{"id":177,"date":"2018-03-23T21:35:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T21:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2018\/03\/23\/nyads-lies-part-3-an-expert-planter-of-beliefs-diana-nyad-con-artist\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:33:22","slug":"nyads-lies-part-3-an-expert-planter-of-beliefs-diana-nyad-con-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/nyads-lies-part-3-an-expert-planter-of-beliefs-diana-nyad-con-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"NYAD\u2019S LIES, PART 3: An Expert Planter of Beliefs \u2014 Diana Nyad, Con Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1<\/a> | Part 2<\/a>\u00a0| Part 3<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Skeptics Society founder Michael Shermer reviewed Diana Nyad\u2019s 2015 memoir<\/a>,\u00a0Find A Way,<\/em> for the Wall St. Journal<\/em>. Plenty of folks had questioned Nyad\u2019s honesty by that time. But Shermer, who makes his living as a skeptic, didn’t betray a drop of doubt. He accepted Find A Way<\/em> as gospel, going so far as to crown Diana Nyad\u00a0\u00a0\u201cthe greatest long-distance swimmer in the history of the sport.\u201d\u00b9<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

[See Unrealiable Natator<\/a><\/em> for an annotated list of lies in Find A Way.<\/em>]<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to the Skeptics Society\u2019s website<\/a>, part of the organization\u2019s purpose is to investigate \u201cthe paranormal, fringe science, pseudoscience, and extraordinary claims of all kinds<\/em>\u201d (my italics). So, how could a skeptic\u2019s skeptic miss Nyad’s deception?<\/p>\n

For two reasons:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Shermer left himself open to her con by wanting her story to be true.<\/li>\n
  2. Nyad desperately wanted (and continues to want) Shermer and everyone else to believe. She has peddled the Diana Nyad myth for over half a century, and no one peddles like Diana.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"<\/a>
    The start of the first Race Across America, with Diana Nyad (2nd from left, commentating for ABC TV) and Michael Shermer (2nd cyclist from right). Via Twitter.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Nyad has spent over 50 years gradually building up the public\u2019s tolerance of her lies while decreasing its ability to question anything she says. If Nyad seduced Shermer, we can\u2019t expect many others to fend off her advances. Nyad has brainwashed her followers into seeing not the real Diana \u2014 the selfish one who slanders, lies, and cheats \u2014 but the pretend one who is honest, sincere, and humble:<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m an absolutely aboveboard person who never cheated on anything in my whole life\u2026. I hope they\u2019re not questioning I\u2019m an honest person. (\u201cCelebration Gives Way to Questions<\/a>\u201d)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The question, though, isn’t: Is Diana honest?\u00a0 The real question is: How can she be so dishonest for so long and continue to get away with it?<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m going to rely again on author Maria Konnikova. Her book, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for it\u2026Every Time<\/a><\/em>, describes how con artists con without getting caught (most of the time). Unless otherwise noted, everything that follows comes from The Confidence Game<\/em>.\u00b2<\/a><\/p>\n

    1. Con artists take advantage of our correct<\/em> belief that most people are honest most of the time. At the same time, they\u00a0take advantage of our mistaken<\/em> belief that we\u2019re good at detecting dishonesty.<\/h3>\n

    If we didn\u2019t believe that most people are honest, we\u2019d live in constant fear of being fleeced. As a result, your average less-than-paranoid individual cannot spot a good con artist. After con man Thierry Tilly convinced the family of French aristocrat Christine de V\u00e9drines to part with over 6 million dollars, she told The Guardian<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n

    We were simply not armed to deal with someone who lied on such an extraordinary scale.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Few are. \u201cWe haven\u2019t really evolved to spot lies,\u201d Konnikova told The Atlantic<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n

    Instead, we like to think that we can tell [when] people are lying because\u2026it makes us feel better, it makes us feel like we are good judges of character, it makes us feel like we know what\u2019s going on. So we often think that we are much better than we are.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    How can someone look you right in the eye while telling bald-faced lies? Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n