Milo Yiannopolous, “the Kanye West of Journalism,” is no stranger to controversy when it comes to his “Dangerous Faggot” tour. In preparation for the “Social Justice is Cancer” event on June 2 at the University of California-Irvine, the university is recommending “Safe Zone training.”
The recommendation comes from Vice Provosot for Academic Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Douglas M. Haynes, part of the Office of Inclusive Excellence, in a campus wide message obtained by The Tab.
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The event has been drawing controversy for weeks, with advertisements reading “If you can take a dick, you can take a joke!!!” and “Make America Gay Again.”
Students reacted with complaints that the signs were “misogynistic” or invaded their “safe spaces,” But, that was the point. . “The posters did their job: they created a thought within the minds of students that they would not have otherwise had,” UCI College Republican President Ariana Rowlands told The Tab.
College Republicans at UCI, who are co-sponsoring the event along with the UC Irvine Young Americans for Liberty chapter, are running with the controversy and sensitive reactions. They released a press release on Tuesday detailing their plan to distribute baby pacifiers to students at 5:00pm at the UCI LGBT Resource Center/Cross Cultural Center.
The group describes their plan as “aggressively combating ‘Political Correctness.’”
UCI College Republican Treasurer Mitchell Stern further likened those opposed to Yiannopoulous to babies. “Leftists have killed Traditional Liberalism on American campuses. This new hyper form of Political Correctness has transformed college students into petulant 6 year olds who, when challenged with an opposing point of view, throw temper tantrums or lock themselves in their rooms to suck their thumbs,” he said.
UCI College Republican Social Chair Carl Olson said that the pacifiers will “help them cope with the appearance of a conservative speaker on campus” when it comes to “those who are too timid or have been mentally incapacitated to engage in debate.”
UCI College Republican Chairman Emeritus Robert Petrosyan called out the group’s “totalitarian” opponents. “These so called Safe Spaces are an anathema to free expression and are a not so vailed form of ‘totalitarian group think’ where ideological deviation is not tolerated and outside opinions are to be destroyed, not challenged.”
Red Alert Politics spoke with a representative from the club about the event, who wished to remain anonymous on the account of feeling unsafe because of these so-called safe spaces. The representative mentioned “given administration reactions to problems in the past, none of us are surprised at all with the reaction we’ve gotten.”
The representative said they “absolutely” expect “heavy protesting.” While it’s not clear if these people are protesting on behalf of a certain group, many have made it known over social media that they will be banding together. The event will be guarded by officers inside and outside, including those arranged by the Orange County GOP.
The representative also mentioned a professional documentary about the event, which will be posted on YouTube in weeks to follow. Milo will come to the event, in costume, with this representative and other participating in the stunt. “It’s out there,” the representative said, “even for Milo.”
