This article was originally published by Michael Rectenwald at The Mises Institute. 

In previous articles, I’ve discussed the Great Reset and introduced several ways of understanding the economics of it. The Great Reset can be thought of as neofeudalism, as “corporate socialism,” as “capitalism with Chinese characteristics,” and in terms of “stakeholder capitalism” versus “neoliberalism.” In future installments, I intend to treat the technological (transhumanist) and monetary (centralized banking and digital currency) aspects that Klaus Schwab and others anticipate and prescribe.

But in this essay, I wish to consider the ideological aspect of the Great Reset. Just how do the planners mean to establish the reset ideologically? That is, how would a reset of the mass mind come to pass that would allow for the many elements of the Great Reset to be put into place—without mass rebellion, that is? After all, if the Great Reset is to take hold, some degree of conformity on the part of the population will be necessary—despite the enhanced, extended, and more precise control over the population that transhumanist technology and a centralized digital currency would afford.

This is the function of ideology. Ideology, as the Marxist historian of science Richard Lewontin has argued, works “by convincing people that the society in which they live is just and fair, or if not just and fair then inevitable, and that it is quite useless to resort to violence.”1 Ideology establishes the “social legitimation” that Lewontin sees as necessary for gaining the assent of the ruled. “The battleground is in people’s heads, and if the battle is won on that ground then the peace and tranquility of society are guaranteed.”2 Ideology on this account is not the same as a world view. It is rather the mental programming necessary for domination and control short of the use of force. Ideological indoctrination is easier, less messy, and less expensive than state and state-supported violence.

Some may argue that the ideology of the Great Reset is simply socialist-communist ideology. After all, in many respects, socialist-communist ideology supports what the Great Reset promises to deliver. And this may work for some. There are those who would welcome, on socialist grounds, the “fairness,” “equality,” or “equity” that the Great Reset promises. Socialists might overlook or excuse the oligarchical control of society on the basis of the supposed fairness, equality, or equity among the mass of the population, and on the presumption that the oligarchy will be overthrown in the not-so-distant future. Socialism embeds a leveling predisposition that puts a premium on “equality” among the visible majority, even when that equality comes as a great loss for many otherwise “middle-class” subjects. In fact, when I briefly entertained the rantings of members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, including its leader, Bob Avakian, they admitted to me that worldwide socialism would mean reduced standards of living for much of the world, especially in the United States. They had no problem with this; in fact, they seemed to relish the prospect. No doubt, as Friedrich Nietzsche suggested, socialism is fueled, at least in part, by ressentiment—by resentment and envy for the property owner. Much could be said about socialists’ apparent approval, or at least conditional and temporary acceptance, of big monopolistic oligarchical corporatists and their preference for big business over small.3 Socialists see monopolization under capitalism as inevitable, as necessary for producing a more consolidated target to be overthrown, and as a sign of the imminent collapse of capitalism and the coming socialist-communist apocalypse.

Likewise, many socialists will be amenable to the Great Reset on principle—especially those who accept its rhetoric at face value. But for all its newfound popularity, socialism-communism still doesn’t represent the majority. While popular among Millennials and other millennialists, socialism-communism remains unsavory for many. It is regarded as alien, obscure, and loosely connotes something negative. But more importantly, for reasons that I’ll give below, socialist-communist ideology is not the ideology that best fits the goals of the Great Reset. This is where wokeness comes in.

What exactly is wokeness? As I write in Beyond Woke,

According to the social justice creed, being “woke” is the political awakening that stems from the emergence of consciousness and conscientiousness regarding social and political injustice. Wokeness is the indelible inscription of the awareness of social injustice on the conscious mind, eliciting the sting of conscience, which compels the newly woke to change their be­liefs and behaviors.4

This is as close to a definition of wokeness as I can manage, gleaning it as I have from the assertions of those who embrace it. Of course, the etymology of the word “woke,” and how it became an adjective describing those who are thus awakened into consciousness of social and political injustice, is another matter. I discuss the etymology in Google Archipelago:

“Woke” began in English as a past tense and past participle of “wake.” It suggested “having become awake.” But, by the 1960s, woke began to function as an adjective as well, gaining the figurative meaning in the African American community of “well-informed” or “up-to-date.” By 1972, the once modest verbal past tense began to describe an elevated political consciousness. In 2017, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) recognized the social-conscious awareness of woke and added the definition: “alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice.”5

Yet there are as many definitions of wokeness as people who’ve heard of it, as is the case with most anything the least bit controversial. I’m sure that others can and will add to the definition or suggest that wokeness should be defined altogether differently. But the above definition and historical-semantical renderings are sufficient for our purposes. According to adherents, then, wokeness is enhanced awareness of social and political injustice and the determination to eradicate it.

But what could wokeness have to do with the Great Reset? As a corrective, wokeness is not aimed at the sufferers whose complaints or imagined complaints, it means to redress. Wokeness works on the majority, the supposed beneficiaries of injustice. It does so by making the majority understand that it has benefited from “privilege” and preference—based on skin color (whiteness), gender (patriarchy), sexual proclivity (heteronormativity), birthplace (colonialism, imperialism, and first worldism), gender identity (cisgender privilege), and the domination of nature (speciesism)—to name some of the major culprits. The list could go on and is emended, seemingly by the day. This majority must be rehabilitated, as it were. The masses must understand that they have gained whatever advantages they have hitherto enjoyed on the basis of the unfair treatment of others, either directly or indirectly, and this unfair treatment is predicated on the circumstances of birth. The “privilege” of the majority has come at the expense of those minorities designated as the beneficiaries of wokeness, and wokeness is the means for rectifying these many injustices.

And what are the effects of being repeatedly reprimanded as such, of being told that one has been the beneficiary of unmerited “privilege,” that one’s relative wealth and well-being have come at the expense of oppressed, marginalized, and misused Others? Shame, guilt, remorse, unworthiness. And what are the expected attitudinal and behavioral adjustments to be taken by the majority? They are to expect less. Under woke ideology, one will be expected to forfeit one’s rights, because even these rights, nay, especially these rights, have come at the expense of others.

Thus, wokeness works by habituating the majority to the reduced expectations that I introduced in my first installment on the Great Reset. It does this by instilling a belief in the unworthiness of the majority to thrive, prosper, and enjoy their lives. Wokeness indoctrinates the majority into the propertyless future (for them, at least) of the Great Reset while gratifying the Left, its main ideological propagators, with a sense of moral superiority, even as they too are scheduled to become bereft of prospects.

One question remains. Why is wokeness more suited to the objectives of the Great Reset than socialist-communist ideology? To answer this question, we must recall the selling points of socialism-communism. Despite the leveling down that I mentioned above, socialism-communism is promissory. It promises benefits, not deficits. It does not operate by promising the majority that they will lose upon its establishment. Quite to the contrary, socialism-communism promises vastly improved conditions—yes, fairness, equality, or equity but also prosperity for the mass of humanity, a prosperity that has been denied it under capitalism. The workers of the world are called to unite, not under the prospect of reduced expectations, but on the basis of great expectations—not, according to Marx, to establish utopia, but at least to destroy and replace the current dystopia with a shared cornucopia. We know, of course, how this promise is kept. But it is nevertheless still proffered and believed by all too many in our midst.

We have seen, on the other hand, the subtractive character of woke ideology. Wokeness demands the forfeiture of advantages on moral grounds. Unlike socialism-communism, it does not offer empowerment or advocate the takeover of the means of production and the state by political means. Wokeness is a form of recrimination that compels the abdication, not the acquisition, of goods.

Woke ideology, I contend, has tilled the soil and planted the seeds for the harvest that the Great Reset represents to the ruling elite. Was wokeness intentionally crafted for this purpose? I don’t think so, but it nevertheless can and is being adopted for these ends, just as other ideological formations have been used for other ends. The ruling elite appropriates the available means at its disposal to affect its plans, including available ideologies. Woke ideology was available and ready for appropriation and application. Wokeness serves the Great Reset best, and thus we see the language of wokeness in the books and other literature devoted to its establishment: fairness, inclusion, etc.

Naturally, wokeness will not work on everyone. But the demand has been made so universal that unapologetic, noncompliant dissenters are figured as regressive, reactionary, racist, white supremacist, and more, and are dismissed, if not punished, on those grounds. Wokeness has thus attained dominance. Countering it will be a major requirement for challenging the Great Reset.

For climate change and global warming, the elitists are demanding we all take to eating bugs.  But does anyone actually believe the rulers will be eating bugs? The mainstream media has begun their propaganda push to see if humans will actually eat bugs on their command.

The social engineering experiment in behavior modification has begun:

Entomophagy advocates say a cultural shift is already in the works, particularly among the young and adventurous urbanites who will be setting food trends for generations to come. “It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s never going to 100% replace meat, but those of us who are health-conscious and environmentally aware have already started making that transition,” says biologist Jenna Jadin, who wrote Cicada-licious, a cookbook featuring cicada dumplings and other treats, just in time for the 2004 hatching of Washington D.C.’s 17-year cicada cycle (the next hatching is this summer. Get your skillets ready). –Yahoo

Why Is The Elitist Establishment So Obsessed With Meat?

Food culture does change. Five hundred years ago, Italians thought tomatoes were poisonous. In the 1800s, Americans considered lobsters to be trash food and fed them to prisoners. Few cultures ate raw fish 50 years ago; now sushi is ubiquitous. Insects are likely to follow the same trajectory, says Fisher, who suggests salt-roasted crickets served with beer as the ideal “gateway bug.” The sustainability factor, the health aspects, those are the angles that will make people want to try edible insects, he says. The rest is easy. “If it’s done right, they will keep coming back for more, because it tastes really good.” –Yahoo

Yes, food culture changes. However, anyone with any amount of common sense and critical thinking can see that this isn’t one that’s going to catch on without the brainwashing and propaganda campaigns of the mainstream media.

Bill Gates & Food Corporations Worked To End Livestock Production, Pushed Lab-Grown Meat

We have also warned that this propaganda push to get you to eat bugs and lower your standards of acceptable foods had begun with a fear of a “meat shortage.” This was all done by design. The real question is will humanity fall for this once again and descend further into slavery? Or will we finally wake up when it comes to such a life-sustaining issue as food?

BEWARE THE PROPAGANDA: MSM Wants Us To Fear The “Meat Crisis” The Government Caused

The United States ruling class has now approved its third vaccine, with the Johnson & Johnson jab joining Pfizer and Moderna in the ongoing battle against the public.  The COVID-19 scamdemic is ramping up and they will need you all to line up and take a shot.

The new Johnson & Johnson shot may be appealing to those who don’t want to have to take a second dose of the experimental vaccine. But Bill Gates says you should get three doses because of all the mutant strains.

Bill Gates: You Might Need 3 Shots of The Vax To “Combat Variant Strains”

“The authorization of this vaccine expands the availability of vaccines, the best medical prevention method for Covid-19, to help us in the fight against this pandemic, which has claimed over half a million lives in the United States,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement late on Saturday, according to a report by RT.

More COIVD-19 Vax Deaths: Think They’ll Blame This On COVID-21?

So far, the J&J vaccine has only seen action in South Africa, after the country hastily searched for new options when its mass vaccination campaign stalled. South Africa began its immunization drive early in February, using the AstraZeneca vaccine. The process, however, was halted just a few days after its start, due to a limited-scope study that suggested the shot fared extremely poorly against the local extra-contagious Covid-19 variant. –RT

This means you will probably still be told you need more than one dose of this minimally effective vaccine (66% on average). If you plan to get this vaccine (J&J, AstraZeneca, Moderna, or Pfizer) make sure you look into it.  There doesn’t appear to be any rational reason for anyone to line up for this thing, and yet millions of sheep have already allowed the ruling class and their propaganda arm to convince them to do this.

Personally, I’d do what you can to avoid this “vaccine” if that’s what it even is. But use your own discernment and critical thinking. Go get it if you want, but something is fishy and rotten and it can be smelled a mile away if you just research for a few minutes and read what the mainstream media and the ruling class is saying.

If you don’t plan on taking this vaccine, know that they will attempt to manipulate you into doing so.

Medical Journal: Get The COVID-19 Vaccine, Or Be Punished HARSHLY

Ruling Class: The Scamdemic Won’t End Until The WHOLE WORLD Is Vaccinated

The New Zealand government, the ruling class masters who think they own everyone within their illegitimate territorial lines have locked down the nation’s largest city once again. The reason: one new case of COVID-19 was discovered.

All lives will now be ruined because one new case of the disease that hasn’t been isolated yet and for which the tests cannot even confirm, has been found in the city. “We are in the unfortunate but necessary position to protect Aucklanders again,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said according to propaganda outlet, NBC News.   If people don’t wake up soon, we are all going to face a dire future of slavery that we won’t be able to escape from.

 Auckland, went into a seven-day lockdown from early morning on Sunday, after a new local case of the coronavirus of unknown origin emerged.

This lockdown comes two weeks after Auckland’s nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown by the ruling class when a family was diagnosed with the more transmissible U.K. variant of the coronavirus.

The sad fact that people are still acting like slaves and obeying without thinking is astonishing.

Americans Plan On Being Slaves Long After COVID Is “No Longer A Threat”

This blind obedience to the state is nothing more than slavery and it is far past time to evolve beyond needing a master over your life. Wake up. Government is slavery and if that hasn’t been shown to you before, this should do it.

The lockdown, with Level 3 restrictions, will allow people to leave home only for essential shopping and essential work, Ardern said.

Public venues will remain closed. Restrictions in the rest of the country will be tightened to Level 2 restrictions, including limits on public gatherings. –NBC News

David Icke To LEOs & Military: “Look Your Children In The Eye” & Tell Them YOU Enforced Tyranny

No one is coming to save us.  We have to wake up and see this slave state for what it really is if we ever expect to leave anything other than slavery for our children. These chains are all imaginary. No one has the right to own us and we have no obligation to submit to any master. The first step is making this realization.