Book Review: ‘Covid-19: The Great Reset’ (Part 1, Pandemic Severity)

Klaus & Co. have sold 250,000+ copies of this book. It would shock me if 250+ people have actually finished it, tweeted Critical Sway. “I’m one of those people and frankly, I can understand if you don’t want to be next. [So] let me help.”

Three key themes emerge from the book:

1. Pandemic Severity – of the virus, the control measures, the economic fallout
2. Centralisation – World governance, coordination, public-private partnerships
3. Societal Shifts – Human behaviour, equality, ESG

We’ll tackle one at a time.  This will be a big job. So, I’m splitting it up:

• Chapter 1 (Pandemic Severity) – right here, right now
• Chapter 2 (Centralisation) – posted in 48 hours
• Chapter 3 (Societal Shifts) – 48 hours after that

Critical Sway on Twitter, HERE and HERE

Below is Critical Sway’s Twitter thread.

Chapter 1 – Pandemic Severity

Klaus & Co. have sold 250,000+ copies of this book. It would shock me if 250+ people have actually finished it. I’m one of those people and frankly, I can understand if you don’t want to be next. Let me help…

Some claim the whole “Great Reset” idea is nothing more than a conspiracy theory. That’s rubbish. Let’s consult the facts → The actual book: ‘COVID-19: The Great Reset, by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Mallaret’

COVID-19: The Great Reset is 281 jumbled pages of…

• → Half-truths
• → Contradictions
• → Bad predictions
• → Run on sentences
• → Anti-freedom bullsh*t

This review won’t convince you to read the book. It won’t convince you that Klaus is an evil genius either.

Klaus & Co. set the book out in three sections.

1. Macro Reset
2. Micro Reset
3. Individual Reset

It’s a tangled mess of ideas organised under those categories – all claiming COVID-19 has or will trigger societal upheaval.

I’ve thrown out their structure & used my own…

Three key themes emerge from the book:

1. Pandemic Severity – of the virus, the control measures, the economic fallout
2. Centralisation – World governance, coordination, public-private partnerships
3. Societal Shifts – Human behaviour, equality, ESG

We’ll tackle one at a time.  This will be a big job. So, I’m splitting it up:

• Chapter 1 (Pandemic Severity) – right here, right now
• Chapter 2 (Centralisation) – posted in 48 hours
• Chapter 3 (Societal Shifts) – 48 hours after that

Too much Klaus & Co. isn’t good for you.  Best we spread it out.

In fairness, I need to dispel a myth right up front: The term “useless eaters” does not appear in the book.  That widely miss-attributed quote has done the rounds – you’ve probably seen it, but Klaus didn’t say it.

Let’s get into some things he DID say…

Klaus & Co set the tone early: We’re never going back to “normal” and this virus will change the direction of the world.

To show us that pandemics can change the course of empires, the authors drag out a “similar” example from the history books: The Plague of Justinian. An epic horror that killed something like 40% of the inhabitants of Constantinople. Is that reasonably similar? (No, it’s not).

Not satisfied that the comparison is silly enough, Klaus & Co go on to drop this bomb:

Lockdowns are “common practice”, they say. Well, I’ve never known one.  I asked my Dad, he doesn’t remember any. I checked with my grandparents and they can’t think of any either. We must have missed them all.

Early in the book, Klaus & Co. invite the reader to consider whether Covid-19 is like any of the following:

• → The Spanish Flu
• → The Great Depression
• → 9/11
• → SARS
• → The GFC

Then they say this:

I’m going to take a moment to point out an important distinction.  One which the authors miss (or choose to omit) throughout this book…

The economic destruction was not caused by the disease. No.

The measures implemented in the name of suppressing the disease did that. Measures stemming from a hysterical response to the perceived threat.

I’ll tread carefully with this next one for obvious reasons. You can read, fact-check, and ponder possible causes for yourself…

I haven’t (yet) made out my case that Klaus is the king of contradictions…

But this is a good place to start piling up evidence. Remember right at the start we read that we were never going back to normal?  Well…

By “never” Klaus & Co. meant to say not until we get a vaccine. So, maybe not never, as it turns out. Unless he meant an “effective vaccine” – but that’s not a discussion for today.

Once we have a vaccine to market, Klaus & Co. envisage another potential problem:

Claiming those who decline certain medical procedures are “the weakest link” is divisive.  As is the label “anti-vaxxer.”  It’s also grossly inaccurate. And nothing else I could say about it is polite, so I’ll stop there.

Next up, the authors reference the result of a GIGO (that’s Garbage In, Garbage Out) predictive model from Imperial College London.  Quote: “Wide-scale rigorous lockdowns imposed in March 2020 averted 3.1 million deaths in 11 European countries…”  Klaus & Co. determine thus:

I’ve been called an extremist before, but I think governments did have an alternative to imposing lockdowns.  Like, for example, not imposing lockdowns.  I see the world in terms of incentives…

Rational people would moderate their actions according to the threat. People tend to avoid things that represent an imminent risk to their survival. The fact that governments deemed mandates necessary is an obvious red flag that it was overkill.

Changing gears now, we move on to the severity of fiscal and monetary responses.

Klaus & Co. conflate (again) the impact of the pandemic, with the impact of pandemic-related suppression measures:

Next, a call to action from the WEF to the governments of the world. Any reasonable discussion of trade-offs or proportionality leaves the building with these words:

What they say next is 100% true:

And it is followed by a statement that is 100% inevitable:

Let’s look now at freedom and liberty.

Let me first share a quote from Friedrich Hayek, then we’ll look at one from Klaus & Co.  You pick which one seems most credible to you.

“Emergencies have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.”

Klaus & Co. say:

The authors are more comfortable with authoritarian ideas than I am as evidenced by this passage about public power “rightfully” overriding individual rights.

Rest assured, the giving up of those individual rights would fit the old bill: “Rules for thee and not for me.”

Would any WEF-sponsored propaganda ever be complete without some climate alarmism mixed in? Of course not.

I will concede that there are some similarities between covid and climate change:

• → Both are used to drive alarmist hysteria
• → Both are saturated with poorly substantiated predictions
• → Both generate immense profits for appropriately positioned investors and corporations

I take the view that the COVID-19 response severely damaged the credibility of authorities, and the scientific studies they relied on to justify their actions.  Klaus & Co see it the opposite way:

Klaus & Co. did say some things I agree with. Like this next one. It explains why the fear-mongering campaign, combined with absolute statements of (false) certainty proved to be such a hypnotic combination:

Moving briefly from mental health to physical health…

A claim so ridiculous I LOL’d when I read it.

Everyone remembers the health authorities’ relentless focus on exercise, right?  No???  Me either.

It’s confusing.  Do your best to keep up.  Read it twice if you need to…

In one breath, Klaus & Co. tell us the pandemic has more often than not been a personal catastrophe for the millions infected by it.  Then in the very next breath, they say it is one of the least deadly pandemics the world has seen in the last 2000 years.

Ok – I can’t take any more of Klaus’ brilliant analysis. Let’s have a rest here.  I’ll be back in 48 hours with Chapter 2 – Klaus & Co. on Centralisation.

And finally… I didn’t say anything too controversial, but de-platforming is an ever-present risk.  You can help us both guard against it by signing up for my newsletter right HERE.

You can find Critical Sway’s full Twitter thread on ThreadReader App HERE or, in the event it is removed from Twitter, in the copy attached below.