It's not gay if you're a Republican.

So, yesterday I found out via Twitter that Milo Yiannopoulos got a $250,000 book deal. I guess it's some kind of a biography or something, to be published by Simon & Schuster.

I commented on this.

I expressed disgust, as I was (until this election, anyway) primarily familiar with that disgusting little troll from the fact that he'd been one of the major driving forces of the Gamergate affair. So, naturally, I didn't much like him going in. After the whole alt-right Nazi thing blew up, and I found out about his role in it, I was even more disgusted. For one thing, Misogyny from a gay dude strikes me as very odd. For another, I hate the fact not only that Milo seems to do the things he does for no better reason than he thinks it's funny.

There's a cure for that type of shit where I come from, and it's called an ass whuppin.'

If I'd ever have acted like that little twerp as a kid or young person, I would have got ass whuppins' for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'd have gotten the "Can't sit down for a week" treatment so much I wouldn't have known what a chair *Was.* 

As a teenager, I literally got punched in the face by people in my school, and more than a few times punched people myself, for far less than I've seen these internet trolls say to people, safely behind their computer screen and miles away from their targets. That's otherwise known as being a coward. I don't act any different online than off, Anything I've got to say on here I'll say to your face, possibly with even more profanity.

I specifically pointed out that when I was a teenager, somebody who was a gay Nazi would have got beat up for two reasons in my town. As I've said before, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi, and I'll take a bullet (hopefully atop a pile of dead Nazis myself) before I ever retract *That* statement. The term "alt-right" which represents a loose political group of which Milo is an enthusiastic member, is a "Politically-correct" re-branding of Nazis and White Supremacists, coined by White Nationalist idiot Richard Spencer. Yes, this is America in the 21st Century and we have Politically Correct Nazis.  What's next? Calling Black people Dermally Challenged?

I repeatedly got told to go eat a dick, people denied that Milo was alt-right, they denied he was a Nazi, hell I'm surprised that nobody denied he was gay. Hell, at least one person specifically said "I was offended that a conservative had such an edgy, dynamic stage presence." 

Folks, Milo is a conservative about like I'm an Insinkerator commercial-grade kitchen garbage disposal. He's not. One of these things is not like the other. 

Milo has an edgy and dynamic anything about like Rush Limbaugh provides reasonable and sane political commentary. He doesn't. 

He exists to offend people for the sake of offending people because he thinks it's funny, and he most likely gets away with it primarily because he's an English upper-class twit and for some reason these alt-right Nazis have themselves a thing for European style politics, meaning everyone fancies themselves as being "in" on the joke. Except the joke isn't funny unless you're an asshole.

If you'd have told either of my Grandfathers, not to mention *Any* of the stodgy old conservative Republican retirees (most of whom were active in local politics in the 1980's and 1990's) or my Republican, Vietnam-Veteran Uncle Bill, or any of the other guys who taught me about what being a Republican was...about Milo Yiannopoulos I can guarantee you that they'd have burst out laughing. I can guarantee you that the word they'd have used to describe him sure as hell would not have been "Conservative" with either a large or small "c." The word you're looking for here is "Faggot" probably with a boatload of other negative adjectives to go with it. I was taught that acting like that was Not OK, but an awful lot of the old guys I grew up around would've taken up my share, and gladly, and truth be told I'd have laughed at their jokes.

Why? Because that is what people like Milo the fag deserve, and would get in a rational, sane world. He'd get laughed at, have it possibly violently explained to him that his bullshit wasn't funny, and be told in no uncertain terms to get a real job and take that "Dangerous Faggot" shit somewhere else.

Before very long (And, I think, because the poster of the thread had an Arabic or possibly South Asian name, not that this means anything concerning religion) all these idiots kept trying to change the subject from Milo to Islam, and eventually (since, for a good part of this time I was at work) I just left the discussion and started blocking idiots.

More than one of these fucking people had the term "Shitlord" in their "Name" on Twitter and while I don't have the slightest idea what the fuck that means I know it's something that some of these modern Nazis like to call themselves.

Folks, I'm 43 years old, and if I hung that kind of terminology on myself in a public capacity online or off and my Mom found out about it I'm pretty damned sure my shit would get wore right the fuck out and the next Lord I'd be talking to would probably be the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the afterlife, rather than in prayer.

As I have also said before, some things are not done in the better places. This is not negotiable at all.

It's not just that, though. Understand this: Most, if not all, of the people who taught me would be appalled at the idea of so-called "Conservatives" adamantly and with much invective defending a homosexual twit who harasses women online for kicks while simultaneously demeaning Islam.

While I, most people in general, and even most of my family and friends (including even some of those stodgy old Republicans) and my late uncle before he died, evolved to some degree ranging from grudging tolerance to full acceptance on the gay thing...for most of my life, I'd say up until the drive for Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal got really strong...being a gay person was viewed at least somewhat negatively. I'm not saying that's right, I'm saying that's how it was.

You know how that changed? Work, a lot of it. Effort and good conduct and reaching out to people like me, not with insults but with understanding. And, because I was taught to treat gay people like everybody else and to mind my own business as regards the sex lives of others and to not have a problem with those who are different...I am today an enthusiastic ally of those people in most cases.

But I reserve the right to laugh at those who act ridiculous, and I've little tolerance for those who want to do whatever they want, but who undermine the freedom and respect and rights gained by their own people. I reserve raw, angry, naked hatred for those who will exploit and use others, without extending them the courtesy of the same rights they cheerfully claim. Milo especially, likes to be sodomized by black men and (last I knew) has a Muslim boyfriend. Now, I don't care, whatever floats his boat. But give the people you share your body and your life with the same respect as you'd expect to get yourself...or leave them be.

Otherwise, how's Milo any different than a straight, wife-beating misogynist?

Islam, on the other hand, was and is an ancient and respected world religion with influence over history and life and our modern world on a scale so vast that most people can't comprehend it, and it's easily as diverse and has as many degrees of practice and levels of devotion as Christianity itself. With my own eyes, I've seen Turkish girls, International students, who were distinguishable from the American girls they chatted with over coffee only by their names, accents and occasional ESL issues. I've seen Saudi women wearing Abaya and Hijab or Niqab in 100-degree heat as the midday sun blazed overhead who spoke with no men at all, save family as they went about whatever business they were attending to...and that is just one example. 

Perhaps more to the point, even though I have been around the world a bit and seen these things elsewhere...the two examples I just named have been observed in the small city in Michigan where I live. I picked them for that reason, and they involved a college classmate, my friend Dilek, and my across-the-street neighbors from my old apartments. Mohammed's wife (whose name I knew, but which escapes me at the moment) scarcely said two words to me, nor I to her, beyond the customary exchange of "As-Salaam Alaykum" (Peace be upon you) and "Wa Alaykum Salaam" (And upon you, Peace) and that was fine. Mohammed was in my World of Warcraft guild for quite awhile when I had it. We made friends when I helped him dig his minivan out after a snow storm, so that he could take his wife to her class at the university. I'd hazard a guess that most of the Muslims I've met probably value learning more than all these idiots I ran into on Twitter over the last couple of days. While we're at it, one day when I saw him my neighbor asked me (knowing that I come from a Christian background, though I was less in tune with that then, than I am now having accepted my Christian-influenced Agnosticism and called it even) if I'd pray for his wife, because she, this Saudi woman, was taking her road test to get her driver's license.

I did so, enthusiastically. You want to know how to subtly undermine fourteen centuries of stoic religious tradition? There you have it, right there.

People are people. There's a small population of Muslims around here, Medical staff from the hospital or faculty, staff and students from the University, mostly immigrants, and a few white American converts (actually, the technical term is "revert" because like Baptists, many Muslims believe everybody is born with some knowledge of religion. So, in their context, you don't come to it, you come back.) That said it's not the least bit unusual to see bearded-and-skullcapped young men in groups at Wal-Mart. I quietly and respectfully watched over one guy, one afternoon as he knelt to pray in the cold with his jacket off...I wanted to make sure no one would bother him...and was moved to take a moment for spiritual reflection my own self. After he was done, I walked over and talked with him for a few minutes...and we had more we agreed on than we didn't, as it turned out. It is likewise not unusual to see a group of Muslim girls wearing brightly-colored Hijab at the bus stop, or the grocery store, and I can guarantee you that if you speak to them in Arabic or say "As Salaam Alaykum" to them, the smiles you will see will be as bright as the colors of their headscarves.

In and of themselves, neither conservatives nor gay people nor Muslims will usually hurt anybody. The problem, as it so often is, is when one combines anger and toxic ideologies with those things.

This is how you get people like the Pulse nightclub shooter, who was a gay Muslim seeking to lash out at a world that he felt hated him. This is how you get people like Milo the Fag, who doesn't have the guts to shoot anybody, but would probably laugh about it if his trolling behavior online caused a person to commit suicide. I don't know the man, but that's the vibe his public behavior gives me.

An old principle of conservatism that I was taught is that we are defined, and shored up or torn down by the company we keep and the things we stand to defend.  I don't care if it's not MY religion or my form of righteousness, I will always stand up for righteousness. I don't care if it's not my truth, I will stand up for it.

In these days of Republicans defending Communists and right-wing nuts defending homosexual internet trolls, it might be good to remember that. When people base their beliefs on lies, they believe a lie and the Bible has some bad things to say about what happens to such people. At the bare minimum, all these idiots defending that immoral shit-bag while denigrating Islam just scored a propaganda victory if some Takfiri motherfucker happens to find their bullshit. There's a ready example of the confusion and immorality of Western culture right there.

And you know what? I'm not sure I'd entirely disagree, I mostly disagree with the means to attack the problem. These idiots could get somebody killed. I'd prefer that they not be idiots in the first place. It's worth noting that I last posted a couple days ago...and some of these people are still arguing with me while I just ignore them and laugh. A lot of it sounds like rationalizations. They are wasting a lot more effort on me than I am on them.

I prefer truth, even when I don't necessarily go by everything I was taught anymore, at least I have a baseline with which to compare, contrast, and criticize stupidity. The truth is often inconvenient. The parts we don't follow still should be acknowledged.

It's gay whether you're a Republican or not. Nothing wrong with that, but it still is.

Oh, and the picture at the top? You figure it out...