HUO: The World Economic Forum sponsors the annual gathering of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. And that's why so many are calling for a great reset. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: With everything falling apart, we can reshape the world in ways we couldn't before. It's named after a World Economic Forum initiative launched in mid-2020. The idea is that governments plan to enslave people and, among other things, force them to survive on insects. Over time, it has fused into a darker conspiracy theory currently known as the Great Reset. Yet another early propagator of the phrase told NPR he tweeted it only as a joke. Then a crypto advocate used it to poke fun at proposals to mitigate climate change. HUO: Then the phrase crossed over to Twitter, first by way of a white nationalist. HUO: It started with comments below a photo of climate activist Greta Thunberg.ĪNIANO: They say over and over and over again, I will not eat the bugs. So some people might be using it earnestly, and some people might be using it ironically. SARA ANIANO: It kind of started out and continues to be kind of a meme. Sara Aniano of Anti-Defamation League traced some of this rhetoric back to 2019 in threats on the anonymous message board 4Chan. HUO: Those clips are from Prison Planet and Prager University. What do you think of - what do you think about when you see this and think the government wants to put this in your food? PAUL JOSEPH WATSON: You know who won't be eating bugs? Climate change technocrats.ĪLDO BUTTAZZONI: I have some crickets here with me behind me. Although the idea is marginal, various right-wing media outlets use insect eating as a punchline to mock the climate movement. Scientists focus mainly on reducing meat consumption and eating more plant-based food. Using insects as a source of protein is only at the edges of the policy debate when it comes to cutting climate pollution from agriculture. HUO: That's conservative media personality Michael Knowles speaking last year. MICHAEL KNOWLES: The ruling class really, really wants us to eat bugs. HUO JINGNAN, BYLINE: If you follow far-right media, the message is plain and simple. NPR's Huo Jingnan reports on how a meme from anonymous message boards is making a leap into real-world politics. The idea is also bubbling up in far-right circles in the U.S. In the past month, elected officials in the Netherlands and Poland have accused their opponents of plotting to force people to eat insects.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |