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The Insider

After watching The Insider recently, read a bit about the back-story, the controversies, the allegations by the ex-wife of the protagonist and more. How you feel or are supposed to feel about the story gets muddied rather quickly after that. Adding dramatic flourishes to a real-life story makes for a good movie but the truth is no longer the centrally important. Such is perhaps the case with The Insider too. The wife was depicted as someone who is not an equal partner in the marriage - happy to partake the benefits of being a Big Tobacco wife but unable to take the heat when things sour for the husband. For people outside the situation, it is just another job. 

I knew someone who worked for Big Tobacco a long time ago - a minor cog in the wheel unlike Dr. Wigand in the movie. He got free cigarettes once a month and gave it to friends and family who smoked. I can't recall anyone being appalled that he was given this stuff free - they were glad to accept it as a gift. His job was generally considered cushy and well-paid. We had a few common friends some of whom worked for the same company. Never once in the couple of years that I knew these folks did I hear anyone express angst about earning a Big Tobacco living. It was  job like any other. Watching The Insider made me reconsider these memories from decades ago of knowing people working in IT for a tobacco company, the free cigarettes and no one thinking twice about working such a job. Like any other, it paid for people to pay for their high education, buy homes and raise children.

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