I don't think this is a fair analogy.

I wasn't making an analogy exactly. Rather, that example was used to point out that there appears to be some route to believing any proposition that isn't blatant gibberish. And I think Eliezer is the sort of person who could find a way to self-hack in that way if he wanted to; that more or less used to be his 'thing'.

Wouldn't a real animal that's not even much like a panda be called something else?

Exactly - "red pandas" were clearly made up for Avatar: the Last Airbender.