happens. Let's take some time out for some random observations and corrections to our collective perceptions.
1.Self proclaimed "debunker" falls for Gamergate con
First up, I'll indulge a spot of pointing and laughing at one of the owners of Screw Loose Change who was spreading gamergate propaganda at JREF. Either he's a gullible tool, or he's a secret supporter. For those lucky few who don't know the clusterfuck that is gamergate, here's a relatively short summary. Basically gamergate is another fringe political front. But Brainster is very interested in the debunked sex for review angle:
As for the death threats, this post claims that it is most likely that Anita faked them. Ten tweets in 3 minutes, the last of which Anita screen captured 12 seconds after it was posted.Uh huh. About that story:
BTW, I find the story about Zoe Quinn sleeping around to get positive reviews for her games more interesting.
...there is no evidence she "slept around for positive reviews." And to be honest I couldn't find anything more boring than someone else's sex life. Why are you interested in who someone else sleeps with?But the reply to the "Anita faked it" angle Brainster is pushing is the best:
Twitter does this thing where if somebody puts your Twitter name in their post, you get notified about it immediately. It doesn't strike me as unusual at all that that any Twitter user would be disturbed by the nature of the first few initial tweets and click the name to see the rest, and quickly screenshot such material before it can be erased. If the person who started the account began tweeting while Sarkeesian was logged into Twitter, she would've seen the tweets immediately. No skullduggery or Truthy conspiracism necessary.
That must have hurt, the owner of a blog mocking the "truth" movement being told by a fellow skeptic to stop being a Gamergate "truther". Priceless.
2. Next up in the How Far We Have Fallen category is Michael Shermer.
Shermer is best known in "truther" circles as a debunker celebrity often lauded at the SLC blog:
Screw Loose Change: Michael Shermer on the Truthers
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2008/.../michael-shermer-on-truthers.ht...Jan 24, 2008 - Uber-skeptic Michael Shermer discusses the troothers stalking his book tour in his latest podcast, and gets a couple of good shots in. The video ...Screw Loose Change: The Troofer Michael Shermer ...
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../troofer-michael-shermer-harassment....Jan 30, 2008 - Michael Shermer posts the series of videos from his recent troofer harassment, including the one I made at Powell's. Even more interesting ...Screw Loose Change: Glenn Beck on the Bill Maher Hecklers
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../glenn-beck-on-bill-maher-hecklers.ht...Oct 23, 2007 - Hint, he doesn't like them very much. He has on as guests uber-skeptic Dr. Michael Shermer and James Meigs from Popular Mechanics.Screw Loose Change: When Troofers Annoy
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-troofers-annoy.htmlJan 21, 2008 - I went and saw Dr. Michael Shermer at a booksigning tonight, for his new work on biology and economics, The Mind of the Markets. The speech ...Screw Loose Change: Shermer Versus Ryan Debate About ...
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../shermer-versus-ryan-debate-about-to....Nov 8, 2007 - Shermer Versus Ryan Debate About to Start. Click here and choose ... Labels: Kevin Ryan, Michael Shermer, Thom Hartmann. posted by Pat ...Screw Loose Change: Shermer Versus Ryan Debate Wrapup
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../shermer-versus-ryan-debate-wrapup....Nov 8, 2007 - Kudos to Michael Shermer for doing a very, very good job. There were only a couple of missteps. Always consider your audience and tailor ...Screw Loose Change: Troofers Take on New World Order
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../troofers-take-on-new-world-order.ht...Jan 17, 2008 - Incidently, Shermer is on a book tour, so if I can work it into my schedule I will try and go see him next week. ... Labels: Michael Shermer.Screw Loose Change: Book Review: The Believing Brain
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/.../book-review-believing-brain.ht...Nov 5, 2011 - The rest are interesting, even though I consider Shermer to be somewhat .... What does that have to do with a book by Michael Shermer?Screw Loose Change: Bits and Pieces
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/04/bits-and-pieces.htmlApr 16, 2011 - Nothing much new to report from the Troofer front. Jesse Ventura was on a radio program the other day with Michael Shermer from Skeptic ...Screw Loose Change: Truthers on NPR Connecticut
screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/.../truthers-on-npr-connecticut.ht...Apr 19, 2011 - Here are some more crazy people, talking to Michael Shermer in a bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnXDU4AiUQ&feature=
Timeline of harassment and sexual assault allegations against Michael Shermer
Events during Shermer's debunking Truther phase:
June 19, 2008 Alison SmithDisgusting doesn't begin to cover it. While one is tempted to blame Randi and he is ultimately responsible for what happens in his organization, it speaks well of him or at least of his pragmatism, that he's fired DJ Grothe formerly in charge of the JREF forums(and apparently an enabler of Shermer) and retaken the helm personally.
At The Amazing Meeting, Alison Smith, then-JREF employee through August 2010, and founder of the now defunct Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society (down) (cached copy), alleges that Michael Shermer plied her with alcohol to the point of losing time and memory, then brought her to his hotel room and had non-consensual sex with her. (This is known, in legal circles and to us Social Justice Warriors and feminazis, as rape.)
September, 2008 Pamela Gay
Gay has recounted in several places, without naming names, a story that while being introduced to Michael Shermer at Dragon*Con in 2008, he made a drunken lunge at her breasts instead of shaking her hand. DJ Grothe has related this story a number of times to a number of people, indicating that he had intervened to stop the public groping from happening.
May 2010 Ashley Miller
At a dinner event she attended featuring PZ Myers, Ashley encounters Michael Shermer, who allegedly spoke with her for several minutes while massaging his genitals through his jeans. She describes the incident here.
May 23rd, 2012 pseudonymous commenter Miriamne
A comment left at Friendly Atheist names Michael Shermer as allegedly having harassed her, and “trying to sleep with a new young woman every TAM”.
Nonetheless, it's a bit of a mystery why it too so long. I suspect Randi is very conservative, and while intelligent, it makes him susceptible to a certain type of charmer. While leftists can be duped by charm and out right lies, people heavily investing in the authoritarian right are the experts at living in DeNile, especially when that person appears to be a vocal fan and supporter.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Shermer has a questionable history with David Cole.
Mr. Cole-stien , adept conartist and Nazi apologist that he is, claims to have known Shermer since 1993 and has a photo to prove it:
Cole-stien goes on to rant:
I’ve known little Mikey Shermer since 1993. I tell many interesting stories about this “skeptic” fraud in my book, Republican Party Animal (available from Amazon, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble in the US, Waterstones and Foyles in the UK, Indigo/Chapters in Canada…but enough self-promotion).Given Holocaust Deniers don't actually have facts, it's unlikely Shermer was trying to suppress anything that supports the fraud of Holocaust denial. Much more likely Shermer, already under fire from rape allegations, was in damage control mode, trying to hide the rest of the skeletons in his closet. At the very least, showing Shermer presented himself to the public in a false light. For instance, no where in this Donahue show dated 1994 [Disclaimer:video uploader interjects commentary showing they have sympathy with Holocaust "revisionism". Am seeking a better copy of this show] does Shermer admits he knows Cole previously, apart from a couple of phone calls. Watching the clip, Donahue wonder's why Shermer is going in where other Jewish groups prefer not to tread. But if one looks at Shermer/Cole banter and Shermer's pugging his Skeptic magazine, a reason presents itself: this was great publicity for Shermer's magazine and gave him instant credibility among readers. Remember this was before the Internet.
Shermy got wind of the fact that I include quite a few pages of conversations that I recorded with him in 1994 – conversations in which he admits to defaming me and lying about my work regarding Holocaust revisionism. So, what did “Mr. Freethinker” do? How did “America’s leading skeptic and defender of free inquiry” respond?
He got his lawyers to serve my publisher with a demand to “refrain from publishing or distributing” my book! This is a man who slams religious institutions for stifling free inquiry and suppressing facts. And he wants to ban a book.
That’s some great skepticizin’ there, Mikey.
In light of Cole's exposure as a conartist, and Shermer's association with Cole, one has to wonder exactly how much of the truther/debunker/holocaust denial/forum trolling was a deliberate confidence game using JREF forums as a platform as an outpost of the cultural wars. Remember, in the beginning the 911 truth con was pitched to the Left and the loudest debunkers come from the Right.
Last Notes on Shermer's friend Cole:
- Earlier clip from show, Cole reiterates, in spite of his Jewish background, that he's an Atheist. [Disclaimer:video uploader interjects commentary showing they have sympathy with Holocaust "revisionism". Am seeking a better copy of this show]
- The entire claim pushed by Nazi apologists that Cole was driven into hiding by Jews is skewed: it wasn't Jews or "Zionists", but a man called Irv Rubin who represented a fringe rightwing extremist group. A brief reading of Wikipedia will show Rubin in no way represents the actions of mainstream Jews or persons who object to anti-Semitism.
A note about fellow Donahue TV participant Bradley Smith from the ADL:
Though he often tries to present himself as a free speech activist, Bradley Smith has functioned as a propagandist for the Holocaust denial movement since 1983. He has achieved his greatest notoriety as the director of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, whose mission is to disseminate Holocaust denial to students on college campuses. In more recent lectures promoting his book, Break His Bones, Smith has sought to refocus his message on the free speech issue and to “decriminalize Holocaust history.” Privately, he admits that his aim continues to be promoting “revisionism” and anti-Israel propaganda.
3. Last in the Laundry airing is Mia Dolan.
The "Mia Dolan" I know was responsible for exposing "gretavo" as Gustavo Espada, a member of Fetzer's Scholars group(a fact Espada has never admitted) in comments at the Daily Kos, where 911blogger users like "Cassiea" and "Vesa" were claiming to spread the truth. This was in 2006, but I never knew about it until years later, unfortunately. It would have been much easier to see it was all a scam by early 2007 if I had.
Sadly, Mia Dolan, however useful they've been confirming the Scholars/911blogger/Wtvdemolition scam, has chosen the screen name of a woman who claims to be a psychic:
Mia Dolan is an Isle of Sheppey-born best-selling author[citation needed] and self-proclaimed psychic based in the United Kingdom. She writes and teaches at her own psychic school.[1]While I personally know people who are "psychic readers"- basically talented empathic cold readers who attribute their skills to intuition and/or spirit guides, the money they "make" is a negligible gratuity and no different from visiting a therapist or priest.
When people are making thousands of dollars off so called psychic powers, that's a game changer. Dolan has been mentioned on James Randi's forum.
The "Mia" at Dailykos appears to be in Minnesotta, at least according to their blog, Minnesota DFL Caucus Reminder (with Poll).
Nonetheless, their choice of screen name should make one cautious about where exactly they're coming.
That's all for now. Given the convoluted nature of the "truther" fraud, this is unlikely to be the last of the laundry aired....
