Bill Gates and the Army of the Twelve Monkeys
Spoiler alerts!
Bill Gates cannot seem to keep his foot out of his mouth. Naturally, the guy who has complained about ze evil conspiracy theorists linking him to vaccines referenced a pandemic movie where the government’s plans to prevent an outbreak is to bomb a city.
Of course, this sort of thing happens to all of us, so we cannot assume ill intent. I personally think “1984” nailed the mandatory exercise routine. We would all be healthier if we did a few jumping jacks every day, am I right?
But it is one of Gates’ earlier comments, the one about bio-terrorists bringing smallpox to “10 airports”, that I really wanted to discuss.
Anyone remember Terry Gilliam’s movie “12 Monkeys”? Bruce Willis, Madelaine Stowe, Brad Pitt… in a movie with one of the most underrated and unnoticed plot twists of all time.
The movie is set in a dystopian future where a virus has wiped out five billion people. Remnants of the human race are living underground and the surface remains uninhabitable. Society is run by scientists who send the film’s protagonist James Cole (Bruce Willing) back in time, presumably to trace the origin of the virus in order to develop a cure.
Importantly, Cole is sternly warned that the past can not be changed.
Initially, the scientists send him to the wrong time. They were supposed to send him to 1996 but sent him to 1990 instead, long before the 12 Monkeys exist. While in the past, Cole ends up in an insane asylum, and meets the psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madelaine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). In the asylum, Cole finds out Goines’ father is a famous virologist. Goines tries to help Cole escape but Cole has been drugged and gets captured in the attempt. He is put into solitary confinement before the scientists bring him back to the future.
Upon his return, though having failed in his duty, he manages to recognize Goines as the leader of the Army of the 12 Monkeys when the scientists show him newspaper clippings: the terrorist group that is believed to be behind the release of the virus. He begs the scientists for another chance to go to the past to find the origins of the virus and they acquiesce.
When he returns to the past, this time he is correctly sent to 1996, he kidnaps Railly and brings her on a quest to find the now free Goines. The kidnapping is well publicized, national news. He meets Goines at his father’s estate who denies he has anything to do with the 12 Monkeys. The scientists once again bring Cole back to the future.
Meanwhile, Railly, startled by the many correct predictions that Cole made, begins to believe his story. She phones Goines’ father and asks him about his son being a member of the 12 Monkeys and mentions the virus. His father denies everything, but begins to get worried about the security of a virus he has been working on in his lab. He tells his assistant about the conversation and asks him to secure the virus.
When Cole returns to the past, we eventually run into the first great plot twist of this movie: The Army of the 12 Monkeys is a red herring. They were not behind the attack. Rather, they really were a rag tag group of animal rights activists. Their grand plan is to free zoo animals from captivity.
The real terrorist is Goines’ father’s assistant. His plan is to move from airport to airport releasing the virus on unsuspecting travelers. It is worth mentioning that he plans to travel to 9 airports, not 10. Bill Gates got that detail wrong!
Cole starts to believe that maybe the past can be changed and attempts to stop the terrorist, but fails, dying in front of a younger version of himself, which had been a recurring dream of his since the beginning of the film. The loop of his life, though, is not the second great plot twist in 12 Monkeys. That comes afterwards.
Let me explain.
The movie ends with the terrorist getting on a plane and sitting next to one of the scientists. He asks the scientist what she does and she says “I’m in insurance”. Many have interpreted this as meaning that she does manage to get a vial of the virus and cure it in the future. That is a piss poor interpretation.
The scientists throughout the movie are cruel and manipulative. They claim to be interested in saving humanity, but their treatment of people in the future does not make them appear as humanists. More importantly, though, they instill the idea in Cole’s head that the past cannot be changed. He is then extremely reckless and openly speaks about humanity’s bleak future. In fact, his actions, based on the idea that the past cannot be changed, cement the chain of events that lead to the future.
The past could be changed all along. All Cole needed to do was, well, nothing. The scientists likely recognized Cole from past news reels, understanding that he was a key element in ensuring the future they live in. They knew the past could be changed because, by proxy of sending someone to the past who would become national news, the past had been changed. Indeed, if the scientists had not sent Cole, they would be directly changing the present, having only indirect effects on the past. While a dark interpretation, the entire movie is about the scientists guiding Cole in order to ensure that their future remains in tact. A future under their influence and control.
So, what does this have to do with Gates other than a vague reference to unleashing a virus at airports?
To be honest, it is in the scientists willingness to trade humanity for influence and control. No, I am not suggestive Gates will release viruses at airports, but his foundation is the largest private donor to the World Health Organization. His donations are so large, in fact, that there have been reports that he exerts a huge amount of influence on the organization.
And despite the fact that people have claimed he is not directly profiting off vaccines and pandemics, his foundation does directly profit. The foundation is a long time investor in Pfizer, an early investor in Moderna, Curevac, and Vir Biotechnology. It is not as if the foundation is a trust fund, either, Gates is in full control of the foundation. Essentially, charities of this sort are giant slush funds that allow Gates to use his money without the tax burden that he would with his own private wealth.
Sure, in a way, the capital in the foundation is less liquid than his private wealth. He does not need liquid capital, and it makes more sense to have a charity if he is trying to buy something else, such as influence, control, or legacy. Or a Nobel prize.
And for the latter purchase, he needs to be seen as a leader in world-changing events. Would a pandemic do? Maybe — if there is enough hysteria. And how would a pandemic cause enough hysteria? Enter the influence he has over the World Health Organization.
Dang! I never interpreted Twelve Monkeys in that way despite having watched it many times as a teenager. Guess I believed in the good of humanity and was oblivious to any other possible theme.
We need some changes on the tax exempt charity laws in. the US. They should not be allowed to lobby governments or GSE’s on public policy. They should not be allowed to donate to government entities or other charities. I’m sure there are a myriad of their reasonable limits that should be put on them. Some of them are now doing far more damage to society than their alleged benefits.