- Thumb-sucking can’t be worse than inhaling or spreading concentrated bacterial and viral growth from face diapers (and they leak you know, or you couldn’t breathe)
- It is just as effective and better for you to cough and sneeze into your sleeve or a disposable tissue, wash your hands, stay home if you are sick
- Mask mandates are not supported by science or the Constitution (even common sense)
- Join us in protesting mask mandates
Tuesdays at 5:00PM at Elmore and 53rd a group of citizens gather weekly to protest mask mandates. Mike Elliott of Davenport started the protests. We have participated for the last 4 or 5 outings after we found out about it.
Here are a couple of insightful and fact supported articles appearing in the last few days at American Greatness and Townhall — Auguste Meyrat and Scott Morefield writing respectively. Morefield has produced a lot on the subject and we will supply links to some of his articles and his accompanying documentary links as we update this post.
We like these because they convey our impression about the phenomenon of mask wearing. We are gratified to read that 74% of mask wearers are Republican. We think they are misinformed but we were afraid all those half faces we were seeing were Democrats.
If Masks Don’t Work, Why Do We Keep Wearing Them?
Many people were wrong about the masks, even the experts. This is forgivable, and therefore forgiveness is offered.
According to a recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70 percent of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 wore masks regularly. By contrast, under 4 percent of those testing positive never wore masks.
Coupled with this was an extensive review of mask studies worldwide in which the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) determined that typical cloth masks did little to stop the transmission of COVID-19. Although experts like to claim that cloth masks will prevent droplets carrying the virus from reaching others when a person sneezes or coughs, the reality is that most people are probably better off using their elbow and turning away from others. Moreover, the virus can still pass through a cloth mask, and the eyes, which aren’t covered, can act as “a portal of entry.”
The scientific evidence here strongly suggests that masks do nothing at best, and may actually increase the spread of infection at worst. This is probably why countries that haven’t imposed mask mandates do just as well or better than those that have required them.
And yet, the symbolism behind masks is significant enough for mask mandates and mask-shaming to continue.
Despite the rhetoric, the science was always secondary—as the AAPS writers note, this is shown in the fact that “The recommendation [for universal masking] was published without a single scientific paper or other information provided to support that cloth masks actually provide any respiratory protection.”
Rather, masks were a tool for spreading awareness and keeping Americans in fear of a virus that posed minimal risk to the great majority of the population. And in an election year, such an environment could turn Americans against Trump and the Republican Party. That’s why the masks mandates likely will only end after the election.
In light of the evolving narrative and multiplying meanings behind masks, however, there is reason to think that masking will continue for a much longer time. It has become bigger than politics.
Masks may not be able to block COVID-19, but increasingly they have blocked common sense from the wearers. After so many months of mandates and propaganda, people have a lot invested in their understanding of what it means to be a good faithful American embodied in the face mask.
It wasn’t this way at first. In May and June, soon after states were reopening from their lockdowns, masks were an extra precaution taken by people simply being courteous towards others. The idea wasn’t to prevent one from being infected, but from infecting others. At that time, the mask conferred easy moral superiority to the wearer who could claim he was doing his part to help others.
Soon enough, governors and mayors mandated masking. Businesses and churches that failed to turn out customers without masks would be subject to heavy fines along with the individual offenders themselves. Even though masks were intended to enable safe reopening for states, most governments maintained closures of public areas and tight restrictions on building capacity. It was not enough to stand 6+ feet apart; people had to wear a mask now, too.
This was when masks became a partisan issue. Conservatives mainly saw them as yet more proof of a busybody government exploiting a crisis. Progressives saw them as badges of civic duty, and many were willing to go even further, wearing their masks outdoors, at home, and alone in their cars.
In its final phase the mask’s symbolism has now taken on spiritual and psychological dimensions. While some advocates of masking might insist on the science or the expert testimonials behind masking, most of them now treat it as an unquestionable article of faith. Like the Christian cross representing Christ’s overcoming sin, the mask represents mankind overcoming the virus. It is like the Muslim hijab or Catholic veil indicating modesty and reverence before God. The mask indicates modesty and reverence before the virus. Like the yin-yang circle reflecting the cosmic forces of light and dark in harmony with one another, the mask reflects the life forces of infection and recovery in harmony with one another.
The mask doesn’t just signal virtue to others, it is a transcendent union with other people who treat the virus with sufficient seriousness. Whereas church services are unsafe for communities of believers to meet, people can form a community of COVID-19 believers by wearing their masks and nodding at one another from a safe distance. They can share in the feeling that they are saving lives, respecting science, and taking concrete action against the virus.
No one should underestimate how strong and widespread the belief in masks is. For many, they are a source of profound security. They are secure from the virus, immorality, and in the promise of societal approval. Their masks even empower them to become puritanical and judgmental. With full-throated conviction, they will blame victims of COVID-19 for not wearing masks and for lacking sufficient faith in the mask. They will insist on quarantining them and their family members for two-weeks no matter what. In most cases, it’s difficult to determine whether this is a health precaution designed to mitigate spread or a punishment for being near the virus in the first place.
Many people who are frustrated with the masking simply want to return to mask-free normality. It isn’t so simple anymore. Asking a person to take off his mask now means asking him to take off all that the masking has come to mean. Removing it means removing one’s safety, one’s sense of belonging, and one’s values. This is probably why face mask-wearing has even become an addiction in a developed country like Japan. They were originally used to help with hay fever, but are now used all year round for whatever reason.
Facts or even a Republican victory in November won’t be enough in the fights against masks. Maskers need to be constantly yet gently reminded of the reality that masks took away: real community, real science, real safety, and real meaning. The goal should be not revenge, but rather a release from a symbol that hides people from one another and perpetuates fear.
Many people were wrong about the masks, even the experts. This is forgivable, and therefore forgiveness is offered. Once Americans come to terms with masks, they will be able to clear the air both figuratively and literally and finally make it past the pandemic nightmare.
Six Reasons Why Leftists Love Masks (Hint: ‘Health’ Isn’t On The List)
The image of maskless Trump supporters standing behind the president at rallies has become an unfairly maligned symbol of an unfairly maligned segment of the U.S. population. So much so that the campaign has even made an effort to mask them up with Trump masks, only succeeding to a limited degree with those standing directly behind the president facing the cameras. “Trump supporters are COVIDidiots who are toying with death,” says the left as they toss about dismissive phrases like “science deniers” and “Darwin awards.” To them, those of us who eschew masks are backwoods rubes, if not would-be mass-murderers who have made saving grandma all about politics.
Fair enough. To us, mask-proponents are herd-driven, frightened sheeple who care more about signalling their endless virtue (lol) than following data, facts, and real science. But whatever. To be sure, mask-wearing has become political, although I would argue that it is the proponents of forced-masking who have made it so, not the other way around. They are the ones demanding of us a potentially harmful positive action – both to one’s health and to society as a whole – based on dubious science and even more dubious real-world results.
Even so, since they brought it up, let’s talk about those politics for a bit. Do you ever wonder why the left primarily seems to be in love with their face diapers and quite obviously wants to wear them forever, while the right tends to either grudgingly use them or avoid them like the, er, plague? Is there something innate to the right-or-left thinking mind that precludes us to take a certain position on this issue, or is it all just caused by Bad Orange Man? If it were only grandfatherly Uncle Joe screaming “C’MON MAN, PUT ON A DAMN MASK!” from his basement while wearing four of them at the same time, would he have gotten more compliance from conservatives?
Now to be fair, overall compliance IS pretty high, sadly. A recent Gallup poll found that 80% of Americans are “highly likely” to wear a mask in public indoor spaces (and yet, astonishingly, the virus continues to spread). Breaking down the politics, however, finds Democrats at 87% and Republicans at 74%. Not huge, but significant, and although there are certainly plenty of Republicans who have tragically fallen for the hoax, it’s pretty fair to say the vast majority of those you see trying to tell the unvarnished truth about the futility of forced masking to stop a highly contagious respiratory virus tend to be conservatives.
Why is this? I’ve got some workable theories, and all have to do with a few key differences in worldview:
Leftists love ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches
From climate change to healthcare to education to lockdowns, those on the left continually advocate for one-size-fits-all approaches that ultimately render their proposals not only super-expensive, but unworkable in a country as large, diverse, and spread out as ours. So it’s really no surprise to see them advocating for masks outdoors in non-crowded spaces with the same vigor they would on a crowded bus or airplane. Now, I’ve got rational, scientific reasons to be against masks almost anywhere, but even I can understand why they might at least be advocated for in a big, crowded city like New York City or Chicago. But there’s no sense of balance to the mask-worshipping hand-wringers, who’ve lost all credibility by insisting mask-mandates be implemented and enforced virtually everywhere and in almost every situation. Because when simple minds have a hammer, everything around them looks like a nail.
Leftist love to control other people, especially those they disagree with ideologically
If this were a super-deadly pandemic that was killing great numbers of people not already on death’s door AND face masks were scientifically proven to stop it, then maybe there would be some justification for mandating them for a short period of time. And governments have always had and should always have the right to quarantine the sick (*sick* being the operative word) if a deadly disease is spreading in an area. But when masks are mandated even in places where the virus isn’t spreading and have been for months on end, with zero end in sight, it’s hard to argue that the basic human desire for control of others (present to an even more dangerous degree among leftists) isn’t playing a role here. If you can watch the mind-blowing shenanigans of ghouls like Gretchen Whitmer, Eric Garcetti, and Bill de Blasio and honestly think these people don’t get off on using their power to lord it over others, you’re deceiving yourself.
Leftists love big government mandates
The maskers don’t want to ‘convince’ you to put on a face burqa. They can’t really do that anyway. Once you go beyond the surface argument of supposedly stopping ‘muh droplets,’ the idea is patently absurd not just on its face, but when analyzed by any sort of honest science. Thus, they need the force of law, or executive edict/mandate, to enforce their irrational fears on those of us who think beyond their propaganda.
Leftists love to suppress free speech they disagree with, especially if it comes from medical professionals and scientists on the opposite side of their views
There was a time when liberals would defend one’s right to speak, even if they disagreed with what was being said. That time, sadly, is long gone. Sure, if there wasn’t a First Amendment they’d probably have us all in gulags, but nowadays who needs government speech suppression when you can use intimidation, public shaming, gaslighting, and your Big Tech ideological allies to shut down dissenting opinions as well as Joseph Stalin ever could have.
Leftists despise personal freedom
Other than the ‘freedom’ to have an abortion or ‘switch’ the gender of a confused five-year-old, leftists tend to hate personal freedom, especially the kind that leads to robust, successful, liberty-loving societies. Individuality has always been hated by a left that tends to prefer the State and the collective. When we gave them the power to force humans to cover one of the most important aspects of our individuality (thus turning us visually into faceless clones), is anyone surprised to see them run with it as far as they can go? Did you ever in your wildest dreams think you’d lose the freedom to breathe free air while walking in public? Well, it’s gone, and we’re going to have to fight like hell to get it back.
Leftists hate seeing other people happy when they aren’t
Jealousy is part of human nature, to be sure, but it also seems to be a bigger problem among those on the left. That’s ultimately why they tend to favor socialism over a free market system. Seeing other people succeed wildly doesn’t drive these ghouls to work hard and seek their own success, but instead makes them want to steal it in some way, preferably legally using government force. To wit, I believe that mask and other sorts of COVID shaming come less from any real concern the left has for health and more from the fact that they just can’t stand to see people happy and living a life that deviates from the dystopian, fear-filled existence they’ve chosen for themselves.
There are doubtless plenty more, but here’s the bottom line: Leftists are generally miserable people who get twisted pleasure from trying to make the lives of others as sad as their own. As such, their zealous, quasi-religious love of universal forced masking should take none of us by surprise.
Follow Scott on Twitter @SKMorefield, Parler @smorefield, and Facebook. Also, be sure to follow Scott’s COVID ‘Team Reality’ Twitter list, 137 (and counting) doctors, medical professionals, analysts, data hounds, media, and politicians unafraid to tell the truth about COVID-19.
