MICHAEL SHERMER: THE UNEXPECTED VACCINE DEBATE
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Founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer makes a career of debunking false claims. But, when he tries to debunk RFK Jr, he inadvertently crosses into Del Bigtree’s investigative wheelhouse, launching the interview into an unexpected clash of self-proclaimed
“Skeptics.”
POSTED: October 16, 2023
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Omg CAN’T WAIT to hear the follow up on this!!!
Did we all just witness his wake up call?
I wish I could see his face when he realizes those studies are not there and have never been done.
I remember how I felt hearing it for the first time. My world came to a stand still I’ll never forget where I was when hearing this for the first time.
I used to believe the medical world until didn’t, and then started looking.
I wish I started looking a lot sooner, but I’ve never looked back.
Loved this debate!
I can wait to hear the follow up on this one.
Yeah, Shermer really didn’t know his stuff, so it would be nice to see something in his mag with some corrections!
I found Schermer on Twitter/X (@MichaelSchermer). I will make sure to follow up with him regarding his agreement to publish in his Skeptic Magazine his admission of error regarding his belief about childhood vaccines and inert placebo controlled studies.
Shermer should do his homework on who his opponent is before getting into the ring. He’s a smug little know it all, who is probably on Moderna’s payroll. Good on you Del.
Good on you Jim! Make sure to insist that he admits his error and prints it! This little man was probably deemed insignificant as a child, and now his Skeptic magazine is his way of feeling important. He clearly suffers from Little Man Syndrome.
No one agrees on what autism is. There is no physical component to an autism dx. No physical exam, no lab work, not imaging. It’s a psych eval. That says to me that no one know what it even is, where it is in the body, and how to objectively identify it. That right there is the biggest foundational problem with any debate. Shermer and his ilk can plausibly hide behind the better dx theory because he’s right that the umbrella expanded to the point where the word autism is almost meaningless. Establish a firm definition at the outset of a debate, or you’ll spend the entire time disagreeing on what it looks like.
side note, I think this was nefariously by design to hide the impact of severe autism on people, their families and their communities. By expanding the definition and allowing the neurodiversity crowd to yell at anyone who wants a cure, we’ve effectively consigned autism families to a lifetime of isolation.
Would be great to devote a segment on the Highwire to the follow-up and review of what Skeptic provides. Always fun to de-bunk the debunkers!
I wonder if that’s why they left this one till last in the freedom files series.
Yes!
Omg. What an ignorant little man Mr. Shermer is.
Shermer had all these facts at his fingertips except he was just dead wrong on everything he was saying. Should stick to topics he understands (if there are any).
Well done Del.
That was really bad. Michael Shermer clearly didn’t know your history with Wakefield. I had a doctor once try to tell me the same thing but I didn’t have my facts together like Del. I have no clue who Michael Shermer is but he is clearly not worth getting to know.
I feel like you. I know all the stuff about Wakefield and how he was wronged by the hideous Brian Deer and the hapless GMC but I could never get all these facts out of my brain at the speed of lightening (or should I say speed of science?) like Del can. A great skill he has.
OMG, Shermer had never even heard of ICAN! Well done Del. You exposed Shermer’s total ignorance of the vaccine debate several times in that short debate. And even got him to say he’d be happy to take a drug that was tested for a week!!!! That is cavalier to put it mildly.
$hermer the $chill, pushing, advertising for vaxxines and Climutt Dogma…. CONsensus P$Yence
$hermer the CONsensus P$Yence King, only followed closely by The Amazing James Randi and Bill Nye the P$Yence Guy. Wholly Profits of Doom, of The Orthodox Atheiocracy CULLt.
And of course 6ellzee6u6 Gates and fiends….
So agreed with Del that the whole “we’re diagnosing Autism more” is such BS. I’m over 40 myself and definitely had all my childhood vaccines before 1986, when I was growing up Autism was not as common as it is now. To be honest, I didn’t hear about the term autism until I was an adult and considering that my school definitely took the time to educate us on numerous disabilities and autism didn’t come up makes me really skeptical of the claim that we’re diagnosing it more. Anyone who has met someone with a severe case of autism would know that’s something you can’t miss.
But also keep in mind that the idea of an autism spectrum is recent. Before that autism only referred to the most severe cases and more mild ones were termed Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s was the more likely thing to not be diagnosed until later in life because most just thought that person was socially awkward or inept and that was a pretty common trait among those with high intelligence. I know multiple people who later in life got a diagnosis of asperger’s or being on the spectrum depending on when they finally got their diagnosis. This includes myself that didn’t get diagnosed until I was in my early 40s.
To be quite honest, I still highly disagree with asperger’s being merged with autism to make a spectrum. I personally feel that was done solely so that it could be claimed that we’re diagnosing autism more. The vast majority of those who got a diagnosis of asperger’s didn’t need help with basic tasks, we just needed someone to help us to understand how to better interact with people much like someone who isn’t blessed with academic skills may need someone to help them understand math or science. And to be quite honest, I don’t think most of those on the lower ends of the spectrum have an actual disorder any more than someone who isn’t good at math has a disorder for not picking it up naturally when it’s explained the first time. Social rules are typically taught by the family and some have very dysfunctional families that failed to teach them those rules and it sure doesn’t help that society tends to shun those who don’t follow the rules rather than explaining to them what they did wrong so they can improve.
God it would have been great to have Andy standing just around the corner and call him over….
Del I sure hope you see this. The whole time I was watching this debate I wanted you to just pull the video of the grandmother of childhood vaccines in the court of law admit she has zero scientific evidence for her claim that vaccines don’t cause autism. What could he say to that. Please consider playing that video for your skeptic guests. Could have done it for that Astro physicist guy that only believed in the consensus. Please consider this tactic.