Forgive me if this seems like a stupid question, but how did Alan make money off of advertising that Forsythia was the cure for the contagion? I mean it's not like Alan created Forsythia, so how did he make money off of just saying it was the cure?
shareEvery drug, even if it's holistic, is packaged, marketed and sold by a manufacturer. Whoever was the manufacturer behind it paid him to pretend to be sick, take it, and recover, all while hailing its praises and showing this process on his blog site.
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<sniff> <sniff>
I smell ice cream!
Actually I think he made the money by investing in the stock of the manufacturer. They mentioned he was guilty of "securities fraud" and he was meeting with a hedge fund manager. But I could be wrong.
shareThat's exactly what I thought.
He picked Forsythia because it was something he could invest in, it's stock prices were probably already in a position to go up, it was something that might believably work, and it was common enough that people had a chance of finding some so the demand could easily be seen.
^ This is the main reason.
shareThe homeopathic laws in the USA are very lax. As long as they're proven to not cause any harm, you can sell them to the gullible public.
He used his blog as a promotional campaign and was able to successfully get the product into the pharmacies which gave the homeopathic treatment an air of legitimacy.
He then most likely set up a corporation, then did some insider trading knowing there would be a boon in sales, and then sold his stock and cashed out before people found out Forsythia didn't work.
Its unlikely people would sue him because all the people who tried it are dead.
im with the OP, I don't understand why he was arrested. it seems like people take homeopathics at their own risk. I assumed the forsythia would work the same as how vitamins and diet pills say "not inteded to treat, cure, or prevent any disease". People know that forsythia is not the cure, but it works like zinc does on colds, it eases the symptoms. Maybe he was saying that forsythia cures the virus, i have to watch again, but I feel like people should be able to make conscious choices and not just blindly follow a blogger when it comes to life and death. which is why i dont think he did anything wrong.
Yes, I make spelling mistakes often as a result of using IMDB on mobile devices :)
He specifically stated that Forsythia cured the virus which at the very least is false advertising not to mention the huge public health risk he caused by leading people to believe that the drug would help them. Also, I believe that he had bought stock on the ground floor so that he could unlawfully profit from the inflated value of the drug that he knew would occur ahead of time due to his own actions. This would be insider trading.
shareWhy did everyone think that he was faking the disease? I took this plot line as protest against how drug companies will sometimes quash news of natural or cheaper cures to continue to make money from more expensive/more harmful drugs.
Update: I just read another thread which explained to me what I missed in the movie (that Jude Law didn't have the antibodies so he hadn't had the disease). I also didn't realzie that they guy he kept meeting on the park bench had something to do with a company that made and sold forsythia.
What you're not grasping is that a deadly disease outbreak is considered a national security crisis, which is then managed by Dept. of Homeland Security and CDC. The nation is under martial law at that point. People don't seem to realize that you can experience the equivalent of imprisonment (no crime, no due process), but the authorities will call it quarantine. They (deliberately?) made the husband's quarantine experience way too reasonable and humane.
Panic kills. It shuts down cities, and causes violent mobs and encourages criminal gang activity. The blogger was obviously fomenting panic and discouraging people from following "the authorities" directions to the public. It was in the interest of (martial) law enforcement to shut him down. I'm just wondering whether they would have gone to the effort of recording the conversation for due process criminal prosecution, or just gitmo'ed his ass.
i actually found him being allowed bail, in this post 9-11 world, quite unrealistic. he would have been detained without question. there would also have been dissenting bloggers/news outlets questioning his motives and discrediting him.
shareI'm not sold on this "panic kills" belief. When in recent years has the US been tested? In Japan, after the enormous tsunami which was an incredible disaster, there were people helping each other. No looting; no murder. I really doubt that in the US people would be killing each other. I think that people would be heroic. Of course there are always those losers, but I think that the majority would be civil.
Love me some Waltons
That was in Japan, with its greatly different culture. US certainly does not have that level of civil mindset.
shareI don't know about forsythia, but zinc does cure a cold if you take it early enough and regularly.
"Passion is just insanity in a cashmere sweater!"
Many people have success with zinc, but there have not been certified, double-blind studies that prove it does.
The Mayo Clinic's web site currently states:
Zinc. The cold-fighting reputation of zinc has had its ups and downs. That's because many zinc studies — both those that find the mineral beneficial and those that do not — are flawed. The highest quality randomized trials generally show no benefit. In studies with positive results, zinc seemed most effective taken within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms. Taking zinc with food may reduce side effects, including a bad taste and nausea.
Its unlikely people would sue him because all the people who tried it are dead.
Alan K's character seems to be based on "truther" Alan Jones. google him. his blog has ads for things like products that take the fluoride out of tap water, and of course articles that say fluoride is a government conspiracy to kill us all. then you add in Julian Assange for the accent and the wealth. mix in some has-been celebrity mom insisting vaccines cause autism (they don't) and you've got Alan K.
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don't blink
Also, when you have a lot of hits on your blog or youtube channel, you can make money off of people clicking on advertisements on your page.
share