Do Not Ask!

As I've noted in many other posts over the past few years, Donald Tump is at least partly to blame for allowing the authoritarian Covid mask mandates proposed by federal agencies. He didn't more forcefully resist the lock down suggestions in which "15-days to stop the spread" morphed quickly into months, and in some situations, years. 

On the other hand, it's now Trump who is keeping the trained hamsters in the propaganda media focused on covering his indictments, rather than ginning up public hysteria over the latest Covid variant. Even so, when they have a free moment, the media is working to revitalize Team Apocalypse, and as a consequence, there are whispers from catastrophists about re-instituting mask mandates.* Even more concerning, some institutions have already begun.

The editors of the I&I Editorial Board comment:

The summer surge of COVID-19 has some wondering aloud if we should return to mask mandates. For now, the official line, despite the media effort to rekindle coronavirus hysteria, is that it’s unlikely. But we heard that before, in 2020, right before public health officials dropped their mask tyranny on us. If they do it again, we have an obligation to say no.

Are we calling for civil disobedience? Are we suggesting that Americans resist orders that are not laws but are instead decrees issued by despots? Absolutely, and without reservation.

Masks are dehumanizing. When we cover our faces, we no longer look like people. We look like monsters, freaks from bad science fiction movies. Half-blank faces stare back at us as our ability to communicate is skewed. A masked society is a hideous society.

When we wear masks because we are told to, we subjugate ourselves, surrender our agency to others. We symbolically kneel before abusive authorities that should have no authority over us. Are we free people or are we subordinates to politicians and an administrative structure that has accrued illegitimate power?

Masks project fear. Who wants to live in a world that is frightened, driven by panic, hiding behind a facade of protection? It was demoralizing to see the extremes that people went to to cover their faces during the pandemic. (Some of those in the video referenced here were clearly using caricatures to spoof the mandates, but we don’t need those again, either.)

Masks are vehicles for virtue signaling. Many wear them as demonstrations of their moral superiority – they care so much. Government officials find a perverse pleasure in decreeing mask mandates – because they care so much. Masked busybodies have accosted, sometimes violently, the unmasked, who simply want to exercise their liberty.

For all the fighting, some of it literal, as we just noted, over masking, there’s no evidence that mask mandates work.

Relying on masks to stop the spread of a virus is a lot like relying on a baseball cap to stop mosquitos from biting as the sun goes down. The former has been demonstrated not to work and the later is silly, just like mandates for masks are silly.

The best comment on masks I've seen in while comes from "Ron" who channels Dr. Zuess when he rhymes:

I will not wear it on my face.
I will not wear it anyplace.
I will not wear it to get in.
I will not wear it on my chin.
I will not wear it on my ear.
I will not wear it out of fear.
I will not wear your stupid mask.
I will not wear it.
DO NOT ASK!

And neither will I. 

FOOTNOTE:

*  The entertainment industry was a charter member of Team Apocalypse and was at the forefront of implementing draconian and long-lasting mask mandates. Sharyl Attkisson reports on recent developments: 

Hollywood studio Lionsgate is returning to mask mandates for many of its employees amid rising Covid-19 cases reported in Los Angeles.

In an internal email obtained by Deadline, response manager for Lionsgate/Starz Sommer McElroy said that employees at its flagship office in Santa Monica will be required to wear a medical grade face covering, such as a surgical mask a or a KN95 or N95 mask.

Employees must wear the mask unless they are alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their work area, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace, according to the emailed memo.

Studio employees must also perform a daily self-screening prior to coming to the office. If the employee is showing symptoms of Covid-19, they are required to stay home and notify McElroy. They must also stay home if they have traveled internationally in the last 10 days.

It's worth noting that the Covid strain that Lionsgate is so, so worried about is the weakest of the bunch. It's also worth noting that Covid represents statistically almost no threat to the 20 to 40 year old age bracket—the dominant age group employed by Lionsgate.

I would hope this is just one hysterical executive at one deep-blue company, but you never know. Team Apocaylpse normalized insanity during 2020 and 2021, and it pops up again and again like a malignant and noxious weed.