Pandemic Denial and the Great Reset Conspiracy Theory: The Power of Semiotic Inter-Codability

Abstract

A rarely-discussed aspect of the covid-19 pandemic was how discourses based on the Great Reset Conspiracy Theory emerged to portray the pandemic as being manufactured by a global elite of liberal scientists, politicians, and intellectuals, who used the pandemic to attempt to furtively dismantle capitalism and reform the world order in accordance with radical liberal policies and views. These discourses became part of a major disinformation ecosystem gaining power via their rhizomatic structure, which can be framed as a semiotic strategy based on “inter‑codability” based on the coordination of interacting codes (rhetorical, visual, symbolic, narrative). This essay applies the inter-codability concept to a deconstruction of the Great Reset Conspiracy Theory, given that it could not have become so powerful without a semiotic network interlinked codes behind it.