Shermer Woos Up

 

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2016/08/michael-shermer-update.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2018/06/michael-shermer-update-2.html.
As I said, these things can take a long time, with a lot of backtracking, doubts and regressions. However, based on Michael Shermer's recent Tweets I'd say he has just taken "the next step". On New Year's Day Matthew Livelsberger allegedly drove his Tesla Cybertruck up to the entrance of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas and blew up the huge stash of explosives it contained. Since then many issues and questions have arisen about this incident, which I cover here: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2025/01/ufo-disclosure-2025-disclosure-president.html. One of those questions is how Livelsberger's military ID survived the destruction where everything else inside the car was incinerated. This is reminiscent of the infamous hijacker's passport of 9/11. Shermer posted the following extraordinary statement: "While I'm posting like a crazed conspiracist, before I regain my rationality let me wonder how it is that the Cybertruck driver's body was burned beyond recognition inside a vehicle that contained the blast so well that no one else died and the hotel glass doors didn't break... but his ID and phone with explanatory letters were fully recoverable, just lightly singed. Alrighty then...!" Source: https://x.com/michaelshermer/status/1875367852037042296. One of the most remarkable things about this Tweet is the slightly tongue-in-cheek joke at the start about the conspirasphere and skeptisphere. It feels like he already understands the conundrum of his own society and has been harbouring subversive thoughts for quite a while. He followed up a bit later with this: "I know, eventually we will have explanations for why the fire mostly destroyed his body but preserved his ID and phone, why even though his family says he loved Trump and Musk he blew up a Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel, why he was suicidal even though his girlfriend says he wasn't and how PTSD explains all this. I'll probably make that case myself. But for now, you have to admit, this is most peculiar." Source: https://x.com/michaelshermer/status/1875383421918474714. Here he is clearly being sarcastic. He also sounds a slightly bitter, possibly as a result of the replies he received from his peers on the first Tweet. Some were exactly as I have always predicted they would be: "Wouldn't expect this from you, Michael!"... "lol conspiracy theorist/crank is now your brand." Others were from our side teasing him a bit, reminding him of his past; such as how he had written an article over twenty years ago explaining how the 9/11 passport story was AOK. I decided to do a bit of that myself in a light-hearted manner. I reTweeted his first entry with an adapted quote from Star Wars: "I find this lack of SKEP disturbing..." "Skep" being a word I invented, meaning an umbrella term for everything skeptical, the inversion of "woo-woo". I also sent him a meme that said "Don't lose the faith. Come on!"

One of the characteristics that define a cult is that there is never a legitimate reason to leave it. Former believers who break away are shunned by those left behind and inside the cult they are castigated, demonized and held up as scapegoats for everything else that goes wrong. Source: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2016/09/truth-mobbed-again.html. I have seen this trait in atheo-skepticism. (To be fair it also exists in the conspirasphere, to a certain extent, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/09/conspiracy-theory-deprogramming.html.) You can see it among skeptic publications and discussions whenever a former atheist speaks out. Also, look at the way Simon Holland has been treated since he switched sides. He's been called "Simon Hogwash" and has been accused to grifting. Yet Simon is the same person he always has been and when he was a skeptic his channel was monetized too; they didn't object to that back then. Why not treat him compassionately? Why not ask him why he has changed his mind instead of lashing out at him for doing it? If Michael Shermer crosses the aisle it will result in the most extreme example of hell having no fury like a skeptic scorned. All we can do is wait and see what happens; and we need to be there for him when his former supporters reject and turn on him. We must be ready to forgive him and give sanctuary to him. I actually Tweeted later in the day: "I was only kidding earlier, Michael. I respect you for going against the skeptic flow on this." Source: https://x.com/Porterhood/status/1875647140644712468.
See here for more background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.