Hey, Milo Yiannopoulos — You’re A Coward.

By

Hey Milo,

I don’t think I can keep this shorter than 140 characters, but I’ll do my best to keep it brief.

I’ve avoided commenting on you in the past, because though I despised your political views, I appreciated that a homosexual man was stepping out of political sameness that the gay community can often promote. Gay people should feel free to be liberals, conservatives, communists, or authoritarians. Those voices are important, and sometimes they are silenced.

But in light of your tantrums after being banned from Twitter, it occurred to me that maybe you actually don’t know..? Maybe you actually don’t realize..? Maybe nobody has ever told you that intentional offensiveness is actually cowardly?

Your brand of conservatism isn’t bold and brash, it’s just an ideological excuse to be hateful. It reeks of insecurity, weakness, and cowardice.

There is nothing brave about directing mobs of people to harass people on the internet you have a problem with. Peppering your words with needless slurs doesn’t make you tough — it makes you small.

There is nothing brave about explaining your ideas in the most offensive, most “anti-PC” terms possible just to piss people off — sending people even further entrenched into their respective ideological corners.

There is nothing brave about being rude, cruel, and unkind to people. Actually, it’s like one of the easiest things you can do.

Being rude and offensive about one’s beliefs doesn’t make someone brave, it makes them rude and offensive. And thanks to the Bill of Rights you won’t get chucked in jail for that, but the 1st Amendment doesn’t mean other people have to put up with your bullshit in silence (like Twitter, for instance).

Bravery is daring to have a conversation with someone you know disagrees with you, but still treating them with respect.

Bravery is looking someone in the eyes, and recognizing your common humanity — even when you disagree with their views 100%.

Bravery is have dialogues in a way that open up more avenues for conversation and discussion — not closes them off with hateful language.

Bravery is having enough respect for someone to listen and to truly consider what they have to say. It means that you avoid offensive language not because you are obsessed with being “PC,” but because you truly care about this human being you are having a dialogue with, and you want them to feel comfortable around you.

Bravery is harder than cowardice. Bravery means pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, and forcing us to consider every other human’s story — no matter how different they are from us. Bravery means trading ideological dogma for compassion and love for every person in our world.

(Before anyone says the obvious, not all liberals are brave enough for this, either. I’m not always brave).

Milo, there might be a great number of people out there who hail you as a hero — as someone “brave” enough to stand up against the evil social justice liberal establishment. But tearing people down is not — nor has it ever been — brave. Throughout human existence, it’s remained one of the easiest things anyone can do. Indeed, doing so when there are far better ways to heal out world is downright cowardly.