The Fallacy of Binary Thinking Part 1

The characteristic cognitive error of the age

1. It’s a Graduated Dial, Not an On-Off Switch

Almost regardless of the issue these days, people seem to have fallen into the trap of binary reasoning. That is, the either/or, black/white, true/untrue, loser/winner species of logical fallacy. [1]In a way this isn’t surprising—for the past three decades we’ve lived in the digital age, with its binary logic of ones or zeroes, on or off. While this technology has become more sophisticated with time—particularly with AI, as farcical as it can be at times—it has created a dominant mindset in our global culture. So it’s not surprising people have begun to think like computers, with simplistic, reductionistic logic that favours only two possible outcomes. Not to say, of course, that simplistic thinking hasn’t been with the human race since the beginning.

Gone are the subtle, multi-factorial analyses of former eras, in which natural philosophers (what we today call “scientists”) grappled with the complexity of human nature and natural systems and did not see these as separate. Now it’s stripped down to singular causes and effects, like the vastly oversimplified climate narrative that ignores a whole host of relevant elements. Geologist Julius Ruechel is a refreshing exception to this trend, with his new book, Plunderers of the Earth, [2] that makes clear how dumbed-down climate “science” has become—at least, the part dispensed for public consumption. The result is a simplistic story that even the lowest intellect can grasp, however distorted that picture may be—the single carbon dioxide “control knob” supposedly driving temperature increases and weather patterns. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Ruechel’s book—a well-researched, masterful and nuanced examination of climate science that goes far beyond the simplistic “climate change” narrative we’ve been given.

In some respects this is the logical outcome of the so-called “rational revolution” of the Enlightenment, which sought to replace religious superstition with empirical deduction and experiment. That was an important development in the history of science and led to great advancements, but has finally ended in the 21^st century in a practice hobbled by institutional corruption and prejudices that refuse to be dislodged by new evidence that contradicts career-making theories. I’ll provide some examples.

2. The MAiD Program

Let’s start with Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program. Through this program Canada has now become the euthanasia capital of the world, with more than 15,000 people opting for medically assisted suicide in 2023 alone. [3] First, it’s important to state that I’m not against someone taking this option if indeed they are in the terminal stages of a disease with no cure and are facing a slow, painful decline before death naturally occurs. But recent media reports have made it clear that once we open the gates to euthanasia, it quickly becomes a slippery slope, with disabled veterans, the poor, and seniors entering long-term care homes being indiscriminately offered the MAiD option. One report based on recently released Canadian government statistics stated that “people with disabilities are vastly overrepresented’ in MAiD-assisted euthanasia statistics. [4]

A recent federal government public survey on MAiD illustrates the theme of this essay: the simplistic, binary options presented in what is clearly a complex and difficult personal issue. The survey belaboured points relating to the qualifications and procedures of MAiD practitioners but made no mention of the fact that the program seems on track to include those with mental illnesses, possibly by 2027. Nor did it include any questions related to above-mentioned concerns about seniors and the disabled being indiscriminately offered MAiD.

Even for those who are diagnosed with a fatal disease, every case will be utterly unique, depending on the person’s past health history, current family support networks, immunological health, nutritional regime, and other factors. As we’ve seen repeatedly with cancer patients sent home to die but by seeking out healthy diet, exercise and holistic health support, are still alive a decade later. To simply say, “Well you have a terminal diagnosis, so you might consider MAiD,” and then establish a date for end-of-life, ignores all these complexities and unknowns. It ignores the absolute individuality of every human being. Once again, it’s the fallacy of the one-size-fits-all solution.

3. Cracks Within the Freedom Community

Binary logic has also gripped the alternative community, the medical Freedom movement that arose from the oppressions of the Covid-19 “pandemic.” While some individuals had already been aware of the mainstream media’s tendency to be a mouthpiece for the Deep State, for many it was the blatant lies and scientific distortions about Covid that came as the waking shock. In many ways, the elite power brokers overplayed their hand, like a money-mad gambler risking it all on a final throw at the dice table. This led to many millions of people awakening to not just the Covid vaccine fraud, but to many others perpetrated on an unsuspecting public by the various intelligence agencies of the Deep State.

As David Talbot explains in his book The Devil’s Chessboard, this kind of social engineering had been ongoing since the formation of the CIA in 1947. This only began to be exposed with the 1976 Church Committee (archive link here) hearings in the US Congress, when the CIA’s Project Mockingbird was outed as a direct conduit from government to the media. [5] Conveniently, this was quickly forgotten or obscured from public consciousness, and many fell back on the old assumption that our TV, print and radio journalists were honest reporters giving us the truth. Some few were, but most weren’t. It’s no wonder that the repressions of Covid lockdowns and total media spin fostered a whole underground of independent media. While it was often imperfect and sometimes lacking in professionalism, this indie media sphere did the investigative research mainstream journalists failed to do.

But what I’ve watched develop among the Freedom community is this: The binary assumption that because we were lied to about so many things for so long, then EVERYTHING we were taught must be a lie. The corollary assumption is that ANYTHING coming from the alternative media sphere must be TRUE. In some respects this is an element of what Belgian psychologist Mattias Desmet calls “mass formation,” hearkening back to our roots as tribal animals. Whatever tribe we’re in, we tend to believe the same things. The problem is, this can lead to an uncritical habit of mind, a groupthink that is just as potentially dangerous on the alternate side of the coin as it is on the mainstream side. It leaves us vulnerable to charlatans willing to exploit us for their own personal fame or gain. I’m thinking of so-called “freedom fighters” who left a trail of anger and division wherever they went—as they were intended to do. The old proverb, “By their works shall ye know them” applies here.

Antoine Béchamp

4. The Germ vs. Terrain Theory Debate Blows Up

Then there’s those physicians who claim to have detected the presence of “snake venom” or “nanobots” in the Covid-19 vaccines. Dr. Jessica Rose has done extensive research on the DNA contamination of the mRNA Covid-19 “vaccines,” a major aspect of its off-the-charts toxicity. Her work was recently replicated by a Japanese research team. Who needs “snake venom” when you’ve got gene-altering foreign DNA loose in your body?

Some physicians are now promoting the theory that there are no such things as viruses, that germ theory and viral contagion is a fallacy. Tell that to the towns and cities across Europe that—until they cleaned up their water supply, stopped dumping sewage in the streets, started controlling the disposal of animal waste, and started teaching people basic hygiene—suffered regular urban outbreaks of cholera, typhus and other infectious diseases right up until the mid-1800s. It’s this advancement we can thank, primarily, for the health advances of the modern era, not vaccines. And it’s all due to the fact that 19^th century scientists identified bacteria as a causative agent in disease.

In many respects the germ vs. terrain theory debate hearkens back to a 1923 book by Ethel Hume, Béchamp or Pasteur: A Lost Chapter in the History of Biology. In it, Hume through extensive research in medical libraries learned that Louis Pasteur was something of a medical fraud. Compared to his contemporary Antoine Béchamp, Pasteur was a scientific dilettante who frequently plagiarized Béchamp’s work, often misinterpreted it, and yet was a better self-promoter of his work. Béchamp was a dedicated scientist who preferred to remain in the lab undisturbed to pursue his research, while Pasteur hobnobbed with European royalty, thus cementing his place in history. But does this invalidate germ theory? Hume seems to think so, but I’m not sure she reached the right conclusion.

Keep in mind that at this time, the term “virus” had not yet been coined, and 19^th century scientists referred to all microscopic forms of life as “animalcula.” Béchamp preferred the term “microzymas,” which he considered the basis of bacteria. I’m neither a chemist nor a scientist, so I’ll let you find Hume’s book to read a full explanation of how Béchamp thought the process worked. I agree with critics who say that virology has been used as a means to develop and promote vaccines that have a dubious track record when compared with historical disease trends. Here the scientific community itself has fallen into its own binary logic of one-size-fits-all reasoning, assuming that the principle of vaccination can work for all forms of disease regardless of whether they are bacteriological or viral in origin. In fact, the entire “science” of vaccinology is under increasing attack not only for its poor efficacy in reducing either infection or spread of disease but for a mushrooming set of adverse reactions that are often worse than the disease.

As an article by the Weston A. Price Foundation, discussing the use of DNA from species such as birds, dogs, monkeys, cows, pigs, mice and insects in vaccine manufacturing, explains: “Noting Béchamp’s belief that “an organism’s microzymas are unique to it, and are not interchangeable with those of another,” a modern author suggests that Béchamp would disapprove of introducing microzymas “proper to one species. . .into an animal of another species”—which is exactly what vaccines do.” [6] Founding member of the W.A. Price Foundation Dr. Thomas Cowan—an adherent of the “no virus” theory—in this case correctly concludes that vaccines “generate a state of “excessive antibody production” (and) “this excessive antibody production actually defines autoimmune disease.” Yet from there he makes the grand leap that germ theory is all wrong.

But here’s the thing. Béchamp did not say germs don’t exist. He said that “The microbe is nothing, the environment is everything.” [7] In other words, the health of the individual is dependent, not upon whether they contract a virus, but upon the strength of their immunological terrain to fight it. Once again we see it’s not an either/or, true/false equation, but a both/and equation that allows room for complexity.

As the Price Foundation article aptly concludes, there are some scientists now who believe it’s time to build on “the historical Pasteur-Béchamp debates on the role of the ‘microbe’ vs the ‘host internal milieu’ in disease causation” and invest in “host-directed therapies” (HDTs) that “alter the ‘host terrain’ in favor of the host.” [8] Will this mean that viruses cease to exist? No, merely that we shift focus from fighting a pathogen with dubious “vaccines” to boosting innate immunity and overall health. Hence the rise in awareness of promoting healthy intestinal bacteria in the gut microbiome through the consumption of kambucha, kefir, kimchi and other fermented products. I can attest to the healing of my own gut through the daily drinking of water kefir, prior to which I had been developing serious food allergies to dairy, wheat and legumes.

I don’t hold with the mainstream view expressed by Wired magazine that Béchamp was “a bitter crank” who was “proven wrong.” [9] Yet binary logic continues to dog the debate: contrast Wired’s opinion with the view that Béchamp was “one of the greatest scientists who ever lived,” who “revealed that the inner condition of a person’s cellular terrain determined whether disease would manifest or spread in the body.” [10]

Clearly there’s a Battle Royal going on between the two sides—unsurprisingly, given the billions of dollars at stake in pharmacology. But again, why the binary thinking—the either/or? Can it not be both germs/viruses AND terrain?

NEXT: Part 2: The Biological Warfare Complex Strikes

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[1] “What Is the Either-Or Fallacy?” https://www.scribbr.com/fallacies/either-or-fallacy/

[2] Julius Ruechel, “I’m Back! Personal Update and Book Announcement! (Plunderers of the Earth),” Substack, August 20, 2024: https://www.juliusruechel.com/2024/08/im-back-personal-update-and-book.html

[3] Anthony Murdoch, “Canadian seniors say they were offered euthanasia when faced with increased hospice costs,” LifeSite News, December 11, 2024: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-seniors-say-they-were-offered-euthanasia-when-faced-with-increased-hospice-costs/?utm_source=digest-prolife-2024-12-12&utm_medium=email

[4] Alex Schadenberg, “People with disabilities are vastly overrepresented in Canada’s latest assisted suicide figures,” LifeSite News, December 13, 2024: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/people-with-disabilities-are-vastly-overrepresented-in-canadas-latest-assisted-suicide-figures/?utm_source=daily-canada-2024-12-13&utm_medium=email

[5] Operation Mockingbird, Spartacus Educational: https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKmockingbird.htm

[6] Merinda Teller, “Germ Theory Versus Terrain: The Wrong Side Won the Day,” Weston A. Price Foundation, July 30, 2019: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/notes-from-yesteryear/germ-theory-versus-terrain-the-wrong-side-won-the-day/#gsc.tab=0

[7] “Bechamp or Pasteur?” translated by Corona Investigative, October 16, 2020: https://telegra.ph/Bechamp-or-Pasteur-10-16

[8] Merinda Teller, “Germ Theory Versus Terrain: The Wrong Side Won the Day,” Weston A. Price Foundation, July 30, 2019, ibid.

[9] Jason Pontin, “The 19th-Century Crank Who Tried to Tell Us About the Microbiome,” WIRED, June 15, 2018: https://www.wired.com/story/the-19th-century-crank-who-tried-to-tell-us-about-the-microbiome/

[10] Christopher Barr, “Honoring Antoine Bechamp: The Gentle Giant Of Science & Medicine,” OAW Health: https://oawhealth.com/article/honoring-antoine-bechamp-the-gentle-giant-of-science-medicine/