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Culture February 2, 2017
Let’s all just calm down about Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos opening up a college scholarship exclusively for young white men.
The right wing provocateur has been widely condemned by critics for what seems like a move to boost support for white nationalism – and I’m certainly no proponent of that abhorrent idea.
But surely any scholarship is better than no scholarship at all. And better he spends his money on education for somebody rather than on some rich man’s playthings for himself like a sports car or speedboat.
It’s still a free country and if you are passionate about helping to educate a certain group you should be able to provide what support you can – even if it isn’t for a minority group.
But with his former colleague Steve Bannon now in the White House – the top adviser to President Donald Trump was previously executive chairman of Breitbart News – this “only white men” college scholarship is making many people especially uncomfortable.
According to the scholarship’s website, which started taking applications this week, each Yiannopoulos Privilege Grant comes in the amount of $2,500 and “is available exclusively to white men” who want to pursue college “on equal footing with their female, queer and ethnic minority classmates.”
The site does not specifically say the grant is only for straight men but that use of the word “queer” boosts the argument of those critics who have claimed sexuality will also be taken into account.
Yiiannopoulos is gay, but has been a critic of LGBTQ+ rights and even wrote a Brietbart article under the headline, “I’m Sooo Bored of Being Gay.”
He clearly wasn’t bored of writing insulting comments about others though and managed to get himself banned from Twitter last summer after a series of abusive comments about African-American “Saturday Night Live” star Leslie Jones.
Now he is taking criticism from social media and academia over his controversial scholarships plan which is part of “a white nationalist agenda clearly and unapologetically,” according to Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. “We should all be deeply troubled by the connection between Steve Bannon in the White House and Milo Yiannopoulos at Breitbart,” Glaude told CNBC.
This affirmative action for white men plan has been largely slammed as a tactic to create division on campuses and across the country.
But the fact remains: it’s his money and if he can spend it on educating who he likes.
