So, let's talk about masks, the end all be all of stopping Covid or something. So, let's get right into the news here
Here's a 60 minutes interview with Dr. Fauci, saying the general public shouldn't wear masks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRa6t_e7dgI&feature=youtu.be
Here's our US surgeon general saying that we shouldn't be wearing masks on a tweet that is still up https://twitter.com/surgeon_general/status/1233725785283932160?lang=en
An Australian news service talking about masks, complete with a demonstration by a fireman who apparently went viral showing that aersols go through anything but an n95 mask which the majority of the public is not using https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRL1GXu5DE
I could go on and on with news reports from earlier this year, including from the CDC itself that told the general public not to wear masks. So, there's two options about this - either they were lying then or they're lying now. So, we as the general public have two options - either listen to known and admitted liars or don't wear masks.
Argument #1 against masks: Our health establishment, across the world, almost universally told people not to wear masks back then the pandemic began. The established science on masks has not changed since then. There have been no longitudinal studies or science experiments changing our understanding about them.
At best, you could argue that our health establishments lied to secure these masks for doctors and such. Under this argument, masks should still not be worn by the general public, as that need hasn't gone away. Doctors should still be the ones to primarily receive masks before the general public.
Argument #2 against masks: There are edicts (not laws. Laws require a process to be enacted) about requiring masks. None of these edicts require specific kinds of masks. I've heard people say "you can use anything to make a mask." This is one of the stupidest things that I've ever heard. A "Wear your fucking mask" person even suggested a scarf. Ignoring the fact that it is now July, and even in the northern United States we're experiencing 90 degree weather on the daily, scarves generally have holes in them, which do nothing to prevent aersolized droplets from getting through. Many of the masks you can buy on amazon specifically come with disclaimers stating that they do not provide protection from Covid, but you're allowed to go in public areas with those masks and no one bats an eye. This is even ignoring that in some places in the United States, we do have anti-mask laws. As in, if you obscure your face, you can be arrested. Good thing we don't live in an environment in which police officers would just love to abuse that little fact. http://www.anapsid.org/cnd/mcs/maskcodes.html
Do you want to know the worst thing? Someone wearing a mask made from like an old t-shirt or something, thinking that they're safe... and doing more risky behavior. Going out more, making them more likely to get the disease and spread it. If you tell me that "anything can work for a mask" you are objectively wrong and I designate not to listen to you. n95 masks go through a specific processes that your sewing machine is not capable of.
Argument #3 against masks: People are stupid. People who think they're safe tend to be even more stupid and let their guard down. According to the science, last time I checked, we're supposed to stay 6 feet apart (2 meters in Metricland). However, when we talk, we're supposed to have an even greater distance because the droplets go even further. Guess when most people take off their masks? That's right, when they're talking.
I heard someone say that they borrowed a relative's mask. That is about exactly as hygienic as using someone else's underwear. Bet you didn't wash it either. Wearing a disposable mask twice is like wearing a disposable condom or diaper twice. Cloth masks (that do not stopped aeroslized droplets) must be washed after every use or they become more of a health hazard than they create. They trap moisture. Moisture becomes a petri dish.
You ever touch the inside of your mask with unwashed hands? You ever not wash your hands after taking the mask off? This is my favorite one because it happens the most - you ever only put the mask on your mouth and don't cover your nose? A mouth that's closed doesn't spread droplets anywhere near as far as your nose.
Do you want me to go on? Do you put your mask on before you enter a store and take it off as soon as you leave? Welp, you got the bacteria from your car keys, the car door, anything inside the car, and who knows what else on the mask... and on your face. And if you take it off as soon as you leave - guess what - all store bacteria is on your face as well.
This compounds with the problem of security theater. I repeat, if you think that you're safe and you're not, you take risks you otherwise shouldn't. By improperly wearing or handling a mask, you create more of a health risk. Rule 1 to not catch Coronavirus - don't touch your face. Masks require you to. Actual surgeons wash their hands before putting it on and taking it off.
Argument #4 against masks: Heat stroke and sweat. Your body gets out excess heat via various orifices. Your nose and your mouth can do a great deal to help with that. When you have a mask on, the heat is trapped there. Yes, they make breathable masks. Any mask that breathable is likely to do nothing to stop the spread of Covid. There are mainly two things that can happen in this case. Number one, it can cause heat stroke.
You know what heat stroke is like? It's not pretty and it can kill you. It also requires immediate medical treatment, which as you might know, is in short supply in some areas. Here's a question - how many high profile cases of heat stroke do you think it would take to get these mask edicts removed?
But let's not get so drastic. Your body has other ways of getting rid of heat. That being sweat. Sweats are droplets, which spread droplet based diseases like Covid19. This is the reason that gyms are still closed. Yeah, certain Asian cultures do wear masks when people are sick. Flu and cold seasons tend to be the winter, where it's cold and this usually isn't as much of a problem.
But no, even some Asian cultures are saying no to masks - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/01/south-korea-incidents-of-covid-19-mask-rage-flareas-summer-heats-up. If the South Koreans can't handle masks in the summer, do you really think the rest of the world will? If I need to remind you, South Korea was the country that was so determined to beat the coronavirus when their contact tracing pointed out a gay bar it created a wave of homophobia. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/05/12/with-new-covid-19-outbreak-linked-to-gay-man-homophobia-on-rise-in-south-korea/#2bce2b404909#2bce2b404909. Some South Koreans are refusing to wear masks so much it's starting actual fist fights, because to get someone to wear a mask or a fucking scarf in 80-90 degree weather is unreasonable, unless you want to have a heat stroke pandemic on your hands and dropping compliance.
You go out on a hot day and no one is wearing a mask. And let me tell you, when it comes to something like civil disobedience like this, it becomes easier and easier. How many people shot off illegal fireworks on the fourth? Yeah, how many of those people do you think are going to keep going along with all of this? You can only ask people so much before it turns unreasonable. Here's some sciency stuff about masks and such https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7087880/
Argument #5 against masks: Here's a little bit of a wager for you. Either masks are effective (enough) or they're right, right? Those can be the only two options, right. If they're not effective, then any mask ordinance is... useless at best. If masks are useful... then things like the lockdowns and removing people's right to an education is useless at best. Are masks useful? If yes, then we don't need lockdowns. If masks aren't useful enough to make lockdowns useless then they're not useful. I was told repeatedly that we could just sit in lockdown forever and ever. We can't, but it's nice to live in a fairytale once in awhile.
Argument #6 against masks: A different kind of social distancing. I don't like what our culture is becoming. People nowadays, especially online, where most of us are, have stopped seeing other people as people, but... walking vectors of disease. That's not a good way to live. It's an incredibly dangerous way to live, actually. And masks... make the problem worse. Do you know what kind of communication a smile is? What it can really do for a human interaction. It's not something that you can do behind a mask. Most of our emotional communication comes from the mouth. When everyone is locked off from each other it creates an emotional distance, on top of the physical one.
And people are already... literally killing each other out there. This is not something we need more of. It's become incredibly dangerous. I can't imagine the kind of mental illnesses that we're instilling the youngest generation with. The generation after Z, I think they're called "Alpha" (which uh... doesn't make sense but okay) is being born into this. This is going to end up defining their generation; I could imagine a lot of... trust issues, nevermind obsessive compulsive tendencies. When young people have trust issues they tend to turn to violence or... drugs and alcohol, or they completely withdraw.
Argument #7 against masks: Mental health. I'm going to make this one quick. Masks are and do have a hellish effect on some people's mental health. For example, if someone has PTSD from being strangled, then it's probably going to be a trigger. It's not as simple as just "oh, it's a stupid piece of cloth." It's more like "I woke up during a surgery in more pain than I've ever felt in my life and medical masks bring me right back to that time" or "I was gagged when they kidnapped me and brutalized me." I'm not going to go deep into this, because for the past few months society has finally decided to become honest about how they don't give a fuck about mental health in the slightest.
Argument #8 against masks: Poverty. Again I'm going to make this quick, because as established, society has a whole has been honest with how they don't give a shit. Masks that actually work are in short supply. Short supplies causes prices to rise if demand doesn't fall. Getting ahold of masks that actually work becomes harder, especially for the more impoverished of us. Preventing people from going into locations based on their inability to procure this can count as discrimination against the poor. Yes, they can make something out of... rubbish. But as established that's not really effective. So, in turn, you'll only have the more well-off people with masks that actually work, which, once again, is discrimination. I supposed you could give them out for free. But we have shortages of PPE and the free stuff should probably go to the doctors and hospitals, right?
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So, please keep telling me to wear a mask that just might be illegal that you don't know if I can afford while you wear one made of an old bath towel filled with mildew that you never wash. It's what the science says after all, after they've said repeatedly to not wear masks unless you yourself are sick. Keep wishing that people who aren't wearing masks get and die of Covid, without realizing that masks don't keep you safe. They're meant to keep others safe. If you keep fiddling with them and putting them on without washing your hands, you're more likely to die of Covid than someone who has never worn a mask ever.
And please, keep taking down your masks to shout at people so you know they can hear you being a hypocrite. I'd prefer someone who never wears a mask than someone up their ass about how everyone should wear a mask without knowing how they do or don't work. It really makes you look like you're on the moral right about this whole thing. If you hope I get Covid, I hope you get heat stroke. Hell, I can even claim the moral high ground because heat stroke isn't contagious.
