Quickie
One of the members of our writing group* has been reading a piece about becoming a fan--and meeting--a controversial right-wing figure. Eve's an ex-flower child hippie, and some of what she has been reading to us has been about how shocked she is to have become a fan of this guy. Over the past weeks she's been incredibly, annoyingly coy about who it is.
So, the other night, she reads her latest, which starts by excoriating the "liberal media" and how they all feed from the same trough instead of doing the heavy lifting of research and conclusions. Uh-oh. Turns out her idol is...Milo Yiannopoulis.** A gasp went through the room, and the atmosphere turned from happy to ugh! That's the only way I can describe it. Especially since it was a room full of centrist and liberal writers. We all stared at the floor or into space as she read. It pretty much killed the evening. Afterwards, she tugged on the back of my shirt. Apparently she thought I was okay with what she had written. First Eve started making fun of "millennial feminists" being upset by her work. "I hate some of his positions, but Milo's misunderstood! He's like Steve Bannon. A nicer Steve Bannon." "Do you mean like 'a nicer Hitler'?" She gave a little embarrassed laugh and I told her I very much needed to be on the other side of the room. Three of us shared a taxi and talked about how upset we were. My friend Chris has a friend who works with at-risk LBGT youth. To them, Milo is "the anti-Christ".
I'm sharing this because otherwise I won't get it written down. UGH.
*this is the group that has been listening to "The Princess And The Peeved" for the last year. I'm about halfway through. ACK.
** recent article about Milo
So, the other night, she reads her latest, which starts by excoriating the "liberal media" and how they all feed from the same trough instead of doing the heavy lifting of research and conclusions. Uh-oh. Turns out her idol is...Milo Yiannopoulis.** A gasp went through the room, and the atmosphere turned from happy to ugh! That's the only way I can describe it. Especially since it was a room full of centrist and liberal writers. We all stared at the floor or into space as she read. It pretty much killed the evening. Afterwards, she tugged on the back of my shirt. Apparently she thought I was okay with what she had written. First Eve started making fun of "millennial feminists" being upset by her work. "I hate some of his positions, but Milo's misunderstood! He's like Steve Bannon. A nicer Steve Bannon." "Do you mean like 'a nicer Hitler'?" She gave a little embarrassed laugh and I told her I very much needed to be on the other side of the room. Three of us shared a taxi and talked about how upset we were. My friend Chris has a friend who works with at-risk LBGT youth. To them, Milo is "the anti-Christ".
I'm sharing this because otherwise I won't get it written down. UGH.
*this is the group that has been listening to "The Princess And The Peeved" for the last year. I'm about halfway through. ACK.
** recent article about Milo