We've been ranting about the piteous and intellectually meagre rump that passes for this country's "conservative" commentariat (its conservatism is profoundly dubious, so more accurately denominated as reactionary Right) for some time now.
To say nowhere is its mindlessness more patent than in its passionate defence of their ideological fellow traveller Milo Yiannopoulos would be insincere – it's really just one example among many.
On Monday, Daily Telegraph columnist Tim Blair (who, by the way, we often find uproariously funny) opined in defence of the "entertaining libertarian".
"People see the types of scolds and dipsticks damning [Yiannopoulos, Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson] and reasonably enough conclude they must have something going for them," Blair wrote.
A fortnight ago, Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi (yet another Andrew Bolt copycat spawned by the Murdochs) damned student protesters who want to "falsely label" Yiannopoulos "as an extremist… but he is nothing of the sort", merely a "conservative firebrand".
Panahi was merely parroting Bolt himself four days earlier, who described Yiannopoulos as a "Trump supporter and gay cult hero" and entreated us to "Give Milo this hearing."
So we did. And here's what he was revealed to have said on Tuesday morning: "You know what, I'm grateful for Father Michael. I wouldn't give nearly such good head if it wasn't for him." If that was a joke, it probably wasn't very funny to victims of child sexual abuse.
Milo, 33, went on to describe sexual relations between young boys (he mentioned the age of 13) and older men as "some of the most important, enriching, incredibly life-affirming" and "hugely positive experiences."
"Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming-of-age relationships, the relationships in which those older men help those young boys discover who they are and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable kind of a rock where they can't speak to their parents…" This is not pedophilia, Yiannopoulos argues, because the (hypothetical) 13-year-olds have (hypothetically) reached puberty. Yep, really.
Here is a longer cut where Milo Yiannopoulos says that he "is advocating" for legal sex between 13 year olds! & older men. #CPAC2017 pic.twitter.com/1fiuv7TSKs
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 19, 2017
Milo's publisher Simon & Schuster has yanked his impending book, Dangerous, and his invitation to address the Conservative Political Action Conference this week has been withdrawn. But surely Bolt and his merry Sky News gang will step up and defend Yiannopoulos's right to advocate having sex with children? This is just more proof we need to rescind 18C! Right? Hello? Is anyone there?
