WEF - Conspiracy Theory?

[Lazyusername]

Every so often, someone in comments will mention the WEF and a torrent of responses follows; memes of tinfoil hat-wearers, insults etc.

I'm very interested in politics; I read around all of the papers, news sites etc.
From what I understand there are valid reasons for people to be concerned about the WEF. I want to post some FACTS, along with sources, about the WEF and then I would love to hear what other people think. If I am a "conspiracy nut" for having concerns and thinking the public should know much more about this then please enlighten me.

The WEF exists. Here is its website.
The World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
It holds meetings at Davos each year. Members consist of politicians, owners of corporations & social media and others.
The WEF was created by Klaus Schwab. He is the Chairman of the WEF.
Klaus Schwab - Wikipedia
He wrote a book called Covid 19, the Great Reset. It is currently available on Amazon. I have read it. It calls for the opportunity which has arisen through the pandemic to be used to change the way the world is run, bringing in a system of "stakeholder capitalism". In this system, democracy becomes of lesser importance and decisions are taken by corporations in conjunction with the UN.
You can read a more complex explanation here:
Conspiracy theories aside, there is something fishy about the Great Reset - resilience
The WEF have a programme of "Young Global Leaders". You can read about them here on the WEF's own site:
What are Young Global Leaders and what impact can they have? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Young global leaders have included Angela Merkel, Tony Blair, Emanuel Macron, Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau and many more.
In 2017 Klaus Schwab stated on video that the WEF had "penetrated the Cabinets" of governments around the world and that over half of Canada's Government, including Trudeau were Young Global Leaders.

(1:08:30) You can see MP's profiles on the WEF website by searching their name followed by WEF. Some are there. Some are not. Sunak and Starmer are both listed. Starmer is on video saying he prefers Davos to Westminster. The WEF Wikepedia page states: In May 2020, the WEF and the Prince of Wales's Sustainable Markets Initiative launched "The Great Reset" project, a five-point plan to enhance sustainable economic growth following the global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.[128] "The Great Reset" was to be the theme of WEF's annual meeting in August 2021. The forum defines the system that it wants to create as "Stakeholder Capitalism". The Transnational Institute describes the World Economic Forum's main purpose as being "to function as a socializing institution for the emerging global elite, globalization's "Mafiocracy" of bankers, industrialists, oligarchs, technocrats and politicians. They promote common ideas, and serve common interests: their own." According to the European Parliament's think tank, critics see the WEF as an instrument for political and business leaders to "take decisions without having to account to their electorate or shareholders".[163] Since 2009, the WEF has been working on a project called the Global Redesign Initiative (GRI), which proposes a transition away from intergovernmental decision-making towards a system of multi-stakeholder governance. According to the Transnational Institute (TNI), the Forum is hence planning to replace a recognised democratic model with a model where a self-selected group of "stakeholders" make decisions on behalf of the people.

I could go on (I realise I already have 🙂) but I'm saying I don't remember any of us being consulted about having democracy taken away so we could be ruled by corporations. This is not about anti-vaxx, lizard people or anything else. As far as I can see this is a very serious affront to our freedom and democracy. AIBU?

Using daily death count and case numbers was main method

How much do people think about Covid now fhey’ve stopped?

People were fearful when they went up, even if they had been eating at restaurants for a summer, and they were used for about two years

It’s not really up for debate surely on the fear part. There were behavioural teams in place for the duration advising on how to do it

Standard response to any thing you don’t have an answer to is to say that you are offended. Why not throw in ‘be kind’ for good measure too.

Maybe you missed it, the printing presses were running until 2022, churning out money for the Covid fear mongers to line their pockets. It’s not even hidden. You can find quantitative easing and borrowing numbers.

Apart from that, what did anyone have to gain from ‘keeping the fear going?’

It was the easiest way to get compliance when needed

I saw a fair few posts saying this at the time, people were fearful and resistant and mostly lashed out with abuse over it

Compliance for what? The next wave of covid that they knew was coming? Yes, possibly true. Or do you mean something else? Anyway they blew it in the end. After Partygate no one will ever comply with such restrictions ever again, unless by their own personal choice.

I agree there was lots of corruption and lots of money handed out to friends of the Tories, but that was rank opportunism rather than covid being some sort of conspiracy.

Compliance for what? The next wave of covid that they knew was coming? Yes, possibly true

Yes for the next wave of Covid

Weirdly the end of the Covid Act pretty much ended when the waves needing compliance ended. After two years

And daily death and case counts stopped. Covid is circulating but without those headlines it’s not much of a public thought - tg

Ya most definitely nbu op.

The thing I would watch for is a unified global body setting the law for future pandemics

They weren’t great for the last one

Good thread, it’s important to air this kind of thing and bring some nuance back to public discourse.

The nonsense with masks continued for a number of reasons.

a) Political. Hancock, Whitty and Johnson knew full well that non-medical face masks do very little to prevent transmission of the virus. People were made to wear them anyway because Dominic Cummings was fixated with them; because Nicola Sturgeon liked them; and above all because they were symbolic of the public health emergency.
As early as 3 February 2020 – long before anyone outside the Department of Health was taking the prospect of a pandemic seriously – ministers were told the masks make no significant difference. In April 2020, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) reiterated this advice. At the end of that month, the Sage committee said much the same thing, telling ministers that it would be unreasonable to claim a large benefit. An ‘obsessed’ Cummings was the driving force behind mandating mask-wearing in all healthcare settings – and then in retail and hospitality. On 28 June he messaged Hancock to complain that the government was being insufficiently ‘aggressive’ on the issue and demanding that they be compulsory in shops and for restaurant staff.
In a private exchange with Hancock, Whitty said he could see ‘no scientific or medical reason not to’ make them compulsory. He described the evidence in favour of mask-wearing as ‘moderate’ in general but ‘positive in enclosed spaces where distancing is difficult’. Hancock’s response? ‘I said I could see no reason not to use the power of the state to enforce it and that the importance of masks should be in all our messaging.’ That summer, the Treasury was instructed to change a planned advertising campaign (designed to get punters back into pubs) to ensure all models featured were masked up.

b) Having issued these diktats, it would have been a huge loss of face to climb down. Throughout the pandemic, far-reaching policy decisions, especially international travel restrictions and the timing of lockdowns, were distorted by what Sturgeon was doing or what No. 10 feared she might do. Hancock describes her move to mandate mask-wearing in secondary schools in late August 2020 as ‘one of her most egregious attempts at one-upmanship to date’, admitting the UK government was left ‘scrabbling around to formulate a response’. The UK government’s own guidance on face coverings had specifically excluded schools. Faced with an unpleasant choice between wheeling out the chief medical or scientific officer to say that the Scots were wrong or performing a U-turn, Downing Street chose the latter. That, rather than any medical reason, is why millions of schoolchildren were forced to spend months with grubby bits of material stuck to their faces.

The fact that it was apparently ‘safe’ to remove a mask to sit down in a public and eat food that was potentially sprinkled with covid virus, but not to walk around without one just proved what a complete farce the wearing of masks really was. Width also noting, countries where mask wearing has been the cultural norm for decades ultimately fared no better than nations where it wasn’t.

Anything with Tony Blair and "Leader" in the same sentence is immediately not worth reading.

There's quite clearly a loss of democracy if everyone available to vote for is a member of the same group who's aims we may not agree with. Can you really not see this?

Agree with you @Lazyusername

Not just the WEF though is it? When our politicians are influenced more by global organisations, groups with money, and other loud lobby groups to the point they couldn't give a shit about their electorate, then yeah it's a bit of a problem isn't it?

@plumtreebroke I'm genuinely envious of you, it must make life so simple and pleasant having such sweet naivety and a wide eyed innocent view of the world.

You just keep on doing your thing, conforming, complying and not thinking too much... don't ever let anyone spoil the perfect little world you inhabit and don't pay any attention to anyone who suggests you're a gullible conformist who's incapable of independent critical thinking.

I don't think you're wrong OP. Throughout history the powerful have always wanted to become more powerful. Nothing has changed and isn't likely to.

So while I broadly agree with you and also think it's lazy to just dismiss you as a conspiracist, I think it's important to not go too far down that rabbit hole. There's often repercussions on mental health and personal relationships and to my mind, it's not worth stewing over something you're powerless to change.

You can make simple changes in your own life if that helps, E.g using cash, not supporting businesses or politicians who value acquisition of power over serving the people but I wouldn't personally get sucked into the YouTube/dark web world where genuinely bonkers people run wild.
Keep informed, make good choices and then get on with your life without this becoming a dominating mindset.

I’m sorry but this is so implausible it’s laughable! Why would they want compliance for the next wave of covid if the covid threat was a hoax?

why would the Tory party - that baulks at paying any money whatsoever in benefits - pay furlough unless the closure of the economy was unavoidable?

This.

The loudest voices always get the biggest say. Anyone who questioned the narrative was immediately shut down with accusations of ‘lunatic fringe’ or ‘nutter’ SM was particularly aggressive in its policing. If you mentioned anything slightly against the narrative on any forum, you were removed immediately.

I’m pretty middle of the road with my politics. Possibly conservative with a small c. I think there’s lots of things they have done wrong and been a huge disappointment and I would definitely vote Labour if I thought the alternative was any better, but covid has really opened my eyes to both our politicians and and the public. I disassociate myself completely with the extreme Trumpites and Right Wing of the Tories, but merely mentioning any disquiet about the handling of the pandemic and the out of proportion fear mongering immediately got me screamed at and labelled as selfish, a granny killer and a dangerous person. The public genuinely seemed to lose their mind and all sense of logic and reason because our leaders instilled so much fear into them.

Never again will I allow myself to be manipulated as I was initially. I’m still amazed that so many healthy people are still living in fear and are so prepared to accept politicians word for it. If you have any doubt, don’t forget the infamous WhatsApp from Hancock, “Lets release the Kent variant” to ensure compliance. How dare they scare and lie to us like this!

An ‘obsessed’ Cummings was the driving force behind mandating mask-wearing in all healthcare settings – and then in retail and hospitality. On 28 June he messaged Hancock to complain that the government was being insufficiently ‘aggressive’ on the issue and demanding that they be compulsory in shops and for restaurant staff

So how does all that explain why Wales eventually also moved to compulsory mask wearing?

Where in my posts have I used the word ‘hoax’? Using fear as the main tactic was successful, how else would you get the majority to stay home when needed? It wasn’t by force, but self compliance.

It’s a bit hard to engage with someone who ‘laughs’ at behaviour change when there’s agencies, experts and advice was set up for the duration.

It’s not a new thing or unknown, experts in the U.K. are known to be pretty good at it, but it was most effectively used during Covid

Exactly the same reason as Scotland. It was a form of ‘waggling waggling’ or oneupmanship.
The leaders of the devolved nations wanted to show and try to prove to their electorate that they were appearing the ‘best’ at controlling covid. And simply because it was contrary an opportunity to be contrary to Westminster.

But what’s the incentive for the Tory party to ensure compliance? It was very costly economically and politically. Why would they do it? Makes no sense whatsoever.

Why are you even worried about this? What can you do to change it? This has all been going on for centuries in one guise or another it's never gone away but it's never prevailed either. Just accept that there are factions of society with agendas that are contrary to our world view and forget it.

Or because the devolved admins thought masks might be a useful tool in helping stop the spread of the virus...

(That was to St TropezTan).

They needed to ‘flatten the curve’ remember?

To stop hospitals being overwhelmed. They couldn’t force you to stay home but they could use rising numbers as headlines to do it. Remember all the posters who would give daily updates here, demanding close the schools etc, lockdown. It worked!

The method to get people to stay home when the curve had to be stretched out was fear mostly through daily death and case counts

It worked and it’ll be in case studies for students on the subject. It’s not secret or a new thing, just a niche speciality that some work in. There’s agencies, and experts all that. Most people won’t know about what is influencing their behaviour but it worked extremely well

Yes it was hugely expensive and we should question whether it was the right approach, a few did at the time but were mostly berated and got loads of abuse.