I’m balancing two basic principles in my head as I try to deal with the despicable remarks made by Milo Yiannopoulos. The first is we must not judge someone for a partial statement and freedom of speech/expression must be permitted. This principle is balanced against the understanding that their are times when remarks can cause true harm to individuals and society so why the hell would you say them? Here is the basic remark Milo Yiannopoulous which involved discussing relationship with boys as younga 13″said there is merit to “some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming of age relationships.” He described, in particular “the relationships in which those older men have helped those young boys to discover who they are and give them security and safety and provide them with love . . . and sort of a rock where they can’t speak to their parents.” In response Milo has said “”I’m guilty probably of some very imprecise language, certainly, that my position on this is absolutely clear. I’m horrified by child abuse and I have a long reporting history of exposing people involved in it. I’ve exposed three pedophiles in my reporting history,” Yiannopoulos said in an interview with USA TODAY Monday. “Because this is something that happened to me, in my life, I think I always felt like I could talk however I wanted about it.”
TO CONCLUDE- I will wait and listen to see what occurs in the next few days before making a decision on whether Milo will be someone worth listening to in the future or switching the channel on.