her ex-husband Brad Armstrong. Shes not news shes a cautionary tale.

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Jenna Jameson's Shocking Alt-Right Transformation - Daily Beast

MARCH 3, 2017

IVE READ THE NAME Milo Yiannopoulos so many times over the past couple of weeks that I dont have to copy and paste it anymore. The spelling is ingrained into my brain. I have what you might call Milo-Mania, a disorder characterized by clicking on anything that bears Milos name usually followed by a world-weary, need-to-lie-down-for-a-minute headache. The pain intensifies when I begin to think that Milo Yiannopoulos might be the first gay role model for impressionable young minds. The headache is somewhat eased by the knowledge that someday soon I will never have to type the name Yiannopoulos again.

On Monday, February 20, following the unearthing of video interviews in which he seemed to countenance pedophilia, Milo was disinvited to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and his forthcoming book, Dangerous (for which he had received a six-figure advance), was canceled by Simon & Schuster. The following day, Milo resigned from the political website Breitbart.com after several employees threatened to walk out if the alt-right publication didnt terminate him. These events followed months of rampant controversy: a Twitter war with SNL star Leslie Jones that got him banned from the social media site, a riot before a speaking engagement at Berkeley, and an exhausting list of other offenses and provocations. The week of Valentines Day, Jeremy Scahill, editor of The Intercept, canceled his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher because he refused to share the stage with the out-gay-Catholic-alt-right blogger. The show, as they say, went on. Although the interview itself was nothing special, Maher enthused about Yiannopoulos as the second coming of Christopher Hitchens only gay and said he would be happy to have the young provocateur on his show again. The Real Time appearance could have been a star-making move for Milo.

Then this snippet from an interview he did on comedian Joe Rogans podcast last year, in which he discussed his alleged abuse at the hands of a priest when he was a young teen, got passed around the internet:

Yiannopoulos: If it wasnt for Father Michael, I would have given far less good head. Rogan: Was there a real Father Michael? Did he make you suck his dick, for real? Yiannopoulos: He didnt make me. I was quite enthusiastic about it. Rogan: How old was he at the time? Yiannopoulos: I dont know He was quite young. Quite hot. Rogan: Really? Yiannopoulos: Yeah.

This exchange undoubtedly made a lot of people uncomfortable, but its hardly a reason to get booted out of a conference, lose a book deal, and be forced to quit ones job. Its not uncommon for victims of sexual abuse to rationalize the trauma as a rite of passage or a learning experience. Milo is not the first person to have said such a thing, not by a long shot. Clearly, the folks at CPAC and Breitbart simply couldnt stomach hearing their gay minion who had certainly been outspoken before about his preference for black cock speak out about his prolonged relationship with a Catholic priest when he was 14.

But that was just the beginning of the outrage. Rogan went on to press Yiannopoulos further on the subject of pedophilia. He asked if Milo had ever hung out at any of X-Men director Bryan Singers alleged parties. This is where the exchange got really sick. Yiannopoulos started talking, at length, about parties hed been to in Hollywood parties where the media elite engaged in unprotected sex with underage boys. Every time Rogan asked him to name names, Milo deferred, saying that he practices discretion. This is the same Milo who, at his college speeches, singles out students in the audience in order to ridicule them in front of his adoring fans, the same man who says transgendered women should not be allowed in the restrooms comporting with their gender identity, knowing full well hes exposing them to further victimization. This same man was claiming to practice discretion for pedophiles who also happen to be powerful Hollywood executives. Milo, who has such a bad poker face, couldnt hide the fact that he was gloating about the sense of privilege he feels to be welcomed into the company of these elite creeps.

Milo Yiannopoulos is an out gay man. His campus tour is called Dangerous Faggot, and it is wildly popular with right-wing students who come out to hear his politically incorrect diatribes. But what, exactly, are we supposed think is dangerous about him? That he mocks the powerless while flaunting his collusion with the powerful? Doesnt that just make him another run-of-the-mill albeit rather flaming Republican?

Theres another clip of Milo floating around the internet that I find more telling than the Joe Rogan interview. Its from five years ago on 10 OClock Live, a Daily Showtype program on Great Britains Channel 4. In the clip, Yiannopoulos debates the subject of gay marriage with none other than gender-bending icon of the 80s, Boy George. Attired characteristically in a sequined jacket, with tons of make-up and a hat fashioned after the one Burgess Meredith wore as the Penguin, Boy George seems entirely his flamboyant self. Milo, sitting beside him, is a stark contrast: a stiff, mumbling nerd in a shirt and tie that look like they came from Kmart. Moderator David Mitchell introduces Milo as a writer for the Catholic Herald, who is Catholic and gay. Then he introduces the other guest as a musician and singer, who is also I was surprised to learn gay. The joke draws a huge laugh due to the hilarious juxtaposition between the swanky pop icon and the uptight, buttoned-down reporter. Poor Milo his hair buzzed on the sides, with curly fringed bangs drooping down seems to sheepishly shrug, Im gay, if thats okay?

In the debate, Milo trots out the standard conservative attacks on same-sex marriage e.g., heterosexual unions are the glue of society but the discussion takes a weird turn when he admits to Mitchell, Boy George, and the studio audience that he wishes he wasnt gay a strange psychological ball to drop in the middle of a debate. In response, Boy George, in his seriously awesome pink top hat, reaches out to Milo and says: I want you to be happy. Its a touching moment; one can imagine the pop icon has learned how to do this over his nearly 40 years of speaking up for LGBTQ people. Before Milo was even born, Boy George was helping kids who experienced the same self-hatred Milo is very publicly going through. Could anyone picture the Milo we know and hate these days extending that kind of compassion to an at-risk youth?

Even back at the time of 10 OClock Live, there was more than one Milo. You can practically see Milo the Gay wrestling with Milo the Catholic. Boy George trounces him in the debate, aided by the audiences clear support for gay marriage. Even Mitchell, supposedly moderating, gets in a few barbs at young Milos expense. Through it all, Milo just sits there, stewing like Draco Malfoy, determined that someday people will take him seriously.

Five years later, during the interview on Real Time, Bill Maher, after mentioning that Milo is gay, erupts into laughter, chortling Spoiler alert! Milo rolls his eyes and retorts, What tipped you off? Hes a changed man now, in appearance. His hair is straightened and bleached, and even though he often wears suits when doing live engagements, his tanned chest is exposed and he is laden with necklaces. Milo now knows how to drop the word fabulous, and he waves his hands around a lot. He must have taken a cue from Boy George in that debate: Maybe the key to being taken seriously is to be outrageous! When Bill Maher comments that he looks like Brno, Milo flinches, perhaps suddenly realizing that whoever hes hired to style him has indeed been fashioning him after the Sacha Baron Cohen character. Milos platinum-blond hair, his tracksuits, his gold chains, all went out of fashion eons ago.

While Milo largely behaved himself during the televised interview, in the Overtime segment posted on YouTube, he flashed his politically incorrect attitudes, getting into nasty spats with the other guests, saying yet again that trans women cant be trusted in bathrooms, even hitting on the only person on the panel who had his back, former Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston. This is a thing with Milo going too far; much like Brno who, in the eponymous 2009 movie, tried to sleep with every man he encountered, even presidential candidate Ron Paul. Milo has the same trouble with boundaries largely because he has crafted his public persona to make the same smirking misjudgments that caused audiences so much discomfort while watching Brno.

Its hard to see, frankly, how he thought this act was ever going to work. Five years ago, Boy George may have appeared the more flamboyant of the two, but the most outrageous thing he said in the debate was, I think gay marriage is a bit conservative. Perhaps because, like Cohen, he is performing a parodic version of hyperbolic gayness (though without the redemption of self-consciousness), Milo doesnt know when to pull back. During Real Times online segment, both Bill Maher and fellow guest Larry Wilmore had to tell him to shut up. Whenever Milo tried to make a joke, he was the only one laughing.

So who actually does think hes funny? Supposedly Breitbart hired him to reach a youth audience that may not otherwise tune in to debates about economic nationalism and routine bouts of Hillary-bashing. Milo dropped out of not one, but two colleges, never finishing a degree. He made a name for himself by writing clickbait and internet trolling. He actually fits the mold for a Breitbart blogger except for that gay thing. Surely an out-gay instigator wasnt going to last very long with an alt-right publication. Whatever symbiosis both parties achieved, it had to have been a volatile relationship from the get-go.

And yet, Milo surely does represent a very real part of the population. He is, after all, an openly gay closet case. While Milo is frank about his desire for men, his Catholicism takes precedence over his sexual identity. He has stated many times that he would rather be straight, if given the choice. This cauldron of intellectual and emotional confusion undoubtedly gives voice to a shadowy subculture of closeted gays. There are men everywhere just like Milo: politically conservative, devoutly religious, who nonetheless engage in sex with other men. If you doubt this, check out Jane Wards 2015 book Not Gay: Sex Between Straight Men or just go to the next conservative convention near you, download Grindr, and bear witness to the sea of faceless white torsos looking for no-strings encounters. Because these men choose not to be openly gay, they have no real visibility in politics or the media. So, in a way, Milo like an albino crocodile or some other natural anomaly is giving the public a glimpse into the mind of a closet-case. I guess we can thank him for that.

I imagine that most gay intellectuals recognize in Milo an unfortunate cocktail of privileged upbringing, too much religion, and sexual abuse. I personally find him a tragic character. He never really seems to understand what hes talking about, while at the same time trying so hard to get in. No wonder, in the five years since that Boy George debate, he turned to hate-baiting on the internet. This methodology has gotten him compared to Trump, to whom he claims to be fiercely devoted. Milos characteristic deflections are the same as Trumps: anyone who disagrees with him is an idiot who doesnt know what hes talking about. Like Trump, Milo frequently refers to his own array of alternative facts. He even displays little verbal and physical tics when hes backed up against an argumentative wall and seems to know his opponent has outsmarted him, tics that are more likely than not signs of an undiagnosed psychiatric disorder. Im totally autistic or sociopathic, Milo once stated. I guess Im both. Its unclear whether he was trying to be provocative or if that was a desperate cry for help a conundrum that just brings on another headache.

Poor Milo, we might actually feel sorry for you if your ideas werent so loathsome. Now go away so we can forget all about you.

Kyle Mustain is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. His film reviews can be found on the website Film-Forward.

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Out-Gay, Alt-Right: The Two Milos - Los Angeles Review of Books - lareviewofbooks

By Rhina Guidos Catholic News Service Posted March 2, 2017

WASHINGTON (CNS) When the Conservative Political Action Conference, popularly known as CPAC, met near Washington in late February, the events main organizer did everything possible to separate the annual gathering from a fringe group it said it wants no part of and whose members dont reflect their values.

There is a sinister organization that is trying to worm its way into our ranks and we must not be duped, said Dan Schneider, executive director of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the CPAC gathering, referring to the self-described alt-right movement, whose followers espouse white nationalism, populism and white supremacy.

Saying the group had hijacked the very term alt-right,' Schneider pummeled away at its supporters whom he called fascists, and angrily rebuked them for using the term, which he said up until its hijacking had been used for a long time in a very good and normal way.

They met just a couple months ago in Washington, D.C., to spew their hatred and make their Heil Hitler salutes, said Schneider angrily. They are anti-Semites. They are racists. They are sexist. They hate the Constitution. They hate free markets. They hate pluralism. They hate everything and they despise everything we believe in. They are not an extension of conservatism.

Those belonging to the self-described alt-right movement had attended the conference before without incident, including Richard Spencer, the de facto leader of the alt-right, a shortened version of alternative right. But Feb. 23, he was asked to leave CPAC as Schneider publicly excoriated the movement.

That same day, Maria Mazzenga, assistant director at the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America was at the universitys campus in Washington, describing the movement and Spencer during an event and panel discussion about how Catholics should respond to the alt-right.

Spencer, she said, is a white nationalist who calls himself an identitarian not a white supremacist, but he advocates for a white homeland, for a dispossessed white race, and calls for peaceful ethnic cleansing to halt the deconstruction of European culture. Those who follow him and the alt-right movement hold the same views, she said, adding: Sounds like white supremacism to me.

Mazzenga reminded the audience that Steve Bannon, a Catholic who is the chief strategist and special counsel to President Donald Trump, was the former CEO of Breitbart News, who once called the site the platform for the alt-right. Bannon has been critical of the churchs stance on immigrants, another hallmark of the alt-right, and he sneeringly calls (Republican House Speaker) Paul Ryans Catholicism social justice Catholicism strangely enough, Mazzenga said.

Bannon, she said, holds the views of one of two camps of Catholic Americans she studies: the exclusionary variety and the inclusionary.

Exclusionary Catholic Americanism is defensive, adopts a siege mentality, emphasizes persecution of enemies, views other religious traditions as threatening to its very existence, Mazzenga said. Inclusive Catholic Americanism seeks to reconcile American ideals of religious liberty and ethnic pluralism with Catholic traditions. It seeks continuity with its parent, Judaism, and commonalties rather than differences with other religions to which its related, like Islam.

Both views are strong in the countrys politically charged and divisive environment, and also very much present in the churchs pews and institutions today. While Catholic churches welcome refugees and immigrants, views that demonize Muslims, that believe theres a war between Christianity and Islam are often tolerated among American Catholics, said Jordan Denari Duffner, who participated in the panel and studies Islamophobia for the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University in Washington.

While Islamophobic views, which are very much in tune with those who follow the alt-right movement, have little impact in places such as the Vatican, they have found a sympathetic outlet among some publications in Catholic media, Duffner said.

Some of those views portray Islam as a religion that is violent, misogynistic, not part of the Judeo-Christian West and say that Muslims cant be trusted and seek to impose their way of life on us, Duffner said.

If some of this doesnt sound unfamiliar to you, its because its become so mainstream, she said, and even appears in some Catholic newspapers, websites and on popular Catholic television programs in the U.S.

Julia Young, a historian with The Catholic University of America who also participated in the panel, said similar views have existed before in the country, but this time the targets for such views, which some would call nativism, others would call xenophobia, seem to be immigrants and Muslims.

The hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the U.S. has always made clear where it stands, she said. As early as 1919, the U.S. bishops formed an immigration bureau whose sole focus was to speak on behalf of and defend immigrants, to provide legal counsel and defense for them, particularly with the goal of keeping families together, Young said.

Duffner said high profile Catholic leaders such as Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, as well as other bishops and the bishops conference have spoken up against the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment that those in the alt-right foster. But she said shed like to see national efforts trickle down to Catholics in the pews, to bring them together with people of different faiths, particularly Muslims, because it would help combat some of the prevalent and erroneous views some of them hold about Islam.

She said shed also like to see Catholic leaders confront the portrayal of Islam that we are seeing in books published by Catholic publishers, adding that Catholic media should police itself and examine some of its portrayals.

Panelist Christopher Hale, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, said that while the internet created a democracy, it also created an oligarchy of lies in which some of the views that target certain communities and are based on fear and lies have gained ground.

The more you communicate, the more you get systems of communication, the more your lies become the truth, Hale said. The only way to fight lies is with the truth.

But for the truth to win out, he said, we must engage these folks and the wrong approach, he said, is to think that were better than they are, even if they hold views that may be difficult to hear.

Talking to people who hold views such as the ones embraced by the alt-right is the Christian approach, he said, and the idea of not talking to them, of thinking that some people are below our worth is what he calls the deplorable option, referencing Democratic candidate Hillary Clintons comment in which she called Trump supporters a basket of deplorables.

Lets be real, he said. Racism isnt simple. Theres a lot of things built up in racism beyond just a moral evil. Theres structural issues, theres economic issues. Xenophobia is complicated. So, if were going to be really engaging, we have to spend a little less time denouncing and actually engaging and proclaiming the truth without any hesitancy but understand that the way people got to where they are, theres a path they took. They didnt just parachute in.

Dialogue, he said, is vital.

Young, the historian, said that as a Catholic, for her it also is important to be supportive of the victims or targets of some of those who are attacked by the alt-right and its sympathizers, while also seeking a way to dialogue with them.

I dont think those are incompatible, she said.

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Catholics called to stand against 'alt-right' views but seek dialogue - CatholicPhilly.com