In this long episode, we look at several interviews conducted by notorious 'skeptic' author Michael Shermer on his podcast and "shitty YouTube channel", as it was memorably described by Rebecca Watson...

After an introductory discussion of Shermer and his... ahem... chequered history (to put it legally non-actionably), we boggle at the decidedly low-energy Mr Skepticism as he interviews psychologist of abuse and gaslighting Jennifer Fraser PhD about her book about abuse and gaslighting and her own history of being abused and gaslit, all without breaking a bead of sweat. This is Michael Shermer, remember. Then we take in some lowlights of his unbelievably vapid conversation with store-brand Bari Weiss, Bari Weiss's wife, Nellie Bowles, who is just... insufferable. We conclude by voyaging fully into the sickness as we tune into a discussion Shermer had with rabidly Islamophobic Zionist neocon warmonger and racist reactionary crank Douglas Murray, all about how Islam is a 'culture of death' and maybe Israel accidentally did some bad stuff in Gaza but, y'know, that's war, or something.

Big content warnings on this one. It's what I call a 'journey episode'. Not only is it over 2hrs long (we try to keep the length down but sometimes it's not possible) but all the way through it also raises topics that are very hard to deal with, including sexual and psychological abuse, and the manifold violent crimes of the state of Israel, including the Gaza genocide. And all through it, there is the personification of self-identified rational, logical, sceptical centrism nodding along like the libertarian reactionary and alleged abuser he actually is.

I've made time stamps for this one, for ease of navigation or multi-session listening.

The Intro to Shermer section starts around 13:50

The section dealing with the Fraser interview starts around 24:11

The Nellie Bowles bit begins around 1:04:00

And the Douglas Murray section starts at around 1:31:00

NOTES:

Rebecca Watson, "So I'm in the Epstein Files" https://www.reddit.com/r/behindthebastards/comments/1p1noab/so_im_in_the_epstein_files_rebecca_watson_on/

Rebecca Watson, "Epstein Files Reveal How Pathetic Richard Dawkins and Others Really Are" https://www.reddit.com/r/behindthebastards/comments/1p1noab/so_im_in_the_epstein_files_rebecca_watson_on/

PZ Myers, "What Do You Do When Someone Pulls the Pin and Hands You a Grenade?" What do you do when someone pulls the pin and hands you a grenade? https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/08/what-do-you-do-when-someone-pulls-the-pin-and-hands-you-a-grenade/

Mark Oppenheimer, Buzzfeed, "Will Misogyny Bring Down the Atheist Movement?" https://www.buzzfeed.com/markoppenheimer/will-misogyny-bring-down-the-atheist-movement

The Michael Shermer Show, "Douglas Murray on Hamas, Iran, and the Collapse of the Two-State Solution" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTTXoQ42wP4&pp=ygUObXVycmF5IHNoZXJtZXLSBwkJ0woBhyohjO8%3D

The Michael Shermer Show, "Shermer Says 5: What Went Wrong in Minnesota? Protests, Panic, and Personal Responsibility" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iZRwQ4ggFc

The Michael Shermer SHow, "The Psychology of Gaslighting, Bullying, Cults, and Coercion" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w37x_mIGOIA

The Michael Shermer Show, "What Happened to Journalism" https://youtu.be/uUfkVLkvPzk

PZ Myers, Michael Shermer is Scum https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/01/14/michael-shermer-is-scum/

PZ Myers, Shermer-Shrier Interview https://freethoughtblogs.com/reprobate/2021/08/01/the-shermer-shrier-interview/

Skepchick / Rebecca Watson, The Fascists are Lying about ICE Murdering an Innocent Woman https://skepchick.org/2026/01/the-fascists-are-lying-about-ice-murdering-an-innocent-woman/

Science-Based Medicine, Michael Shermer's Anti-Trans Obsession https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/fakeskepticshermer/

Legal Planet, False Equivalence Watch: Michael Shermer https://legal-planet.org/2013/02/10/false-equivalence-watch-michael-shermer/

SHOW NOTES:

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143: Michael Shermer interviews Douglas Murray and more