138. Douglas Murray — The Madness of 2020

<p>In this special episode of the Science Salon Podcast, Michael Shermer catches up with Douglas Murray one year after the publication of his bestselling book <em><a href= "https://www.amazon.com/dp/1472959973/?tag=skepticcom20-20">The Madness of Crowds</a></em>, which was featured in <a href= "https://www.skeptic.com/science-salon/douglas-murray-madness-of-crowds-gender-race-identity/"> Science Salon # 87</a> in October 2019. Murray’s book is now out in paperback with an Afterword update on all that has happened the past year, one of the most momentous in living memory. Shermer and Murray discuss:</p> <ul> <li>why he wasn’t “cancelled” after <em>The Madness of Crowd</em>s was published and became a bestseller,</li> <li>what people should do if they’re cancelled, shamed, mobbed, or accused of being racist, misogynist, transphobic, or bigoted and they know they’re not,</li> <li>how to fight back against wokeness, political correctness, and identity politics,</li> <li>updates on the featured topics in <em>The Madness of Crowds</em>: gay, women, race, trans,</li> <li>J.K. Rowling and “people who menstruate” (if only there was a single word for that phrase),</li> <li>statues and why some people want them taken down (Lord Nelson may be next…find out why),</li> <li>why leftists think everyone (except them) are racists and why they’re really making these accusations,</li> <li>why we should be suspect of the motives of social justice warriors (who are anti-social, against justice, and not warriors),</li> <li>Michael Brown, George Floyd, and police violence,</li> <li>white fragility, white guilt, BLM, and anti-racism,</li> <li>corporate sensitivity training programs and why they’re really being conducted,</li> <li>what could happen after the 2020 election, depending on who wins, and</li> <li>comparing 2020 to 1968, and what the future holds for Western culture.</li> </ul> <p>In <em>The Madness of Crowds</em> Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of “woke” culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp