Misrepresenting science as usual

There are a couple of problems with this overall statement. Both of which highlight Jillian's willful disregard of the information she reads. Her recent spiels concerning viruses are based in her faulty interpretations of two specific cites she has made. (It has come to my attention she has put out more verbiage – surprise, surprise - this should be fun. Keep in mind this woman spews forth more garbage information per day than one person can respond to properly.) 

The first misrepresentation,,,

On Feb 5, Jillian posted this video - Do Viruses Influence Each Other Yes. My initial interest was to see how badly Jillian misrepresents the science in this article/podcast from Nature. 

It should be noted this article is from 2017, prior to COVID-19; the findings are not relevant to the current COVID-19 pandemic as you will see.

What's important to note, 

The discovery — in viruses that attack Bacillus bacteria— marks the first time that any type of viral communication system has ever been found. [The big,,,] But researchers say that many other viruses could communicate with each other through their own molecular languages — perhaps even viruses that are responsible for human diseases. If that is the case, scientists might have found a new way to disrupt viral attacks.”

In essence, this is one specific instance - viruses that attack Bacillus bacteria. Also note the article is discussing bacteriophages, or phages. COVID-19 is not a phage.

So let's see how Jillian approaches this,,, ignoring her unsupported claim that viruses trigger predispositions – ie strokes and heart attacks, she asks “why viruses wouldn't trigger the flu - the stomach flu.”

Think about that for a moment,,,

Long story short, viral gastroenteritis is not THE flu. It isn't the same as influenza which affects only your respiratory system. Most common causes are the NoroVIRUS and RotoVIRUS; as well as contaminated shellfish.

Need I go on,,, because it gets worse.

She then states,

“,,,viruses are in the environment, it's bacteria. We all have em. Our cells talk to each other,,, we talk to people who have viruses that have kind the same viruses that we do. And we interact, we commune, we commune based on similarities in virus exposure, or virus prevalence, or virus antibodies at the surface.

WTF,,,

“So why wouldn't it [whatever "it", is] influence the flu bug?" 

So off to Google U she went,,,

She even read the word bacteriophage, in her citation, which was described as a virus that infects bacteria, and she totally ignored it. 

She then focuses in on the opening line which states, “Viruses sense chemical signals left behind by their forebears so they can decide whether to kill or just to infect their hosts.”

JE::Jaw-drop! (fer realz)

What's important to note, Jillian ignores these two lines, “But researchers say that many other viruses could communicate with each other through their own molecular languages — perhaps even viruses that are responsible for human diseases. If that is the case, scientists might have found a new way to disrupt viral attacks.” 

Two things to further note:

Jillian makes no mention that this research was solely done on viruses that attack Bacillus bacteria. While she read from the article, she glosses over that “minor” little issue.

Instead of focusing on the research ramifications for possible future treatment (which is what the findings are really about), Jillian focuses on her negative misrepresentation of the article that fits her narrative.

Also ignoring the last line of the article as it doesn't fit her narrative either, “If you had a molecule that could drive viruses into complete latency, it would be a good drug.”

The second,,,

As I have already noted, it boils down to her making shit up because she knows her followers and minion do not fact check her.

1] Her citation is 24 years previous to the current COVID-19 pandemic. 

We are aware viruses mutate, a point she notes the following day. Although she ignores the ramification of such.

While researchers caution they're only seeing the tip of the iceberg, the tiny differences between the virus strains suggest shelter-in-place orders are working in some areas and that no one strain of the virus is more deadly than another. They also say it does not appear the strains will grow more lethal as they evolve. 

“The virus mutates so slowly that the virus strains are fundamentally very similar to each other,” said Charles Chiu, a professor of medicine and infectious disease at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

,,,

While the maps are fun, they can also be “a little dangerous” said Andersen. The trees showing the evolution of the virus are complex and it’s difficult even for experts to draw conclusions from them.

The big picture Jillian misses in all this.

It’s also not expected to spontaneously evolve into a form more deadly than it already is to humans. The SARS-CoV-2 is so good at transmitting itself between human hosts, said Andersen, it is under no evolutionary pressure to evolve.

2] It does not address COVID-19. It does not address, communicability nor whether one is more of a threat if asymptomatic v symptomatic.

3] A simple search would demonstrate her premise faulty, being communicable is dangerous.

The reason of noting her faulty readings of these journal citations. Jillian once again takes a very specific finding, one she doesn't understand, and then generalizes.  She doesn't read past the headline or title of her citation. 

If she does read her citation, she doesn't understand what she reads.  She then makes shit up, throwing about science-y sounding words.  Information her followers and minions gobble up from the narratives she then builds; narratives on false understanding.

One last note,,, I want you to keep in mind that this is a woman who thinks her dot was caused by - or as she says, “triggered” by a virus she believes she encountered. “Virus triggers in my environment could have triggered my menses, yesterday,,,.” (Around the –10:40 mark.)

Let that sink in,,,

More to come!  As I noted above, while putting this essay together Jillian has spouted more garbage in the same or similar vain..  Gonna take a bit to decipher what she has spewed forth,,,