2025 RationalWiki 'Oregon Plan' Fundraiser

There is no RationalWiki without you. We are a small non-profit with no staff—we are hundreds of volunteers who document pseudoscience and crankery around the world every day. We will never allow ads because we must remain independent. We cannot rely on big donors with corresponding big agendas. We are not the largest website around, but we believe we play an important role in defending truth and objectivity.

Fighting pseudoscience isn't free.
We are 100% user-supported! Help and donate $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can today with PayPal Logo.png!
Donations so far: $8765.50Goal: $10000

Plandemic

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Needles are scary
Anti-vaccination
movement
Icon vax.svg
Pricks against pricks
Some dare call it
Conspiracy
Icon conspiracy.svg
What THEY don't want
you to know!
Sheeple wakers

Plandemic is a viral[note 1] schlockumentary and 2020's pretender to the Vaxxed throne.[1][2][3]

Initial infection[edit]

Clocking in at 26 minutes, it purports to be a preview (!) of a longer (!!!) version to be released later. The piece starts out in a somewhat self-conscious stylistic imitation of the PBS investigative journalism series Frontline, spending a fair amount of time creating a cherry-picked when not fictitious background of its main subject: Judy Mikovits. Once that is complete, it descends into a Gish Gallop for the ages.[4]

Immune response[edit]

As a reaction to the later part, some journalists tailored their stories to training readers how to evaluate information rather than debunking the piece directly.[5]

Perhaps more interesting than the documentary itself was its immediate and unusually forceful rebuttals from a wide range of the opinion spectrum. If history remembers it, it may be as a tipping point in the media's response to new conspiracy theories. Among the debunkers were the State of New Jersey,[6] Snopes,[7] fashion magazine GQ,[8] Forbes,[9] TechCrunch,[10] and many, many others. Conspicuously absent from either side were far-right sources such as Fox News and One America News Network, who clearly saw the blowback coming. Well. Except for Michelle Malkin.[11]

Long term prognosis[edit]

In a classic display of the effectiveness of an aggressive approach to fighting viral spread, online interest per Google Trends peaked on 7 May 2020 but collapsed to almost nothing five days later.[12]

Etiology[edit]

According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his non-profit Children’s Health Defense funded Plandemic.[13][14]

Reviews[edit]

The reviews are less than stellar, including a whole 20 minutes multiple parts video debunking the bullshit from its core.


External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. Somewhat less so after it was banned from YouTube and Facebook. Either way, no pun intended.

References[edit]

  1. Seen 'Plandemic'? We Take A Close Look At The Viral Conspiracy Video's Claims by Scott Neuman (Friday 8 May 2020) NPR
  2. Who is Judy Mikovits in ‘Plandemic,’ the coronavirus conspiracy video just banned from social media? by Katie Shepherd (Friday 8 May 2020) Washington Post
  3. Beth Skwarecki, If You Found That ‘Plandemic’ Video Convincing, Read This Too. vitals.lifehacker.com, 8 May 2020.
  4. Plandemic: Judy Mikovits and the mother of all COVID-19 conspiracy theories (some final thoughts) by David Gorski (Monday 11 May 2020) Science Based Medicine
  5. I’m an Investigative Journalist. These Are the Questions I Asked About the Viral “Plandemic” Video. by Marshall Allen (Friday 8 May 2020) ProPublica
  6. New Jersey Facebook account (Friday 8 May 2020) New Jersey Facebook Account
  7. Snopes Debunks Plandemic (Monday 11 May 2020) Snopes.com
  8. What Is “Plandemic,” the Latest Anti-Vaxxer Conspiracy Theory? by Luke Darby (Monday 11 May 2020) GQ
  9. Why It’s Important To Push Back On ‘Plandemic’—And How To Do It by Tara Haelle (Friday 8 May 2020) Forbes
  10. Platforms scramble as ‘Plandemic’ conspiracy video spreads misinformation like wildfire by Taylor Hatmaker (Monday 11 May 2020) TechCrunch
  11. Dr Judy Mikovits / Michelle Malkin: SILICON VALLEY CENSORSHIP AND PLAGUE OF “PLANDEMIC” CORRUPTION by Randolph Jason (Wednesday 13 May 2020) Gospel News Network
  12. RFK Jr revealed that his group, Children’s Health Defense, financed “Plandemic,” a conspiracy “documentary” suggesting the COVID-19 pandemic was government planned. by @patriottakes.bsky.social‬ (November 20, 2024 at 9:43 AM) Blue Sky. Archived copy without video play.
  13. RFK Jr. Said His Organization Funded Viral Covid Conspiracy Film ‘Plandemic’: Trump's anti-vaxxer pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has suggested the government itself may have unleashed the disease by Miles Klee (November 20, 2024) Rolling Stone.