Also known as false dilemmas or false dichotomies.
In simple terms this is being presented with, or considering only, two choices when in fact there are three or more.
Thus somebody presents an idea or a question that limits the options as to the available answers as in the picture above.
This is relevant to COVID 19 for example, as discussed here by Jessica Hockett and Jonathan Engler.
False Binaries that 'Limit the Spectrum of Acceptable Opinion' in the COVID-19 Debate and Perpetuate Lies Told by The Powers That Be (Part 1)
Feb 20, 2025
I think they cover it well. For my own part I have known since June 2020 that there was no novel disease, the pandemic was a government/media induced medical panic about the seasonal ‘flu which magically almost disappeared from the statistics to be replaced by COVID 19.
As the article says
“Nothing that was done was necessary. There was no viral threat and no pandemic. Pandemics aren’t possible, and preparing for them is a waste of time and resources.”
Although those preparing do benefit by spending taxpayers’ money on themselves and their cronies contracts.
Contrived pandemics are a good excuse for certain people to profit from others misfortunes.
Of course as the ‘flu is toxic poisoning there is a lot one can do to avoid it and people and their governments could clean up their act and, among other things, make sure that the air is clean, the water pure, food unadulterated, vaccines banned and the dangers of pharmaceuticals properly explained.
We need to be aware that too often we are led astray by our own limited vision as well as by those who have a vested interest in keeping the status quo going. The latter do so as they can maintain the illusion that they are doing a great job and deserve to be well paid.
Anyway, I thought I would highlight some suitable anagrams from the alternative phrases.
False dilemmas
False dim = 8 individual letters
- Smelled mafias
Something stinks of organised corruption
- Am self-mislead
We deceive ourselves
- mm fall disease
The seeming inevitably of disease in the autumn
- AD film measles
I used this phrase to search the internet and found this.
Mission, Measles: The Story of a Vaccine (Merck Sharpe and Dohme and USPHS, 1964)
It says at about 1:05
presented as a public service by
Merck Sharp & Dohme
A public service by a profit making company, how kind of them. No conflict of interest I’m sure.
Later it says
Still, in those patients who showed the abnormal encephalogram during their illness, the possibility of future emotional instability, or mental deficiency, or even mental retardation, cannot be ruled out.
I believe many of these became doctors which is why we have issues today.
It is quite a propaganda film that would require more time to pick apart.
False dichotomies
false dichotm =12
- AI fooled chemists
How chemists/pharmacists have been deceived by technology
- ie alchemists food
What sustains alchemists in their search for panaceas able to cure any disease, hence the vaccine deceit
- as mischiefed tool
Presented to cause mischief to lead people away from the truth
- aloof medics heist
The theft of people’s health and wealth by the medical profession
- ate foolish medics
How the medical profession has been deceived
- decimates foolish
Such as those who thought they had to take the COVID vaccines to keep their jobs and didn’t consider the jabs might damage them and they would lose their jobs anyway
- oof mislead ethics
The deception of assisted dying bill for example
- Amoco lies shifted
There was the Amoco Cadiz, the oil tanker that ran aground in 1978 and was wrecked off the Brittany coast in France. There is a Wikipedia page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz_oil_spill
The judge in the case ruled that Amoco had put off needed maintenance on the vessel in order to keep it at sea.
False binaries
False binr = 9 individual letters
- be frailness AI
The vulnerability of AI relying on its programming, risks of garbage in, garbage out
- AI fables siren – AI gives us false stories, we are lured onto the rocks
- fan rabies lies
This is a good post on rabies and the deception
Unbekoming
May 26, 2024
Summary and final thoughts
To repeat, false binaries, dilemmas or dichotomies involve considering only two choices when in fact there are three or more.
We are often presented with such dilemmas when we actually need to broaden our horizons. We can rely on others limited views and imprison ourselves in our mindset.
As the anagram of ‘False dilemmas’ says ‘Am self-mislead’, so often it is our own delusions that lead us astray.
And has been written about the man who used half the wood to cook his meal, the other half to make an idol to worship:
“He feeds on ashes.
His deluded heart has led him astray,
and he cannot deliver himself or say,
‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’”
From Isaiah 44 v. 20
Speaking of a lie, ‘ah do comfiest lies’ is another anagram of ‘False dichotomies’ where it is comfortable to believe the lies we are spun or spin ourselves.
Then there is this from ‘false binaries’:
- a Blair finesse
Tony Blair, an arch spinner of lies. This is a good article
https://unherd.com/2022/04/how-blair-broke-britain/
And I note that there is an anagram from ‘false binary’, the singular, which is interesting:
- if la Bernays
This reminds us of Edward Bernays who spun lies. He was said to be
an American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations".
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
There is a footnote link no. 80 which says
"Bernays emphasized that in a large scale society there were only two choices: manipulation or social chaos.
So I hope that is useful and has given you some food for thought. To end on a lighter note I that ‘False binaries’ also anagrams to
- Baals fineries
Baal is a name associated with false gods, so the phrase could be something false that looks good. False binaries look good but are not.
Or more simply, they are all a load of Baals!!!
P.S. here are some of my posts for further reading for those that haven’t seen.
Excellent article and links.
“Or more simply, they are all a load of Baals!!!”
That last statement sums it up perfectly !!!
Yes, while I'd already woken up to the fact that in big psyops we get one stream of propaganda for the anticipated believers and another (or more) for the anticipated disbelievers I didn't get that this strategy falls into the "false dilemma" logical fallacy until I read Catte Black's article in Off-Guardian mid-2022.
https://off-guardian.org/2022/05/16/the-function-of-the-fake-binary/
Since then, I've written my own articles involving the "false dilemma"
12 logical fallacies unmasked in the use of the terms "conspiracy theory" and "conspiracy theorist"
https://petraliverani.substack.com/p/11-logical-fallacies-unmasked-in
9/11: The False Dilemma propaganda strategy
https://petraliverani.substack.com/p/911-the-false-dilemma-propaganda