The lie sandwich

Bad actors hiding the truth

The truth sandwich is promoted as a way of myth busting. The idea is that you state the truth, refer to a myth that you are trying to debunk — and why it is wrong — and then restate the truth. For example, this article used this method in an attempt to debunk the allegation that the Nuremberg code has been violated. The recommended “lie” section of the sandwich said:

“The introduction of a vaccine mandate is not medical research but rather a public health intervention. In every setting where COVID vaccines are mandated, no-one is being forced to be vaccinated against their will or consent. Informed consent is still sought before vaccination, and people retain the right to choose whether to be vaccinated.

However, in these settings, the public health goal of COVID-19 vaccination is seen as outweighing the rights of the individual to remain un-vaccinated. Other people in these settings have a right to health and security. Therefore there are outcomes for those who don’t comply. Exemptions are provided for those who cannot receive the vaccine for medical reasons.”

The authors clearly have no idea of what informed consent is nor the importance of the Nuremberg code.

It seems that some have taken this strategy and inverted it to create a “lie sandwich”. When there is a truth that is of importance but nefarious actors want to detract from it, they can deliver it in a lie sandwich. They state a lie, refer to the truth they are trying to discredit and then restate the lie. This has happened more than once. Those that share the lie sandwich end up discredited as a result. People who would have been concerned about the truth see the lie sandwich and then dismiss the kernel of truth which would have mattered to them. Fact-checkers often use the technique. For example, this article explains reality — have a read and then look at this so-called fact check on the same topic.

Two of the examples of this involve Kevin McKernan’s research. There is a whole separate article on him and his latest work here. It was McKernan who showed that part of the spike sequence contained code to produce a concerning protein. The concern arose from the similarity of this sequence to the bacterial protein that causes toxic shock syndrome.  The bacterial toxin binds directly to immune cells in the blood causing toxic shock or in the case of the virus cytokine storms. McKernan also showed that the mutations in Omicron wiped out the functionality of this region, potentially explaining Omicron’s lower mortality. 

The first lie sandwich came about because McKernan noted that the toxic shock syndrome-inducing sequence was similar to a key sequence in cobra venom. Shortly after this was reported, Stew Peters & Bryan Ardis alleged in a film that COVID-19 is actually a synthesised form of snake venom that is being spread via drinking water and vaccines as part of a plot by the Catholic Church to turn everyone into "a hybrid of Satan".  It was a distracting sideshow that stole the spotlight from the real issue at hand.

The second lie sandwich was to do with McKernan’s more recent work. He showed that there was DNA in the vaccine vials which should not have been there at all (i.e. was a contaminant) and that within it was a small sequence derived from the SV40 virus which was a promoter that triggers gene expression. The lie sandwich began with saying that the whole SV40 virus was present. SV40 is most famous for having contaminated polio vaccines in the past. The whole virus was included in the vaccines in this contamination. One of the proteins this virus makes is cancer promoting and can predictably induce cancers in animal models. Furthermore, when analysing its presence in human cancers it was found in the same tumour types as developed in the animal models. However, that gene was not in the contaminant sequences. In fact no whole SV40 gene was — just the promoter region and a region called a nuclear localization signal. The stories of the cancer promoting gene’s presence were therefore not based on evidence. The lie sandwich ended with the ridiculous claim that it was “monkey DNA” and then that it was, “HIV-Infected Green Monkey DNA.” It is a highly emotive total lie. The authors included a genuine interview with McKernan in the centre of the lie sandwich, making sure the truth was considered firmly debunked.

It is noteworthy that such outrageous, frightening false claims never seem to attract the attacks that the inconvenient truths which some like to label as misinformation attract. There are some bad actors out there. Do not let lies — sandwiched or otherwise — hide the truth.