I think that the virulent militancy of the pro – mask people
might concern me almost as much as the blatant attack on our human and civil
liberties by certain Democratic governors.
Voters in the affected states will eventually remedy the actions of the governors,
but I am afraid that the damage that the “mask, no – mask” controversy has done
to our society may never heal. The level
of anger that the pro – mask people are expressing is frightening.
Almost as troubling, and assuredly more annoying, are the self
– righteous, sanctimonious, arrogant posts that some of the pro – mask folks
are posting on social media. To their
view, they are so much more intelligent, sophisticated, caring, and socially
conscious than the rest of us. Frankly, I find myself disagreeing.
Pro – mask folks, you are not more intelligent than we
are. Intelligent people do not accept
what the so-called “experts” tell them without applying critical thinking,
knowledge guided by experience, their own research, and in the case of anything
that comes from any government through any news organization – a hearty dose of
skepticism. For every “scientific”
statement supporting masks there is one suggesting they don’t work. Often, these conflicting statements come from
the same “scientific” entity on different days.
You can pick and choose whether the WHO or CDC is in favor of masks or
against them. Both have put out
conflicting statements.
An intelligent person will consider the question and apply
some common sense and real information to the question. A virus is tiny. Some are as small as 0.001
microns. A micron, or micrometer, is equivalent to 1/1000 of a millimeter (0.000039 inch).
In real life, an American dime coin is just a little bit thicker than a
millimeter. I’m not sure I can do the
math, but a virus is 1/000000 the width of a dime. Or, stated another way, 100,000 Covid viruses
in a pile would only be as tall as a dime is thick.
Most of us can’t even conceive of something that small. It
is microscopic, it is tiny.
In comparison, the filter on the N95 mask is 0.3
microns. The pore size on a surgical
mask is 100 microns. Bandanas and other cloth masks have even much larger pore
sizes – simply truth, viruses are small enough to penetrate all generally
available masks. Your mask isn’t protecting anyone.
Pro – mask folks, you are not more “progressive” or
“sophisticated than we are. You are
neither “progressive” nor “sophisticated” because you are wearing a rag across
your face when common sense, logic, and about ½ of the published science says
you ought not to. To put it plainly,
it’s stupid. Telling each other that you
are both “progressive” and “sophisticated” is simply feeding your delusions.
You all love to tell us how caring and compassionate you are
because you’re wearing a mask, you are going to “make a difference”, you are
going to “save the planet”. No, you
aren’t. You are running around with a
rag across your face, breathing in all kinds of bacteria and pathogens that are
busily growing in that rag over your mouth and nose. The moisture in your breath and the dark in
the fabric make a great incubator for all kinds of organisms in your breath and
in the air around you. You aren’t
protecting anyone, you are a freaking, walking, mumbling “typhoid Mary”,
spreading God only knows what infectious crap in your wake. No, you’re not caring and compassionate. You are annoying and sanctimonious. You are not making a difference, you are not
saving the planet, you are wearing a rag on your face and starting fights with
people who disagree with you and who might just know more than you do.
The sun will come up in the east tomorrow morning and will
set tomorrow in the west whether you wear a Covid mask or not. Regardless of what you try to do to stop it,
spring time is going to follow winter every year world without end, Amen. Nothing that you nor I can do will in any
impact the natural, physical world around us.
“All we are, is dust in the wind.”
You ain’t no hero and that mask ain’t no cape.
From where I see it, just having state governors “order” us
to wear masks is a far greater risk to our lives than the Covid – 19
virus. You stand a greater chance of
dying in a car accident than you do of contracting, getting sick from, and
dying from the Covid – 19 (or, “da Rona” as some of my friends down South call
it.). With each passing day, the news
reports x number more cases – but they are counting asymptomatic and fraudulent
positive antibody tests as “new” cases. Almost
every day, there is a new report of grotesque mistakes in reporting test
results, or a report of unused tests returning with “positive” results. Even one such report should make an
intelligent, “progressive”, sophisticated person question EVERYTHING that the
media and governments have reported.
It is sad to me that one’s life can be so meaningless that
one can become fulfilled and driven by wearing a useless facemask. I am sad that so many people are willing to
fight over something that doesn’t matter one wit in the final analysis.
Every one of us is going to die. That is about the only thing that is certain
in life. Diseases caused by viruses have
always been with and always will be.
Various types of the Corona virus cause the common cold. Over 2 million years of human evolution and
there is no “vaccine” to prevent the common cold. There so – called vaccines for the flu but
whether they help is hardly settled science.
I received a flu vaccine one time and as far as I can remember, that was
the only winter that I ever got the flu.
I won’t take the pneumonia shot either.
There are countless causes for pneumonia, and the vaccine protects
against 5 pathogens. I’m not a
mathematical wizard, but even I can figure out that I am far more likely to get
pneumonia from one of the countless other causes and not one of the 5 that the
vaccine protects against. Putting alien
material into your body without a huge guarantee of success seems rather stupid
to me.
But I have been wrong before.
One of the great hall marks of our American character has
always been a healthy “live and let live” attitude. Until very recently, Americans have been mostly
willing to let other Americans be themselves and express themselves with little
interference. Public America was pretty
much a complete “free marketplace of ideas”.
A Libertarian heritage of “do what you want to do as long as you don’t
hurt anyone else” was a hallmark of our People.
It is no longer.
Over the past 50 years, we have seen in our nation a
disturbing trend of intolerance for the expression of many legitimate ideas,
social, and political opinions. I think
it began with the anti – American, anti – Vietnam War protesters. When confronted with opposing ideas, they
would shout down and out scream their opposition. During the last quarter of the 20th
century, the “progressive” left added “political correctness” to their arsenal
of censorship tools. The political left
has determined what things can be said in public discourse. Should you present an unapproved opinion –
you will be labeled as a racist, bigot, homophobe, or some other negative
label. And, once labeled as such, your
opinion is no longer valid because you are whatever they have labeled you. And no one wants to be labeled as an “enemy
of decency”.
The “mask – no mask” conflict has moved thought control and
censorship into new and dangerous territory.
The “progressive left” is now “virtue – signaling”, virtue – shaming”,
and “team identifying” with their assault on those who won’t mask up. Now, this is not entirely new – they have
been using similar tactics with “climate change deniers” for half a generation. Your value as a person – to the left – is not
what you contribute, not what you create, not the help that you provide, but
rather whether or not you hold the “opinions”.
One can be a disgusting, reprehensible, vile person, but if one expresses
the correct opinions he remains with the “right” group. Holding (or expressing those opinions) out
weighs whatever short comings a person may have. Identifying the compliant and the non-
compliant will make it easier the next time a government wises to impose its
will on the people. They will know who
will surrender and who will resist.
It does not matter to me which side of the “mask – no mask”
controversy that you are on. All that I
care about is that you be decent, kind, and tolerant of others. Please accept, as I do of mine, that your
opinion may not be right. Treat those
who disagree with you with tolerance, forbearance, patience, and
forgiveness. As the Good Book says,
“judge not, lest you be judged” and “do unto others as you would have done to
you”.
And if the masked folk are right, those of us who are
“unmasked” are going to be dead before long anyways, so be kind to one another.
