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.
@ Rosa
I do indeed; thank you! 🙂
And cheers again to panda pool for all your help and digging out those instructions for me.
@Alan
This one?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81iq05C37SL._SL1300_.jpg
Edit: Ninja’d!
Well, for future reference, pressing a picture in browser on the tablet would act as right click, although I don’t know about whatever browser Apple products use.
@WWTH
http://49.media.tumblr.com/2f0fcf3ddcfe46acd3d9694cfdac8e34/tumblr_n5ui2nmXeA1qlvwnco1_500.gif
@Alan
No problem. He looks good in that picture, too!
@ kupo
And thanks to you too!
@ panda
It’s a version of Safari but if you hold down it just gives the option to save or copy the picture, but copying and pasting didn’t appear to work. I obviously suck at iPads, but being a bloke, only I suck, not every bloke 😉
@Alan
This may or may not help. I don’t have an iPad to verify the instructions work.
@ kupo
I’m clearly a lost cause, leave me behind, I’ll only slow the rest of you down. 🙂
To Ben:
I’m just not going to talk to you anymore, because the urge to drag your sorry, ignorant sealion ass is too great.
So, I will ignore the temptation today. Mostly because I’d be repeating myself, and mostly because I can sit back and watch everyone else do it for me.
@Ben Cohen
Now that you’ve had some rest, perhaps you can answer the question that we’ve posed many times:
What do you expect us to do about the fact that Twitter took away Milo’s blue checkmark?
I need to put my contacts in…
That’s not a very manly and alpha thing to say. Shouldn’t you be likening yourself to Gandalf heroically staying behind to fight the Balrog while the rest of us flee in terror, clutching our Bowie and drag queen gifs?
You
http://31.media.tumblr.com/1f12dd05c1353a8f3192dd8b8f440e4e/tumblr_mqpyq3lmE71sx2peuo1_500.gif
Us
@ WWTH
Well my masterplan was that I’d let you think I was dead and let you struggle on on your own. Then in the final act, when you’re all surrounded by the baddies and think there’s no hope, I’d miraculously appear over the horizon and save the day.
You’d all be so relieved and amazed you wouldn’t stop to think how I’d actually managed that until a few hours after the movie.
I’m guessing the part were it’s explained in the movie is from the extended cut.
First of all I must say that David Bowie is a goddamn inspiration. I wish I had that level of charisma. Also, I very much enjoyed listening to ‘The man who sold the world’ at the opening of MGS5.
Also I missed the sealion, but boy was this one predictable
Actually, no you didn’t. Literally everyone just said ‘No, you’re wrong’ or felt zero sympathy for Milo. In other words, no, people here do not treat “any form of disagreement as trolling”, they just disagreed with you. But when you said condescending shit like this:
then you got treated as a troll.
Not to mention, you are being treated far more nicely here than anywhere else on the internet. Try disagreeing with fans of Milo, see how well that works for ya
I’d like to call this “The Dean Esmay Defense”, for “I will call my ideological opponents bigots/misogynists/racists without bothering to look those words up in the dictionary. Checkmate Feminists!”
I even like how the mercenary group you manage are called the “Diamond Dogs.” 😀
Somehow my comment didn’t make it through, take 2!
@NickNameNick
Yes! And wow *dramatic feigned surprise*, there are so many David Bowie references throughout the series that he’s got his own page on the metal gear wiki!
Well, as long as he’s still here, at least I have an excuse to continue posting gifs.
Given part of it takes place in Afghanistan – I was expecting some mention of “Aladdin Sane” in there…
@Moocow
You showed up late but your point is a convincing one.
Did anybody else notice that Benny Boy only responded to the two people he knows are dudes and ignored the rest of us? Gee, I wonder where I’ve seen that one before.
@SFHC: He did respond directly to me once or twice. He just ignored the bulk of what I had to say.
I think taking away his tiny blue tick is great. It totally invalidates his online persona, diminishes his celebrity. I like it
And make no mistake Milo deserves zero validation . His career is a joke
Is anyone in the UK watching The Big Questions on BBC 1 right now, guest starring Milo?