The Great Reset

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About

The Great Reset is an initiative proposed by the World Economic Forum to rethink various political structures and economic policies in the wake of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Online, the initiative has widely circulated within conspiracy theory communities where it is accused of being a plan to create a global totalitarian government, bearing many similarities to the "New World Order"^[1] conspiracy theory.

Origin

On June 3rd, 2020, the World Economic Forum YouTube account uploaded a video titled "The Great Reset," featuring clips of pollution, demonstrations and pandemic life to make the case that there is an "urgent need for global stakeholders to cooperate in simultaneously managing the direct consequences of the COVID-19 crisis" (shown below).

Spread

On October 31st, 2020, Redditor passwordgoeshere submitted a post asking about The Great Reset to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[2] noting that it "seems like a conspiracy thing."

Trudeau Video

On September 29th, 2020, the Global News YouTube channel uploaded a video in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses to the UN conference, saying that the pandemic provides "opportunity for a reset" (shown below).

On November 15th, Twitter^[3] user @derf_anon retweeted the video, referencing The Great Reset conspiracy theory and accusing Trudeau of being part of a "cabal." The tweet was subsequently reposted to the /r/conspiracy^[4] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,100 points (85% upvoted) within 24 hours. The following day, "The Great Reset" began trending on Twitter, leading Twitter user @Shayan86 to post a tweet mocking the conspiracy theory (shown below).

On November 17th, the conspiracy was covered by The New York Times,^[5] where it was dismissed as "baseless." The piece quoted Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, who said "What is true is that Covid is on the rise in the U.S. because of poor leadership and the lack of a nationally coordinated response." She also said it was "maddening" to see conspiracies get in the way of truthful information that could help people. Twitter told the Times that tweets about The Great Reset conspiracy did not violate its terms of service.

Related Memes

You'll Own Nothing and Be Happy

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.

I Will Not Eat the Bugs

I Will Not Eat the Bugs is a catchphrase often used in Schizoposting under the belief that there is a growing global initiative to push the world into eating bugs instead of meat due to environmental concerns of livestock. This catchphrase originated in 2019 and rose to prominence with the supply shortages and increased regulation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is used in a variety of memes, such as image macros and copypastas.

Search Interest

External References