A friend of mine on Facebook exposed an incredible case of outright deception from a man I once respected as a skeptic.

From his Twitter postings:

Well, maybe the reason they seem so harsh towards you, Shermer is because they think you BETRAYED them!

Someone said in response:

Cathy Troester Seidenberg Anyone who uses the term SJW has no credibility in any discipline.

Other comments:

Michael Cluff Even before I knew of Shermer’s vileness, I couldn’t get through one of his books (can’t remember which one). He made so many logical shortcuts in favor of libertarianism it drove me to distraction.……He dismissed one moral concept by saying that it would lead to socialism.

Cathy Whiting I couldn’t continue with “The Believing Brain” after his digression into free-market economics early in the book. I’m an economist with extensive background in the libertarian perspective. His uncritical acceptance of the theory without reference to its notoriously questionable assumptions undercut his claim to be a skeptic too much for me to want to continue. Talk about the “believing brain”!

Later, he clarified his statement:

After seeing that, I commented on Facebook:

Last time I checked, progressive =/= communist, so what the hell could Shermer have been referring to? #libel

Others also replied:

Lisa Ridge I think he thinks that the progressive left is trying to force progressive ideals on society, thereby making them “authoritarian.” It’s not much of a stretch for libertarians.

Ophelia Benson That’s downright stupid. He’s mashing together authoritarianism and “identity politics” – which makes zero sense.

I then added:

Why would it be OK for a state to force racism on black people, but not OK for those blacks to fight back against it and make the state change its policies? I’d think Libertarians would applaud that, not condemn it!

Shermer’s delusion would be shared by YouTube atheist thugs like Thunderf00t, the Amazing Atheist, Sargon of Akkad, Armored Skeptic, and several other assholes.

But the funniest comment seems to be:

Tim Branin Some people want to kill all non-whites and rape all women, some people say we shouldn’t kill any non-white or rape any women. Clearly the most rational position is only to kill some non-white and rape only some women.

Here’s one more comment from me:

Libertarianism is to the intellectual right what Communism once was to the far left. And both are equally naive and ironically dogmatic in their approach. Both ideologies should be sent to hell.

For more about the sheer nonsense of attacking progressives the way Shermer did, read the following:

Falsehoods about the “regressive left”

Of course, there are extremists in every camp and they should be dealt with as individuals who bring disgrace to themselves. It is WRONG to use their bad examples to smear an entire ideology and the community that promotes it! Shermer himself is a perfect example of this; an atheist who other atheists think is unworthy of their respect because he is such an idiot on certain issues but won’t admit his limitations.