The Most Epic Gaslight Ever?

Thoughts on Facemasks, Seinfeld, Really Despicable Political Games and the Ever Elusive Chimera Called “Common Sense” in 2020

Weekly Mourner 2. By screm

DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended to discourage the use of face masks or to dismiss the seriousness of Covid-19. This article is intended to discourage the use of totalitarianism by our local governments and to discourage shaming your neighbors for not wearing masks.

“Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice to Deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808)

Since wearing a face mask is becoming a virtue- signaling, politically-religious, gaslighting ritual in our society I thought it would be good to balance that ritual with a ritual chant: 

“Masks, in general, don’t work.”

Say it with me: “Masks, in general, don’t work. Masks, in general, don’t work. Masks, in general, don’t work.” 
     

Now, hang on a moment. Stay with me. The following is my best effort at composing my thoughts after all the advice, data, and general information I’ve taken in regarding the facemask question and related questions since the beginning of the pandemic. I’ve read hundreds of articles... probably nearing 300 if I had to guess. If your gut reaction to this article is to assume I am coming from a political perspective or if your inclination is to shove another Covid article at me that you think just totttttallllllly proves me wrong, just hang on to it. I’ve probably read it or it’s second cousin. I know what the arguments are against my view here and this is NOT a political article. And, I’m not saying that I don’t want you to argue with me either. I don’t mind that at all. I’m just asking you to really absorb this before you do that. And let’s be friends? That too. But make no mistake... the mask issue has unfortunately become a political issue. 
     Where was I? Ah yes:“Masks, in general, don’t work.”          Unless of course you are wearing a fitted n95  mask. If you are, your mask can stop your own Covid-19 germs from firing out upon your hapless victims like some kind of biological Boston Massacre, about, oh, 95% of the time. If, on the other hand, you are wearing some version of a fabric mask or some lesser respiratory covering, your covid bullets can and will pass right through.      

     If you are wearing a mask and you’re NOT infected, your mask isn’t doing anything. In fact, it may be making you more susceptible to Covid because you are, without a doubt, touching your face more than usual. You’re also sweating more in this summer heat. Droplets upon droplets. Your mask might prevent you from breathing in an aerosolized droplet (these are very rare, I mean, the CDC website says that they may “possibly” be inhaled, that means it’s rare and they’re hedging their bets. Have they ever played golf?!) but, from what we know, actually breathing in a Covid droplet is rare. Droplets might land on your face from a cough or a sneeze, and they are then transferred into your mouth, or nose, or eyes (maybe) but usually only by direct contact. Especially if you’re a “picker”. As Seinfeld once exclaimed: “Are we not human?! If we pick, do we not bleed?!”           

     Aside from these basic facts that prove, for a fact, that masks in general, do not work to slow the spread of Covid-19 unless they are n95 masks, we can see from the circumstantial evidence in certain regions right now, that they are futile.      

     The recent spike in Covid-19 infections due to the mass protests and riots across the country, where hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered in close quarters, corroborates this fact. It’s simply undeniable that hundreds of thousands of sweaty, shouting, closely quartered people, who are in video after video shown to be touching each other, and everything else around them, probably sharing water bottles, spitting on police officers (intentionally and unintentionally) and all other manner of virus spreading activity, are responsible for the alleged recent spike.      

      Increased testing capacity and the identification of asymptomatic cases are also responsible for the appearance of a spike. This should be plainly obvious to everyone.     Still, accepting the idea of a real, second-wave, type of increase, let’s also acknowledge that reopening bars and restaurants is also a likely contributor to the spike albeit, not likely a significant one. It’s doubtful that this is anything close to the contributor that the protests and riots were and are. You see, a few people gathered in a bar or restaurant who are all practicing social distancing, and who are all under the guidance and safety protocols of the place of business, are far less likely to be contributing to significant spread than masses of crowded, sweaty, angry, shouting, protestors. Unless of course you’re calling out a mob that took down a Sabrett hot dog stand.      

     I ate out for the first time in months only two weeks ago. Only outside seating was available and all the tables were carefully placed at least six feet apart. Most restaurants in the country are practicing these protocols right now. And while some states seeing an apparent spike in numbers may not have been practicing these protocols in all places, the majority of those states had significant civil unrest. Again, even if reopening places of business has contributed to the increase in certain areas, it’s been nothing even close to the primary source of the spread.     

     What if I were to cite (hint, the majority of them are) how many of these new cases are asymptomatic cases. These have been, throughout this pandemic, shown to be the least likely to spread the virus. I find it hard to believe that symptomatic people going to restaurants and bars knowingly are the main source of this spike. I find it easier to believe that someone who would spit or scream in anyone’s face during an actual pandemic would care to stay home if they were symptomatic. Belligerence is generally an indiscriminate attitude is it not? 

     From a current CNN article reporting on asymptomatic spread according to the WHO:“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits-onward to a secondary individual," Van Kerkhove said on Monday.”     It’s really simple: No symptoms like coughing, sneezing, and a runny nose (nose wiping etc) = far less spread. Symptoms, generally, cause the spread. Say it with me: “Symptoms, generally, cause the spread.” “Symptoms, generally,  cause the spread.” “Symptoms, generally, cause the spread.” 

     What this means is that lots and lots of symptomatic and presymptomatic people actually did go out to protest. If and when those people were asymptomatic and they caused spread it is really only attributable to screaming in another person’s face or sharing a drink or activities along those lines. Still, most evidence for silent spread seems to point to presymptomatic spread rather than asymptomatic. And this makes good sense too because becoming “symptomatic” really isn’t a hard line. A fever on the rise doesn’t necessarily feel like a fever. It’s still a symptom but it is considered presymptomatic. This is also apparently when the viral load within a host is highest.     Is that making sense? I’ll try to simplify:Asymptomatic people infected with Covid are obviously the least likely to spread the virus under normal circumstances. Under hot, crowded, aggressive, violent, close quartered circumstances like a protest or a riot, the likelihood of asymptomatic spread increases. Wearing a fabric mask or a surgical mask is nearly completely pointless in that kind of a situation. This makes it even more pointless in normal circumstances... not less.         

Now... gaslighting... It’s manifold and severe. Let us highlight two severe attempts. And remember, YOU’RE the insane one here!     

     The first is the mask gaslight. We were told under very certain terms that the majority of the population would never need to wear masks. We were told this for two reasons: 

1. They don’t really work to slow the spread. 

2. Health care workers need the supply. 

     Bbbuuuuuuut... we are still under instruction to NOT wear n95 masks because healthcare workers need the supply. Moreover, these masks are still only 95% effective in stopping all the germs from getting out. Now we are being told that the masks, in general, are essential, and that we cannot stop the Covid without them. 

Are you feeling the slow creep of “Pink Floyd”-like despair consuming your mind yet?

     Many states are beginning to make masks mandatory under penalty of law (an egregious act of totalitarianism if we as Americans have ever seen one). And yet, even now, on the FDA website we have the truth about surgical (not n95) masks:“While a surgical mask may be effective in blocking splashes and large-particle droplets, a face mask, by design, does not filter or block very small particles in the air that may be transmitted by coughs, sneezes, or certain medical procedures. Surgical masks also do not provide complete protection from germs and other contaminants because of the loose fit between the surface of the mask and your face.” 

The second is the protest/riot gaslight. We were told, en masse, that the 2a gun rights protests and Trump returning to holding campaign rallies would lead to a devasatating spike in Covid infections and resultant deaths of legions of Grandmothers. Please don’t read the above as a political statement. It is what about 90% of the media apparatus in our nation told us would happen. We were also told that states that were reopening would be likely contributors to this devasatation. The numbers in states reopening defied this allegation for months. Now, after a spike that was clearly the result of hundreds of thousands, probably millions of people gathering to protest (some peacefully of course) and riot, that these mass gatherings (and I do mean “mass”) have not contributed to the spread of Covid. Remember, YOU’RE the insane one here. This is all YOUR freedom loving fault.      

     Stop right there. We are being gaslighted. 90% of the press and media apparatus in this nation is the abuser and we are the battered partner. One black eye and a few broken ribs is not enough for them. Two black eyes and a several month stay on the mental IC unit is more like it. There is only one reason why this gaslighting is being carried out and it has everything to do with the politicization of facemasks. The Democrat nominee for the presidency is already using the facemask as a political weapon, claiming openly, regarding President Trump’s preference to not wear a mask:He’s a fool, an absolute fool to talk that way,” Mr. Biden said in an interview with Dana Bash of CNN, his first in-person interview since the coronavirus crisis took him off the campaign trail. Castigating Mr. Trump for “this macho stuff,” Mr. Biden accused him of “stoking deaths” and aggravating cultural divisions over mask-wearing.” 

     You read that right. “Stoking deaths.” That is what the mask enforcement is all about. The political malice that one side believes will push them to a victory in November. That is all. It’s a disgraceful thing to do during a pandemic. Full stop.      

     To the largely left-leaning press and the anti-Trump, anti-Republican, party in positions of leadership all over the country, the facemask is a political weapon useful for moral subjugation and political attacks on those who do not worship at the alter of self-righteousness.      

     The above is not a political statement... it IS what is happening. There is a world of difference between those saying they don’t want to wear a mask because they are not convinced it is helpful and those who are saying that not wearing a mask is “stoking deaths”. Heck, there’s a whole universe of difference there.      

     Please don’t mistake me here; it isn’t that there are Americans who genuinely think that masks help slow the spread of Covid-19... those good natured people are only doing what they think is right. And really, the overwhelming majority of Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, have impressively followed the ever-shifting protocols with a willingness that is a testimony to their love of their neighbors. They are sincerely doing what they think is right. And God bless them for it.      Still, as Americans, we should not play ball with the totalitarian enforcement of wearing a facemask in the name of safety when it genuinely does not keep us safe. If we are social distancing in the sense of keeping a distance between ourselves and others and avoiding direct physical contact, then we are doing more than a mask can ever do.      

     The goal from the beginning was to slow the spread. We have achieved this goal. And nearly all of us will eventually contract Covid-19. It’s a virus and viruses will do what viruses do. We cannot, we must not, continue with draconian limitations on our economic activity, our lives, that is. We must proceed with living them and take all of the real knowledge that we do have about this virus and do our best to protect those who are immune suppressed and elderly as we would when any virus is going around.     

     Our national mental health demands this. Our physical well being, intimately connected to our mental well being, demands it. Our humanity demands it. Love your neighbor indeed: let them get back to living their lives now and please don’t shame them for it if they understand that masks, in general, don’t really help to slow the spread of Covid-19.

In closing I want to encourage my immune suppressed friends to purchase n95 masks. You need them as much as health care workers do. And to anyone who wants to wear a mask and have it be effective you should do the same despite what you’re being told about mask supply. Many of the n95 masks are able to be sterilized so you can reuse them. If your government can tell you that you have to wear a mask (and they really, really,  can’t) then they should be honest with you and tell you that you have a right to an n95 mask. Beyond this: ignore them. This is a perfectly legitimate way to exercise civil disobedience, it’s peaceful and it’s based in “science”. Your soul is, under the terms of the new Priests of virtue, as clean as a baby angel, whether they will admit it or not.

   
Have a Happy July Fourth. Celebrate your freedom by breathing in some fresh summer air (and may it carry the scent of grilling hot dogs on its tender arms to your Covid free nostrils). And to those who have lost loved ones due to Covid-19 you continue to have my sympathy and prayer.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread-who-bn/index.html

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/personal-protective-equipment-infection-control/n95-respirators-surgical-masks-and-face-masks

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/us/politics/joe-biden-facemasks-trump-coronavirus.amp.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/who-no-need-for-healthy-people-to-wear-face-masks-2020-4

https://www.azfamily.com/news/day-10-of-protests-in-downtown-phoenix-for-equality-and-police-accountability/article_21465c4e-a85e-11ea-bcbd-4fd5f3cd7445.html

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200609/who-clairifies-comments-on-asymptomatic-covid-spread

https://www.livescience.com/are-face-masks-effective-reducing-coronavirus-spread.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200330/researchers-find-way-to-clean-re-use-n95-masks

https://news.stanford.edu/2020/04/01/researchers-show-how-to-decontaminate-reuse-n95-masks/

https://youtu.be/DmGRJWxLqiE (Seinfeld Lol)