Michael Shermer, sleazy lying grifter

Michael Shermer reminds us today how well-aligned he and many other members of the "Intellectual Dark Web" are with the Republican Party. It was already plain enough with Shermer's place on the board of advisors of far right-leaning FAIR.

But he decided to underline the fact by promoting a sleazy lie about the 1619 project. The lie was caught by Nikole Hannah-Jones herself. Note Hannah-Jones' use of the word "grifting" which is the perfect description for Michael Shermer. Well, that and "sleazebag."

Although Shermer has a lower profile than some members of the IDW, he may well be the sleaziest member of the IDW, as I observed over two years ago.

Shermer is willing to viciously attack others on behalf of Steven Pinker, thus allowing Pinker to maintain his facade of being a mild-mannered reasonable liberal good guy. Like the time Shermer called a critic of Pinker, who had a very valid beef with Pinker, a "cockroach."

As if this sleaziness is not enough, Shermer is also a big fan of pedophilia-apologist Camille Paglia.

This gives you some idea of Shermer's values - he and Paglia are seen here promoting right-wing hysteria about Foucault because of "post-structuralism" while ignoring Foucault's defense of pedophilia,  which, as has recently been noted, was not merely academic. 

Paglia is a long-time defender of pedophilia, as discussed recently on Pinkerite.

Shermer is apparently not a big fan of consent himself, according to Buzzfeed. As the late James Randi said, in the same BuzzFeed article:

“Shermer has been a bad boy on occasion — I do know that,” Randi told me. “I have told him that if I get many more complaints from people I have reason to believe, that I am going to have to limit his attendance at the conference.

Speaking of reactionary old white men, I had to laugh at Quillette showing its true colors for potential advertisers which I came across recently:

Quillette Podcast compliments the online magazine with audio interviews and discussions conducted by its staff editors Toby Young (UK) and Jonathan Kay (North America).

Guests have included:
- Sir Roger Scruton
- Tyler Cowen
- Michael Shermer
- Steven Pinker
- Jordan Peterson

Every single person mentioned in this promotional copy including staff editors Young and Kay is a creepy old reactionary white man. That's Quillette for you in a nutshell.