A Few Questions for Liberals who are Trying to Silence Milo Yiannopoulos Instead of Debating him.

A Few Questions for Liberals who are Trying to Silence Milo Yiannopoulos Instead of Debating him.
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 Milo Yiannopoulos

Milo Yiannopoulos

Photo by Edwin Gano

I ask these questions in regards to what took place at a planned Milo Yiannopoulos event at UC Berkeley last week.

What do you think is going to happen if we keep ignoring someone who is simply too big to be ignored?

What do you think is going to happen if we don't meet him on the intellectual battlefield and make a better argument?

What do you think is going to happen if we try to dismiss him, his army and his arguments with petty insults?

And lastly… how did that work out with President Trump?

Surely, you all remember the answer to the last one.

Take a minute to mull over the first three. Really, stop and just think about those questions on your own for a bit before reading on.

Had enough time to think them over? Here are the answers based on the aftermath of Berkeley.

He's going to grow in influence, which is exactly what he wants and exactly what happened after Berkeley. Because of Berkeley, his mentions went way up, ten times more than they would have if he'd been allowed to do his event. Because of Berkeley, he did interviews in front of millions instead of speeches in front of hundreds. Because of Berkeley, he is now too big to ignore.

Every one of you who is fighting Milo’s right to free speech is failing miserably to fight his ideas. As a matter of fact, you are reinforcing many of them. You are retreating from a battle that is going to take place whether you’re there to meet and cross blades with him or not.

He has a political army and you aren't even bothering to show up to fight them intellectually. And if you’re not there, he's going to take the territory he marches over with his army and run away with victory, unchallenged in the culture war.

When you avoid debate and discourse, that's not fighting the battle, it's trying to cancel the war. The culture war cannot be cancelled, it can only get put in the exclusive control of your unchallenged opponents when you stop fighting and instead try and fail to silence them.

Liberals need to arm themselves with arguments. Ad hominem slanders and insults won’t beat Milo, they will only make him stronger by legitimizing his points and making you look like intellectual cowards without arguments.

This intellectual cowardice is perfectly demonstrated by every single person who aims to keep Milo from speaking and being substantively challenged. The inability or refusal to argue only ever has and only ever will continue to legitimize him and is thus self-defeating. He can only be defeated by those who dare to make better arguments than his.

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