People who wondered what the fuss was about when Milo Yiannopoulos visited here should read Dangerous, in which he shreds the New Left (his term, not mine) and dissects popular cultural attitudes pertaining to freedom of speech, political correctness, feminism among other topics du jour.

“Where did he come from?” wondered the BBC but that revered public broadcasting medium should know; Milo is not afraid to say things most commentators could and would not.  That it falls to Milo, British, Jewish and exultingly gay, to uphold the western conservative tradition is a thought-provoking revelation in itself. More important, he knows of what he speaks, and does speak, in scalpel-sharp, succinctness:

My views are nowhere as near as radical or “hateful” as my opponents pretend to think they are. I believe in free speech, freedom of lifestyle – for hedonistic liberals and traditional conservatives both- and in putting facts before feelings…the new brand of political correctness….is the idea that no speech should exist that directly challenges politically correct ideas… Freedom of speech is America’s most cherished right, and implicit in freedom of speech is the freedom to disagree.

And boy, does Milo disagree. He pulls from behind the PC curtain the historical backstory of identity politics, rooted in Marxist ideology, boosted by the Italian Marxist Gramsci’s notion of cultural, rather than class-based struggle.

Gramsci believed the working class held to old, conservative ideas such as patriotism, family values and religion – ‘cultural hegemony’ should be broken down. Proletarian intellectuals should challenge the dominance of traditional thought in education and the media, to create a new revolutionary culture.  Thus the pivot (to use that term) away from traditional class politics into new frontiers; abortion, gender roles, “racial justice’ immigration, multiculturalism and radical feminism, targeting white males, the most ‘privileged’.

Shocking, therefore, that the election victories of Trump, the triumph of the UK Leavers, even the (narrow) Coalition win in Australia last election, could demonstrate that the Leftists hadn’t yet won the war.  Name-calling and shaming took over, as straight white men, says Milo, replaced the bourgeoisie as the hated oppressor class.

And, continues Milo, “it’s why I, an obnoxiously proud gay man, continue to be called homophobic.’

Milo has journalistic cred. His 5,000-word article, An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right co-written by Milo and Allum Bokhari, was picked by Bloomberg Businessweek for its annual Jealousy List, stories that BB wished it had published. BB listed the Washington Post, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, Deadspin and Milo’s piece, in Breitbart.

‘Dangerous Milo’ is dangerous. Reading it, it’s impossible not to understand what exactly is going on, under the guise of cultural shifts.

Better still, buy the book. Milo is fearless. And we need fearless.

Dangerous is published in Australia by Wilkinson Publishing.

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