I started watching motivational videos after I left my ex wife. I had sixteen (or twenty six depending on how you look at it) years of stagnation behind me, and I felt motivated to turn the ship around. I wanted to be whole for my son. And eventually I found love again (and lost love again….and again….) and that only increased my motivation. The motivational videos still continue, but they are largely mixed with conspiracy theory stuff. The AI that runs the programs has way too much influence on what I watch. In the last year or so I’ve been hearing a lot about something called “The Great Reset,” but I’m forced to admit that I don’t know much about it. So let’s go on this journey together and see what we can discover.
According to Wikipedia, The Great Reset is the term for the fiftieth annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, held in June 2020. Quite a few big wigs were there, a lot of the usual suspects in a conspiracy theory. It was convened by Charles, Prince of Wales, and the purpose of the meeting was rebuilding the economy and society at large following the pandemic, which at the time was in it’s virulent twenty fifth week, and the world was in full scale panic.
As I review what I can about this meeting of great minds (I bet they didn’t have Puddles Pity Party there….or Richard Cheeze…or Weird Al) I’m going to:
- Look at the positive side of the argument
- Look at the negative side of the argument
- Look at history to see if we can learn anything about this agenda.
I can hear some of my friends now, on both sides of the aisle. “What could possibly be good about this”? And I get it, I admit I’m approaching this subject with trepidation. I’m no fan of Trilateral Commissions, Illuminati, or Bilderberg types. But in the end, I’m right where the reader is, trying to learn.
Ok ok….we all get a trial by our peers, and we are innocent until proven guilty. So….what is good about the Great Reset. Just off the top of my head….society has taken a ginormous hit. And frankly, things done The Same Old Way have not been working. Frankly through most of my lifetime. So on the surface it does sound like a good idea. Like the Constitutional Convention in our country, the Founding Fathers of the US gathered together and cobbled together a system to enact a form of government that would be better than the old one. And I think we can admit that, at least till the seventies, the experiment was largely successful. And like the Founding Fathers, we find our world in a moment of crises. War and Plague have both hit the world, and who knows if the other two Horsemen of the Apocalypse are far behind. To quote HRH Prince Charles, “There is a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis…global crises know no borders, and highlight how interdependent we are as one people sharing one planet.” In the same speech he says “Unless we take the action necessary, and build in a greener and more inclusive and sustainable way, then we will have more and more pandemics.” And may I add….unless we change the small thinking that has led to the current crises, not only will we face these things again, but I suspect they shall get progressively worse. I’ll leave the link here where I got the quotes from Prince Charles’ speech:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/great-reset-launch-prince-charles-guterres-georgieva-burrow/
But on the other side of the argument….is it just my imagination, or is there a Devil twisting the wishes to make a better world and make bitter the potion we would quaff.
The negatives? At first all I have to lean on is a gut feeling. Some nagging voice that says something is not right. I remember the quote all these conspiracy videos keep bringing up: “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” What is that all about?
I look that up….and the internet basically explodes on me. Conspiracy theory, outrage, a song was made about the meme. Ok….let’s try to wade through this mess….
First I go to Reuters, and they say they have debunked this, that there is no record of this ever being said by the WEF. So…where did it come from? And how did it get applied to the Great Reset. ‘Cause I’m here to tell you…..if I can’t at least own books, this tired blogger ain’t gonna be happy, no matter what world order you set up. And coffee. And a computer.
Finally I find the source…..”You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy (originally You’ll Own Nothing and You’ll Be Happy) is a catchphrase originating from a 2016 essay by Danish MP Ida Auken which was included in the video “8 Predictions for the World in 2030” by the World Economic Forum. While the prediction was originally explained as “all products will become services,” in has since been increasingly regarded as a harbinger of dystopian times when the human right to property would be abolished for the benefit of the few. Online, the catchphrase and image macros based on it have been used to comment on sociopolitical and economic issues and developments.” Here is the link where I found this: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/youll-own-nothing-and-be-happy
Ok….so maybe that was a slip of the tongue. And it does seem a bit unfair to hold everyone in the WEF responsible for one person’s ill chosen words. Still….I have to admit…my spidey sense is still tingling. I’ll have to do more thinking and researching to make up my mind on this one.
Last of all….how did the world react to former pandemics? Is there anything we can learn from the past? Let’s take a look at the grandaddy of all plagues….the Black Death.
By some estimates it reduced the population of Europe by one third. Percentagewise, Covid is not even in the same category (sorry folks, I know it’s been rough…and maybe I speak prematurely….but it took England literally a century to get their populations back…..). So many people died the Lords could no longer keep up the old framework of lord and serf. Simple economics, when there is a smaller supply of people, the value of those people increases. The Renaissance could be thought of as a Great Reset.
Tell me what you think? Is this a Star Trek moment where we are going to come together in peace and wisdom and build a better world for our children? A dystopia of horror that will make our children curse us? Or do we even know yet how our world is going to change because of Plague, the Horseman of the Apocalypse? Please leave your comments below.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10153920524981479
Tired Midnight Blogger (What Blogs at Midnight) 
I wish we could attain more of Roddenberry’s vision, but Goldstein’s Book from *1984* tells me it will never happen because of the interplay between the High-Medium-Low social classes.
We need some type of Capitalistic system with a mandatory philanthropic cap:
Once a certain income level is reached, all funds above and beyond become profit sharing for the workers. And any personal income above an certain insanely high amount is circled back into community infrastructure ( or something similar).
That would be the greatest reset of all.
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I too yearn for Roddenberry’s vision. But until we find a clean source of energy that is as efficient as fusion energy, I don’t think we’ll ever get there. I hope I am wrong but it has seemed through most of my life that we are heading toward dystopia, and I have no idea how to stop that. I honestly don’t know what the answer is. The model of constantly requiring profit increases is already straining humanity to the breaking point, I marvel how long we went before the system broke. I know there are many who would dispute me, but I think Covid basically was the breaking point. Our systems just weren’t good enough to cope with it. Having said that, I don’t have an answer. Respectfully, I disagree with the mandatory cap on income, mainly because the oligarchs will always find a way around that. It’s been tried before, they always find a way to game the system. But having said that, at least you have the courage to propose a solution. I don’t. Partly because I don’t have the foggiest clue how to fix this mess. And partly because I am still the timid beaten little boy who is scared his parents will beat him if he offends…..Bless you bro, thanks for the comment, please keep reading and commenting, I sometimes get weary of “talking to myself.”
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I believe you have great boldness — you are publicly sharing insights and ideas. “Timid, little boys” do not risk going out on stage to share their beliefs. You are breaking shackles every day!
And, history does indeed prove you right about the Oligarchs— I wish there was some answer to human greed….
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