The World Economic Forum Conference Has Arrived, Reach For The Sick Bag
A Tawdry Performance of self importance
When I heard the publicity addicted celebrity Bono address the World Economic Forum in 2019 tell his audience to ‘to ask deeper questions’ about capitalism I reached for the sick-bag.
Publicity hungry celebrities like Bono are always welcome at the WEF jamboree at Davos. Asking very deep questions is their métier.
This year it is the turn of actor Idris Elba to ask the oligarchs and their political hangers on to ‘think deeply’. Elba like Bono knows that they have to perform humility. The Davos playbook encourages the affectation of humility, concern, and willingness to put on an act of self-flagellation.
The celebrities are there to provide a critical but very safe alternative to the complacent atmosphere prevailing at Davos. This year you can watch Elba weighing on celebrity advocacy. The hypocrisy of a celebrity advocating that celebrity advocacy should be toned down was missed by those in attendance.
The WEF works like a high-tech medieval court. Most of those in attendance play the role of courtiers competing for access. The celebrities provide light entertainment and for dramatic effect high=profile heavyweight critics are invited to perform on the centre stage at Davos. This year, this role was assigned to the head of the United Nations, António Guterres who reminded the Davos mob that ‘you’re the problem’. He warned that the race to increase fossil fuel production is ‘inconsistent with human survival.’
I posted the tweet below about Guterres:
There is also always someone really important who is assigned the role of attempting to stir the conscience of the hard nosed plutocrats in attendance.
Back in 2020, it was the role of Greta Thunberg to lay into those in attendance and warn them about the need to avoid Climate Apocalypse. Her alarmist warnings echoed a speech she gave a year before in 2019. Thunberg is good value. Using children to guilt -trip the audience has now become an integral feature of the Davos performance.
Davos would not be Davos without Greta. As I write, I hear that this year she is arriving with a small group of professional protestors to perform protest.
The appearance of high-profile celebrities, well-known global protestors and a posse of NGOs and social justice warriors are essential for maintaining the credibility of the WEF performance. The technocratic ambitions of those in attendance relies on coming across saviours. The outlook of saviour technocracy dominates the proceedings at Davos. The public relations of the WEF relies on communicating the message that whatever you think about the corporates that hang out in Davos, they are doing good. They might require a kick-up the rear end from Greta and her mates but at the end of the day they are doing good.
As I noted earlier this week, the annual Davos gabfest is a glorified PR exercise for our clueless elites.
‘The globalist elites have descended on the Swiss skiing resort of Davos this week for one overriding reason: to be seen to be attending the World Economic Forum.
So much about the WEF’s success comes down to appearances. Over the decades, it has acquired a reputation as the place where the Masters of the Universe gather to decide the future of the world. This is why so many billionaires, politicians and their hangers-on are desperate to let the world know that they too were at Davos. They want to be seen in the same room as the other very important people saying and doing very important things’.