Conservative icon Milo Yiannopoulos finds receptive audience during OU appearance

Milo Yiannopoulos spoke to a crowd of almost 300 people about the failures of feminism, the patriarchy, OU’s graffiti wall, gender studies, Muslims and more Friday night. The conservative speaker is known for his extreme comments, but met almost no opposition from the audience.Yiannopoulos claimed in his speech that Western civilization is synonymous with the patriarchy, blasting modern feminists. “The patriarchy is a crutch feminists use to explain their personal failings,” Yiannopoulos said. “It isn’t their fault they couldn’t get a date, it is the patriarchy’s fault. It isn’t their fault they couldn’t get a job with a gender studies degree, it is the patriarchy’s fault.”The social media celebrity also addressed the OU graffiti wall, which sparked his initial interest in visiting campus. “Can you believe the Greek community had the audacity to put this up on your graffiti wall?” Yiannopoulos said, referencing a photo of the graffiti wall behind him. “My god! They wrote ‘Trump 2016!’ And ‘Build the Wall!’  How dare they? They never call for diversity of thought, or inclusion of conservatives, do they?”McDavis has called for several diversity initiatives after the controversial comments were sprayed on the wall, including the new CATS initiative, which also sparked Student Senate’s Bobcat Pledge button campaign, asking students and faculty to speak out against “racism, sexism, homophobia, bigotry or other forms of violations of human rights.”To close out his speech, Yiannopoulos gave a quote from General James Mattis, President elect Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense. Yiannopoulos described Mattis as “so cis-hetero, he makes Clint Eastwood look like a Thai ladyboy,” and the quote as “the most patriarchal quote” of his lifetime. The quote read:“You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.”OU College Republicans President David Parkhill introduced Yiannopoulos, and thanked those who had come, especially people who might not agree with the opinions presented. “We cannot expand our own horizons unless we go to events that contradict our own beliefs,” Parkhill said. “Being here proves that you believe in the university ideal of the freedom of exchange of ideals.”Parkhill called Yiannopoulos “a leader in the alt-right movement, a strong proponent of free speech and an even bigger proponent of strong conservative values,” before welcoming him to the stage. Yiannopoulos denied the claim of being alt-right, which the Associated Press defines as “an offshoot of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism and populism” in the questions section after his speech. “I’ve never described myself as alt-right in any interview. I’m grateful for the kind introduction, but no,” Yiannopoulos said. He also joked that he has a “wet dream” of bombing Mecca.After the speech, Parkhill said he did not entirely agree with everything Yiannopoulos said.“There were definitely a few things even I was not comfortable with, but I think overall the message was empowering,” Parkhill said. “It’s coming out against the mediocrity of our generation, against the entitlement; basically, ‘I’m not a white male, so I can’t get ahead.’ Go do what you want to do.”