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The Milo Yiannopoulos Book Deal Row

Started by Claude Balls, January 05, 2017, 05:53:09 PM

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Claude Balls

Where do you lot stand on the furore? Is it just hysterical Guardian reading types once again getting their knickers in a twist over very little?

Valid? Or an attack on freedom of speech?

http://www.advocate.com/media/2016/12/29/publisher-denounced-over-milo-yiannopoulos-book-deal

George Oscar Bluth II

No-one has a right to a book deal because of "free speech"

"Free speech" also gives people the right to criticise a book deal, or to criticise the writer of the book.

Happy to help.

Blue Jam

Meh. Unlike his Twitter abuse, his targets can at least easily avoid the book by not buying it.

No need for a boycott here- Threshold Editions are "a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster", and looking at a selection of their titles here I don't think there are any I'd want to buy anyway:

http://www.thresholdeditions.com/







Looks like the perfect publisher for the creepy git.


imitationleather

I wonder if he's going to have it ghost-written or actually attempt to write it himself. Because unless it's 140 characters long I've got to admit that he doesn't strike me as someone with the ability to write an actual full-length book.

Blue Jam

Quote from: imitationleather on January 05, 2017, 06:16:56 PM
I wonder if he's going to have it ghost-written

...and if he'll remember to pay the ghostwriters...

Pepotamo1985

Flavorwire ran a bizarre article that I'm not even going to bother linking to which refused to name him, then a few days later posted a navel gazing article 'discussing' whether the book should be boycotted or not (which I will link to; http://flavorwire.com/596740/book-deal-for-troll-harasser-spawns-debate-to-boycott-or-not-to-boycott). Sounds like a bunch of marketing positioning to me - which I'll imagine will boost his sales significantly.

mobias

Its a weird book deal. If only from the the point of view that the success of Milo Yiannopoulos seems to be entirely online. Do any of his 'fans' buy books? They don't strike me as the sort of people who would pay good money to hear his opinions when they can just read them for free online. Ironically I suspect most of the sales of this book will be to people who hate him and just want to know how awful it is. 

George Oscar Bluth II

A "boycott" of a rightwing troll's book by leftwing people seems a little...needless.

It's a cheap cash in released by cunts, no-one was expecting you to buy it.

Quote from: mobias on January 05, 2017, 06:22:16 PM
Its a weird book deal. If only from the the point of view that the success of Milo Yiannopoulos seems to be entirely online. Do any of his 'fans' buy books?

This is an interesting question.

Pepotamo1985

His recommendation is people buy a copy for a feminist/SJW friend.

While I get he's just a trolling cunt, and thrives entirely on the attention and outrage his antics and statements generate, it's difficult not to absolutely, passionately loathe him. Especially as he's so frequently given a mainstream platform to air his 'views'.

I seem to remember reading this is the third book he's announced he's writing/has written, but the other haven't materialised. Sadly, I don't think there's much hope this will similarly be fictional.

Funcrusher

This is just giving him a ton of free publicity, which he'll be loving. Of all the things for anyone in the left to be concerned about at the moment, Milo writing a book is the absolute bottom of the list.

George Oscar Bluth II

Quote from: Pepotamo1985 on January 05, 2017, 06:25:47 PM
His recommendation is people buy a copy for a feminist/SJW friend.

While I get he's just a trolling cunt, and thrives entirely on the attention and outrage his antics and statements generate, it's difficult not to absolutely, passionately loathe him. Especially as he's so frequently given a mainstream platform to air his 'views'.

My problem with him, and also with Katie Hopkins, is that I don't think he sincerely believes any of this. If he thought there was more money to be made being a leftwing radical, or an anarchist or something I'm sure that is what he would be. Let's not forget he pivoted from taking the piss out of gamers as loser virgins to being their biggest advocate when he saw Gamergate starting up.

Which is why any media outlet that invites him on has failed. What do we learn from a guest who believes nothing and says whatever is likely to get him the most attention? He has nothing of interest to say, fuck him.

Twed

Edit: Better not write that actually, it'll get misconstrued as a threat by some alt-right shithead and I'll have to live in gitmo

imitationleather

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:34:59 PM
My problem with him, and also with Katie Hopkins, is that I don't think he sincerely believes any of this. If he thought there was more money to be made being a leftwing radical, or an anarchist or something I'm sure that is what he would be. Let's not forget he pivoted from taking the piss out of gamers as loser virgins to being their biggest advocate when he saw Gamergate starting up.

Which is why any media outlet that invites him on has failed. What do we learn from a guest who believes nothing and says whatever is likely to get him the most attention? He has nothing of interest to say, fuck him.

Him being gay and endlessly going on about loving to fuck black men is as blatantly trolling his own followers, who I can't imagine have the most liberal views on homosexuality or inter-racial relations, as it gets.

Blue Jam

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:23:43 PM
A "boycott" of a rightwing troll's book by leftwing people seems a little...needless.

Just like that "petition to boycott Kellogg's" then, so pretty apt.

I think it's the authors and reviewers S&S are worried about, not the consumers. A few of S&S's authors have vowed to find new publishers, and some media outlets have already vowed to not run reviews of any books they publish. I think some bookshops have also threatened to not stock their books.

Bruce Springsteen's autobiography was published by S&S, I'm sure he'll have something to say about all of this.

Pepotamo1985

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:34:59 PM
My problem with him, and also with Katie Hopkins, is that I don't think he sincerely believes any of this.

Yes, exactly. What's amazing about his ban from Twitter is he had frequently been much worse prior but never got in trouble for it whatsoever. Back in the days of the Kernel, he was just relentlessly blasting vile abuse at anyone and everyone, desperately trying to improve his and the magazine's visibility. For instance, he told a female journalist who wrote about sex she was no different than a cocksucking prostitute and to 'back off, bitch' IIRC.

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:34:59 PM
If he thought there was more money to be made being a leftwing radical, or an anarchist or something I'm sure that is what he would be. Let's not forget he pivoted from taking the piss out of gamers as loser virgins to being their biggest advocate when he saw Gamergate starting up.

Indeed. What annoys me most, though, is how utterly symbiotic Milo and the people he attacks are. So many are absolutely willing accomplices in all this.

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:34:59 PM
Which is why any media outlet that invites him on has failed. What do we learn from a guest who believes nothing and says whatever is likely to get him the most attention?

To be honest, I think most meeja figures on the right fit this mold now. As culture and society has shifted rightwards, just being a bit racist/sexist/homophobic/tasteless doesn't grab attention any more - you need to be utterly, insanely, wantonly offensive for people to take notice. And there are a huge number of people willing to oblige.

Here Comes Mongo

He makes a living touring US college campuses where his audiences seem to be impressed by his 'outrageous' and theatrical gimmickery whereas in the UK I don't think he could get by on style over substance. For instance, even if he was going to speak to a conservative audience in this country, I doubt there'd be much currency in these sorts of antics:



And having a posh English accent also seems to be something of an asset in the States.

Blue Jam

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:34:59 PM
My problem with him, and also with Katie Hopkins, is that I don't think he sincerely believes any of this. If he thought there was more money to be made being a leftwing radical, or an anarchist or something I'm sure that is what he would be. Let's not forget he pivoted from taking the piss out of gamers as loser virgins to being their biggest advocate when he saw Gamergate starting up.

Indeed, back when when feminism was having a moment and lots of comedians, writers and journalists were jumping on the feminism bandwagon and getting attention, newspaper columns and book deals, Yiannopoulous also called himself a feminist and got attention by calling gamers rapey and calling out Twitter for not doing more to prevent bullying. He's just gone to the alt-right because that's where the money is now.

Quote from: George Oscar Bluth II on January 05, 2017, 06:34:59 PMWhich is why any media outlet that invites him on has failed. What do we learn from a guest who believes nothing and says whatever is likely to get him the most attention? He has nothing of interest to say, fuck him.

Perhaps the most offensive thing about Yiannopoulos, Hopkins, Brendan O'Neill etc is how very boring they all are. Those opinions they pretend to hold are just dog-whistle journalism, they aren't original or insightful or even expressed eloquently.

The most annoying thing about them is that they're all so tedious they make you wish they'd just shut up and fuck off, but if you told them that they'd take it as an admission that they'd "touched a nerve" or that you "can't handle the truth" and consider it a victory, and your words as a criticism that "just makes me stronger" rather than considering that maybe they are tedious and untalented and that perhaps they really should try to be better or just fuck off. They're like those people who would rather scream until they're blue in the face than swallow their pride and admit they're wrong and who "win" arguments simply by making their opponents realise they're wasting their breath and giving up.

Most of these writers are also utterly talentless. Someone in the Guardian comments section jokingly suggested that Yiannopoulos could be the next host of Top Gear, and that started an interesting little discussion in which people pointed out that Clarkson isn't just a million miles to the left of him and infinitely less obnoxious, but that he also has some discernable talent. I have to agree- while I rarely agree with anything Clarkson says, he can write, I have laughed at his columns, he's a charismatic presenter and I have to admit I do find him entertaining. He's offensive but capable of being amusing with it- I can imagine going to the pub with Clarkson and disagreeing violently with everything he says but having a bloody good laugh with him all the same, while if I went to the pub with Yiannopoulos I'd spend the evening rolling my eyes at his inanity and then wanting to scrub myself with bleach the second I got home.

AA Gill is another one to compare them all with. Gill may have been loathsome and held some highly questionable opinions but he had a way with words and a lot of his writing was worth reading- there are several examples in the thread about his death. With Katie Hopkins you just need to read whatever deliberately offensive soundbite is being spread round Twitter and you've got the gist, and no urge to read the rest of the article it came from. The only article of hers I have ever bothered to read in full was her Hillsborough piece for the Mail, and even that consisted of fatuous "speaking as a mother"-type crap- it read like her best impersonation of a person who is actually capable of empathy. Yiannopoulos's articles are even worse, just unreadable noise.

It's depressing that there are so many people who are impressed by the current crop of right-wing attention-seekers- someone here called Yiannopoulos "the right-wing Russell Brand" and I think that summed up just how unimpressive he is, and just how annoying it is that he has so many starry-eyed fans. Russell Brand and the fans of his political stuff were annoying in the same way, they're just the other side of the same coin.

How long before people get bored of this whole journalistic trend and it finally passes? What will come next, and in this "post-truth era" will it be even worse? I'm not too optimistic.

imitationleather

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 05, 2017, 08:55:41 PM
How long before people get bored of this whole journalistic trend and it finally passes? What will come next, and in this "post-truth era" will it be even worse? I'm not too optimistic.

Good post. But I don't think anything comes after this. It's Hopkins, Milo or people managing to be even more button-pushing and mindlessly offensive until the end of time now. Actual journalism is dead.

touchingcloth

Quote from: mobias on January 05, 2017, 06:22:16 PM
Do any of his 'fans' buy books? They don't strike me as the sort of people who would pay good money to hear his opinions when they can just read them for free online.

Yes, some of his fans buy books. A fair number of people in my extended family are fans of Milo (and Farage, and Trump, and just about any other successful troll you care to mention), and they are also voracious readers, buying cranky books by the library load under the impression that publication[nb]In the sense of the traditional form of a bound volume - they don't hold, say, peer reviewed journals in the same esteem.[/nb] confers truthiness. In my experience, they don't tend to read the books so much as skim them for quotes, or else they just leave them out on coffee tables in the hope they'll prompt arguments discussions.

These same people tend to be all over Facebook with endless shares from various rightwing pages, though they're less of the old school thuggy racist Britain First type, and more often pages called things like "Reem Memes With a Rightwing Theme". Seriously.

Pepotamo1985

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 05, 2017, 08:55:41 PM
Perhaps the most offensive thing about Yiannopoulos, Hopkins, Brendan O'Neill etc is how very boring they all are. Those opinions they pretend to hold are just dog-whistle journalism, they aren't original or insightful or even expressed eloquently.

Yeah, it's all a bit 'mental right wing hate on acid' isn't it? Like, it's tiring how outlandish they try to be. I thought this whole charade died with Ann Coulter, who was resorting to coming out with endorsements of slavery and the like just to get people to listen to her by the end, but no.

Milo was interviewed recently about refugees in Europe and his every sentence was very obviously designed to get SJWs on Twitter afoamin' and his twatty idolotary applauding, just ludicrous shit that no one could ever possibly actually believe unless they were mentally ill. And it worked. His every utterance is pure clickbait, yet people still fall for it - or pretend to. That was what I was alluding to when I said it was a symbiotic relationship - Yiannopocunt needs people to be offended by what he says, and SJWs need to be offended by something. They both deliver in spades, make each other's jobs easier. It's like a never-ending version of that exercise powder ad campaign.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote
Which is why any media outlet that invites him on has failed. What do we learn from a guest who believes nothing and says whatever is likely to get him the most attention? He has nothing of interest to say, fuck him.

Phew, and that worked with Katie Hopkins too OH WAIT

Blue Jam

Quote from: Pepotamo1985 on January 05, 2017, 11:15:21 PMThat was what I was alluding to when I said it was a symbiotic relationship - Yiannopocunt needs people to be offended by what he says, and SJWs need to be offended by something.

I've said before that this need to offend is why Yiannopoulos will never start his own right-wing rival to Twitter- it'd be an echo chamber, and he'd have no fun with there being no left-wing people to piss off and to argue with.

I also suspect that Milo Yiannopoulos and Laurie Penny would probably be up for a quick hatefuck if they could both be 100% sure that no-one would ever find out- who knows, maybe they've already had one. Urrrggghh.

imitationleather

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 06, 2017, 12:27:32 AM
I also suspect that Milo Yiannopoulos and Laurie Penny would probably be up for a quick hatefuck if they could both be 100% sure that no-one would ever find out- who knows, maybe they've already had one. Urrrggghh.

Jesus Christ. Really didn't need to have that implanted into my head just before turning in for the night.

I wish I was one of the people who can't do mental images!

Blue Jam

Sorry not sorry:



The man who makes feminists angry because we want him but he's unattainable, apparently... Seriously, why aren't there any right-wing pin-ups? The left have Justin Trudeau, Alex Tsipras, Barack and Michelle... No wonder the right are so angry and frustrated.

Blue Jam

On the subject of Milo's bizarre appearance, a friend of a friend was at that Men's Rights event in London where he did a talk last year (he wasn't there as a punter, he was working there doing the sound or lighting or something) and reported back that the audience included a startling number of young men with bleached-blonde hair and sleeveless slogan t-shirts, all clearly trying to emulate their hero, or perhaps just trying to catch his attention. He said it was a truly creepy sight to behold, like walking into a cult.

I bet those men will eventually look back on that day and cringe themselves to death.

I've never seen anybody comment on Milo's curious mannerism of always tilting his head slightly forward, which means he has to tilt his eyeballs upwards in order to look people in the face. This makes him very awkward to watch, as every attempt he makes at being declarative is undermined by an odd demeanor that makes him look perpetually out of his depth.

Shaky

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 06, 2017, 12:52:47 AM
On the subject of Milo's bizarre appearance, a friend of a friend was at that Men's Rights event in London where he did a talk last year (he wasn't there as a punter, he was working there doing the sound or lighting or something) and reported back that the audience included a startling number of young men with bleached-blonde hair and sleeveless slogan t-shirts, all clearly trying to emulate their hero, or perhaps just trying to catch his attention. He said it was a truly creepy sight to behold, like walking into a cult.

I bet those men will eventually look back on that day and cringe themselves to death.

I hope this friend of a friend flicked the lights on and off to annoy everybody, or shouted, "Tossers!" through the speakers.

biniput

Quote from: Monsieur Verdoux on January 06, 2017, 01:33:42 AM
I've never seen anybody comment on Milo's curious mannerism of always tilting his head slightly forward, which means he has to tilt his eyeballs upwards in order to look people in the face. This makes him very awkward to watch, as every attempt he makes at being declarative is undermined by an odd demeanor that makes him look perpetually out of his depth.

Isn't that all a bit Lady Diana?

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 06, 2017, 12:46:18 AM
The man who makes feminists angry because we want him but he's unattainable, apparently... Seriously, why aren't there any right-wing pin-ups? The left have Justin Trudeau, Alex Tsipras, Barack and Michelle... No wonder the right are so angry and frustrated.

The right have Lauren Southern, who is fitter than almost everybody.  Trudeau is goofy-looking, like the unloved brother of Owen and Luke Wilson.  I think Barack and Michelle are more attractive because of the way they carry themselves than any raw physical beauty, neither would turn my head in the street.  I'd argue Milo is objectively better-looking than Tsipras.  Marion LePen is sort of fit in an evil way.  Depending on where Chris Hitchens falls in your eyes (a lot of right-wingers parrot his opinions on a lot of topics), there was something very sexy about him as well.  His brother, considerably less so.

But then again, I do tend to find right-wingers kind of sexy.  Call it a fetish.