History repeats itself. In September 1939, Hitler launched World War II by blocking Poland on Twitter. In December 1941, the United States entered into the war after Japan subtweeted the American naval base at Pearl Harbor.
This past Friday, according to Breitbart, Twitter “declar[ed] war on conservative media” by taking away the little blue checkmark that used to run next to Breitbart “journalist” Milo Yiannopoulos’ name on Twitter, verifying that he is indeed the real Milo Yiannopoulos.
No, really. Here’s the headline of the piece that ran in Breitbart’s tech section on the terrible injustice done to young Mr. Yiannopoulos, who coincidentally just happens to run Breitbart’s tech section.
Now, Milo hasn’t actually been banned from Twitter. Twitter simply informed him that “due to [his] recent violations of the Twitter Rules” — he’s a bit of a bully — they were taking away his little blue checkmark. So now he has to navigate Twitter without a little blue checkmark, like the overwhelming majority of Twitter users.
Naturally, Milo’s army of fans has responded to this terrible tragedy with wisdom and restraint.
JUST KIDDING! They’re crying bloody murder on Twitter and harassing anyone they can blame for Milo’s de-checkmarking.
Referencing a slogan formerly used to honor journalists and others literally murdered by terrorists, Milo’s Twitter fans launched the hashtag #JeSuisMilo. It was ugly
Here are some scenes from the ongoing debacle that is that hashtag.
https://twitter.com/TheAmazingPleb/status/685651751685341184
https://twitter.com/rstafford9/status/685635514481786880
https://twitter.com/AlHolmes66/status/685863515916115969
https://twitter.com/GBedecker/status/686036916744097796
#JeSuisMilo
SJWs suck TwatLord anus at Twitter.— Rapier Half-Witt (@br549q) January 9, 2016
Naturally, there were rape jokes.
#jesuismilo Haters are going to hate, Salt is going to flow, Spread your butt cheeks darling and prepare for Milo
— Tengu Manz (@Tengumanz) January 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/MikeRotondo86/status/685666046443823104
In a variation on the old “I’m Spartacus” ploy, many of Milo’s fans pretended to be him. (The real Milo posts as @Nero)
https://twitter.com/MiloYiannopoul2/status/685699475290091520
#JeSuisMilo suck it, bitches.
— Ryuuko Matoi 🇷🇺 (@dustinherrick1) January 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/Nuclearcherries/status/685698288864079873
https://twitter.com/dunnolol4/status/685735953072193536
It didn’t take long for the Milovians to find women to blame for Milo’s plight. Many — including some of the fake Milos — went after Huffington Post writer Jessie Thompson, who wrote a piece defending Twitter’s actions. Many of her, er, critics seem to be big fans of the c-word.
https://twitter.com/QuintusMetellus/status/685867151060766722
https://twitter.com/PillboxHill/status/685927247581085696
https://twitter.com/JRocca26/status/685916008561963008
https://twitter.com/Jew_Banker/status/685901724180037636
https://twitter.com/goodboygreg/status/685845870336708608
https://twitter.com/herpefeminist/status/685849987230597121
But she wasn’t the only woman to draw the fire of the Milovians. Some used the hashtag as an excuse to attack familiar #GamerGate targets.
#JeSuisMilo Randi Harper is a fat wanna be whore who can get a man. She is repulsive and ugly.
— Evandros Vanderbilt Kensington (@evandrus33) January 9, 2016
@m55244084 Whores get paid though… Zoe does it for free .. sex I mean, She plays victim for Money though #JeSuisMilo
— The King of Worms Mannimarco (@AKingOfWorms) January 9, 2016
Others — again, including some fake Milos — used the hashtag to promote their own agendas — some silly, some horrific, some a mixture of the two.
#rape #meninism #feminismiscancer #jesuismilo #financialrape #misandry pic.twitter.com/h3gKvnRTgn
— a boy has no soul (@saumyajit_) January 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/fiendeJ/status/685643144076083201
https://twitter.com/Qildaen/status/685938406929481728
https://twitter.com/gazetchic/status/686237395893776386
#JeSuisMilo Asia for the Asians, Africa for the Africans, White nations for EVERYONE! It's #WhiteGenocide.
— ProWhitesUnite (@prowhitesunite) January 9, 2016
#MisceGenocide is genocidal, so promoting it is racist & offensive. #WhiteGenocide #Trump2016 #JeSuisMilo #tcot https://t.co/Ct2vusC8oK
— Ben L. ن⚡️🐸👌🏻 🙏🏻 RIP Ashli Babbitt 🙏🏻 (@BNLieb) January 9, 2016
@AntiMarxistMilo #JeSuisMilo #CulturalMarxism pic.twitter.com/A8l8Iisyv8
— Milo Yiannopoulos (@AntiMarxistMilo) January 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/_simpa_/status/685993767007088640
One fellow thought he knew the real reason feminists hate Milo.
#JeSuisMilo @Nero You know what? Every feminist should admit one thing: They are crazy about you. And you are unattainable. That hurts them.
— Jeff Goldblum FAN (@Super_Slav_KEK) January 9, 2016
A few even managed to work their “cuck” obsession into their Tweets.
First the Gamers rose up with #Gamergate
Now everyone that isn't an Beta cuck or Brainwashed Feminist is rising up with #JeSuisMilo— EVEILCHARM (@EveilCharm) January 9, 2016
In the news: Twitter went full cuck, Adolf Merkel gets more laws for something her immigrants did, and Milo reings supreme. #JeSuisMilo
— Jeff Goldblum FAN (@Super_Slav_KEK) January 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/Ideo_Vames/status/685659660104368129
You can tell something about writers by the fans they attract. Milo’ fans prove with every terrible tweet of their what a wretched bunch of bullies and bigots they are — and why Twitter needs to do more to crack down on the abuse that its platform enables.
Congratulations, Milo defenders, for own-goaling yourself so magnificently.
Just caught the very end – any pearls of wisdom from Milo?
@eyes open
“Women hate everything. Let me qualify this.” (He didn’t).
And his usual shtick about feminists being deliberately provocative so that they can then play the victim.
It was very heated and shouty,not a great debate to be honest. Nicky had to call for a ten second silence.
Did Yiannopoulos ever say whether or not he had gotten around to playing Hatoful Boyfriend?
I just saw The Big Questions. My goodness, no one sitting on the fence about the issue is going to come away from watching that thinking ‘That Milo came across nice.’ He showed himself to be the thoroughly nasty, vindictive and lying individual he is. He couldn’t even stop being creepy for the first thirty seconds. Everyone else was just minding their own business while Milo was shown in the corner to be basically looking down on everyone there.
There was ad hominem, there was the laughing his head off when the feminist was talking about being abused online, there was that pathetic woman who was defending him, who basically said anyone who didn’t agree with her was stupid- who the hell was she?- there was the hurling accusations and abuse across the studio, there was the awful, awful ‘logic,’ and a lot more besides.
I also love how the guy behind Milo completely demolished Milo’s ‘points’ in about two sentences. Go that guy!
I love how the BBC have basically let these people like Milo Yeah-NOPE!-olous talk in front of audiences and allowed them to incriminate themselves.