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Even with his name splashed in the headlines and his story cast as "breaking news", the last thing this is about is Milo Yiannopoulos. To precis, in case you sensibly missed the whole thing: this hate-spouting, Donald Trump-supporting, far-right trollster had a lucrative book deal cancelled and a major speaking engagement at the American Conservative Union's CPAC conference revoked after comments he made, apparently saying sex between "younger boys" and older men was OK, surfaced online.

He then resigned from the far-right Breitbart news - following reports that some of his colleagues had threatened to quit if he wasn't sacked over those comments seeming to condone paedophilia (though Milo says they were taken out of context).

'Pwned?'

The internet is replete with background and detail on this story - and has been for some time. But, again, this isn't about one individual far-right provocateur. It's mostly about the busting of a persistent myth, that the far-right, in strange symbiosis with some liberals who should know better, are the new champions of free speech.

You know, that noble far-right cause cheered by US TV host Bill Maher just the other day, when he so agreeably had Milo on his HBO Real Time talk show and they both told us to stop being so sensitive over things such as racism and misogyny.

Terrible conflation

But meanwhile, what of all the liberal-minded insistence that characters such as Milo are really a test of our commitment to free speech and the right to offend?

Of course, this was always a terrible conflation of free speech principles with the decision to provide platform and airtime to people who use these to mainline hateful bigotry - support for free speech confused with actively giving someone a megaphone.

But it's now up to those who insist it was a free speech issue to begin with, to explain why those limits didn't apply when the abuse and harassment campaigns were directed only at women, ethnic minorities or the transgender community.

Truth to be told

In truth, it is rare that reality so neatly punctures a point. For commentators have repeatedly cautioned that far-right hate speech around Muslims and minorities gets absolved in a way that nobody would dream of doing if the subject were, just by way of stark illustration, child abuse.

Well, now here's the proof. Previously supportive conservatives and publishers couldn't back away from Milo fast enough once those comments about sex with underage boys came to light.

Those who had previously insisted we should debate the hate, not shut it down, seemed to vanish into thin air. It turns out that - who knew? - there are limits to free speech, after all, and even for the far-right.