September 7, 2021

I watched Stephen Soderbergh's "Contagion" movie twice: Once in the early stages of the pandemic, and the second time, this weekend. (Still a great movie, but much harder to watch after living through it.)

The reason? A lawyer friend mentioned how the storyline about the conspiracy theorist and blogger portrayed by Jude Law reminded her of Joe Rogan. "I'll bet Rogan wasn't even sick," she said, referring to his statement about taking ivermectin after he tested positive.

"I don't know, he looked pretty bad to me," I said.

"Just go watch the movie again," she said. So I did.

In the movie, blogger Alan Krumwiede basically writes online conspiracy theories about the virus. He claims to have cured himself using a homeopathic cure derived from forsythia. People are so desperate to get the stuff, they swarm pharmacies. Turns out Krumwiede faked being infected to boost sales, and is arrested for conspiracy and securities fraud. (That's the part that didn't seem real. After all, we don't arrest grifters very often!)

Oh, and they test him for antibodies. Turns out he was never sick at all, he faked it. Maybe my friend is right and I'm just not cynical enough.

Just watch the scene. It all sounds so familar: Rogan, Tucker, Alex Jones, the whole gang of grifters and liars.

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