The new aristocrats: masks for the masses, liberty for us
It’s no longer news when a Democrat politician who has been pushing masks and mask mandates – such as, in this case, Joe Biden – goes against his or her own recommendations and goes maskless.
Same for parties of more than a few people, or traveling, or any number of things that they have no trouble recommending or even mandating for the peasantry (that’s most of us) but which they themselves flout when they feel like it.
Plus the fact that mandatory masks for the servers such as waiters and clerks in stores is another factor in creating an obviously tiered society. These rules are sometimes promulgated not by the government, but by the individual business, but the effect is nevertheless of a class system with visual signifiers.
In the beginning, masks were frowned on. Then they were recommended, sometimes mandated. But the rules themselves often have little logic, because – just to take one point of many – a person can wear an ineffective mask (single-layer cloth, for example), or even reuse a dirty one over and over and over, and still be in compliance.
At this point the masked sometimes give the unmasked dirty looks, or (less often) vice versa. And there is jewelry to attest to vaccination status for the virtue-signaling. And not just jewelry, and not just the vaccinated. Here’s a wide range of items, from necklaces and earrings attesting to a person having had the vaccine, to various sorts of T-shirts – as well as the much more rare anti-vax item, a logo showing an extended middle finger and the words “Vaccinate this.”
Perhaps the most ironic is this door sign with seasonal fall and Thanksgiving symbols and the word “WELCOME” on the first line and in somewhat smaller print on the second line, “VACCINATED GUESTS.”
Otherwise known as “non-lepers.”
I’m treating this subject somewhat lightly here, but it’s really not light at all. Perhaps if COVID posed a threat on the order of the Black Death, some of this divisive hysteria would be warranted. But at this point, when we know this is not true, the masks and all the other mandates are a mean of control. There will be others, and other crises to justify them.
I want to highlight a portion (about 17 minutes) of this recent Jordan Peterson video on the subject. I think this video is so good, and so important, that I’m going to give it its own post in a moment (if you find listening to videos too slow, I suggest you go to “settings” on the video and change the speed to a faster one):
This piece is slightly off topic but still relevant.
https://mtracey.substack.com/p/academia-is-establishing-a-permanent
I have lived in Florida for a little over a month. The first adjustment was for my wife and I to not have to carry a mask in our pockets everywhere we go. As far as I can tell the only place where I can’t walk into the establishment without a mask is a human medical facility. Our local vet is thankfully entirely mask free; staff and clients. Then, there’s different levels for other business. It’s obvious many national chains require employees to wear masks, but for local businesses I’d say 95% are maskless. What has surprised me is how many of the local population are wearing masks….somewhere between 20-30%. What is different from Connecticut is that no one cares, or says anything to anyone about their mask choice.
The Delta will essentially be gone in about a week if the data trend holds. What happens then to masks and vaccine mandates??? Of course if the MSM doesn’t report it then who would know?
Griffin: interesting place that small college in CT, huh? 🙂
The real crime:
https://pjmedia.com/columns/stacey-lennox/2021/09/29/we-must-insist-on-autonomy-in-the-practice-of-medicine-before-its-too-late-n1520494
H/T Instapundit.
This is what DeSantis is fighting and why he is being targeted, relentlessly and unceasingly, by “Biden” and “his” hooligan cohort.
Key graf:
“Unfortunately, institutions are preventing doctors across the country and globally from providing treatment before hospitalization for an illness with pretty common symptoms, such as inflammation and viral replication. There are existing medications that improve both. In the United States, doctors are being threatened and intimidated by state medical boards, being overruled by hospital administrators and chain pharmacies, being censored by the media, and being investigated or even disciplined by their universities for recommending early treatment. This unprecedented interference in clinical practice motivated frontline clinicians and researchers worldwide to meet recently in Rome, Italy.”
The same criminal conspiracy operating in the sphere of medicine is, to be sure, rampant in too many universities and has metastisized—spread maliciously by those who hold that evil is in fact virtue—to K-12.
Fortunately, people have been waking up and there is a backlash, but just how strong and sustained it can be against the Democratic Party, its rogue DOJ and the intensely corrupt media onslaught remains to be seen…
Griffin would doubtless be interested in a memo sent to the Harvard “community” from Giang Nguyen, MD, of the Harvard Health Service. It has to be read in extenso to be believed. A sample: Students are now asked to stay current in their “testing cadence,” which is evidently HHS jargon for the frequency of one’s required testing. When drinking at meal times: “Follow the ‘Quick Sip Rule’ when drinking. Lower your mask, take a sip, and then promptly cover your mouth and nose. A straw can make this more efficient. Do not linger with your mask down. If you wish to slowly savor a hot beverage, do it away from others.” For social activities: “If you must provide group transportation for an activity, do so at reduced capacity to allow more distancing in the vehicle and monitor for universal mask compliance throughout the trip.” There is, however, evidently a polite nod in the direction of the unvaccinated: “The impacts of this pandemic continue to bring with it added stress, anxiety and uncertainty. Please take care of yourself and those around you. Be kind, considerate, and reach out if you need help. And if you know that someone is unvaccinated, be respectful and make no assumptions about their motivations.” The full document can be read here:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/return-to-campus/2021/09/10/covid-19-update-take-steps-to-lower-risk-to-yourself-our-community/
physicsguy may be interested to know about the situation on the ground in CT: the supermarkets have had PSAs about masks and social distancing for over a year now. In the last two weeks, however, the lectures over the PA system have gotten much more strident and menacing. The current version refers to masks being required “by order of the City of . . ., ” with the phrase “by order of” being repeated at least 4 times during the lecture. Shoppers are now told that if they refuse to wear a mask, they will be escorted from the store forthwith.
One bit of comic relief: I was standing in the checkout line waiting to pay for my groceries when the message about the city’s order started booming over the PA system. The guy behind me muttered, “We heard you the first time” when the speaker got to the fourth repetition of “by order of.” He then apologized to me– I’m guessing because he thought I might Karenize him. I just laughed and said, “If you hadn’t said that, I would have.”
Apropos of the complexities of mask etiquette: Here you have the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performing their new hit, “Vaccinate!” on Harvey Milk Day. Note that the singers aren’t wearing masks even though the song tells people to do so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Bk7JP7kUY
The silver lining to this dark cloud hanging over our country is that the tyranically inclined are publicly exposing themselves. If we have honest elections in 2022 and 2024 we can begin to correct our ship of State. If not, every person will have to decide whether they’re willing to live upon their knees or have no choice but to fight upon their feet.
I’m not a supporter of vaccine mandates, but everyone who does not have a medical exemption should get vaccinated. I certainly respect people’s right to decline the vaccine and, in turn, I expect them to respect my choice not to freely associate in any close proximity to them. Everyone needs to make their own choices in assessing risk v. safety in this regard.
Do people realize how messed up everything is right now?
There is a shortage of health care workers just about everywhere.
So, my mom died a couple weeks ago.
She had been struggling but there was no sign that this particular day was going to be momentous but I was with her and she was having breathing problems. 911 was called and she was conscious when they put her in the ambulance and that was the last time we saw her awake. They wouldn’t let me in to see her in the ER but said she would be released in a couple hours so I left and my sister was going to take her home. Then they called me an hour later and said she had taken a turn and only had hours to live. Now they let us in to sit with her. Both of the ER RN’s were travelling nurses from thousands of miles away. Then they transferred her to a room for ‘comfort care’ as they called it. But because the hospital was so short staffed an entire floor was closed so she was sent to the COVID wing (she tested negative) and they would only allow one of us in at a time. The closed doors were COVID patients the open doors were non COVID.
My mom lasted another day before passing away. She lived a long life full of love and being loved but what she and so many others have been put through the last 18 months is nothing short of evil.
Be very skeptical of any one claiming hospitals are over run. Ask what their capacity is now as compared to 18 months ago. That is the problem.
Griffin, I’m sorry to hear about your mom. 🙁
Griffin:
I’m so sorry to hear about your mother’s passing. Losing a loved one is hard enough without adding an extra layer of bureaucratic incompetence on top of it.
Every day I think we’ve reached peak insanity and then something else happens to remind me that we still have a way to go. The demonization of the unvaccinated, even those with natural immunity, is infuriating to me. I really don’t know how much longer we can go on like this without societal collapse.
No mention of an exception for people who have recovered and have natural antibodies so I’ll go with this being an intentionally punitive law.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/30/dianne-feinstein-unveils-bill-to-mandate-coronavirus-vaccine-or-testing-for-domestic-flights/
Dianne Feinstein Unveils Bill to Mandate Coronavirus Vaccine or Testing for Domestic Flights
Hi, Neo. Your comment above about the service staff in a lot of places being obliged to mask up contributes to a tiered society taking shape got me wondering. I’ve not lately been wearing the mask in grocery stores, for example, though the checkout clerks usually have been, at least recently (“Delta,” you know). But now you have me wondering whether I should mask up as a sort of gesture of, if not solidarity in a fully honest way, then at least of sympathy with them. Would it be worth doing so? I’m not sure.
Ackler: “I certainly respect people’s right to decline the vaccine and, in turn, I expect them to respect my choice not to freely associate in any close proximity to them.”
I wasn’t entirely clear on your intended meaning.
Is this proximity thing from medical safety considerations?
Or from disapproval of their personal choices and their distrust of govt and authority?
How much space do you need? The 1 meter favored by Europe or the six feet specified in the US? Or do you simply not want people of this ilk anywhere in sight?
If someone survived Covid and has natural antibodies will you abide them, or distance yourself “out of an abundance of caution” since the various medical orgs, Big Tech social media sites and MSM have not issued pronouncements absolving recoverers?
Sorry to read about your mother’s passing.
Yeah, I was just informed last night by a relative that a slew of nurses had been fired from his hospital for refusing to be vaccinated.
Cicero probably could offer personal insights if he has hospital privileges and or is an attending physician.
DNW,
Apparently at the hospital my mom died at they have been short staffed for many months going back to last winter and now they are seeing staff quit over vaccines on top of that.
Childcare was a major factor I guess combined with a horrific work life filled with masks and testing drove away a lot of people.
Ackler: “I certainly respect people’s right to decline the vaccine and, in turn, I expect them to respect my choice not to freely associate in any close proximity to them.”
I would like a direct answer from Ackler. Given your statement, I assume you have been fully vaccinated.
I have not and refuse to do so.
The question I wish you to answer is a simple one. Of what possible threat do I as an unvaccinated person, pose to you, a fully vaccinated person?
Griffin,
Very sorry. My own mom died at age 95 just four years ago. God bless.
The science and physics of particle transmission indicate that cloth masks, no matter how tightly knit and secured, offer no statistically significant benefit to mitigate infection of submicron virus and pathogenic particles, and limited value to control droplet spread when following strict protocol. The vulnerable people… persons should either isolate or wear full respirators with protective clothing. Anything else is indulgence of political congruence, an em-pathetic appeal, an exercise in cargo cult science, or viable legal indemnity.
Of what possible threat do I as an unvaccinated person, pose to you, a fully vaccinated person?
That is the question. Also, with evidence that the vaccinated are silent spreaders, and at 6x greater risk (e g. NHS) of progressive viability, the strategy to reach community immunity is undermined by marginal (i.e
narrow, short-lived) anthropogenic immunity, especially where the risk for most cohorts is fractional, and disease progression in high risk cohorts can be effectively mitigated with affordable, available, safe treatments. Planned parent/hood (e.g. selective-granny) is neither the exclusive nor preferred choice.
Griffin,
I am so sorry to hear about your mother– but at least she had you and your sister to be with her (to the extent the hospital bureaucracy allowed). I can only imagine the suffering of those whose family members live several hours away– or who have no family.
Geoffrey Britain: “The question I wish you to answer is a simple one. Of what possible threat do I as an unvaccinated person, pose to you, a fully vaccinated person?”
That is the question I have asked several people who “harass” others about being unvaccinated, only to be met with silence.
As for masking up – I do it for the sake of the workers in the stores. Mind you, if I wear a mask for more than an hour my asthma kicks in and I have trouble breathing; however, if my wearing one gives the workers in the stores some sense of safety then it is a small price to pay as I am there for a short time while they are there all day.
Griffin:
I’m very sorry to hear that your mother has died. Please accept my condolences. I remember how much effort you put into making the last couple of years good for her despite COVID and all the restrictions on her and on your family’s ability to be with her.
n.n.,
Does your response to my question reduce to my being no threat whatsoever to Ackler? That is, if the vaccines actually offer protection…
As an aside, I don’t worry about possibly infecting another unvaccinated adult, as given the easy availability of the vaccines, most unvaccinated adults have decided to take their chances. I honor their choice.
As for the unvaccinated whose medical condition precludes vaccination, my understanding is that they are as much as, if not more at risk of infection from the vaccinated, as from the unvaccinated. Someone correct me if I’m in error on that point.
My local garden club sent out an invitation to tour several members’ gardens this summer. The last part of the invitation stated: “If for some reason you have not been vaccinated yet, please do not attend!”
This was a small outdoor event – uncrowded, in a rural setting with fresh air for miles – so the risk of catching Covid was practically zero. Yet it was clear that anyone who wasn’t vaccinated (for any reason) was not welcome. Obviously, they had totally bought into the irrational fear of the unvaxxed. As a fully vaccinated person, I declined to attend based on that off-putting discriminatory policy alone.
neo, et al,
Thanks, my mom was the center of our family and was loved by so many. Although she was 91 it was still a shock and greatly affected us all but she was at peace and was not happy with her limitations in the last couple months.
She often said how much she missed her mom who died in 1979. Now I know how she felt.
Condolences, Griffin. Thank you for letting us have a glimpse of your mother and how much she meant to you and your family. It’s a blessing that she had you and your sister to help her and fight for her.
My mother died in 1985 and I miss her still Mom’s are special.
Geoffrey Britain:
If you believe the information put out by the medical authorities – and at this point, it’s not easy to trust them at all – the unvaccinated are more at risk from the unvaccinated than from the vaccinated. This is for two reasons. The first is that although the vaccinated can get COVID, a smaller percentage of them are getting it than the percentage of the unvaccinated getting it. The unvaccinated are several times more likely to get it. The second is that the vaccinated get less serious cases and apparently tend to have a lower viral load and are therefore less contagious even when they do get it. Of course, if a vaccinated person has COVID but is asymptomatic, he or she might be more likely to be up and about. But there are a lot of unvaccinated people with asymptomatic COVID, as well.
Griffin,
Condolences for your mother’s passing, and prayers for you and the rest of her family.
Griffin,
So sorry to hear about your mom. I’ve taken particular interest in your story as my family has gone through something similar with my beloved MIL.
I agree with you that what TPTB have done to the elderly the last 18 months is downright cruel.
@ Griffin – please accept my condolences.
My Mom passed in 2010 and I still miss her, my Dad in 1995 (!) and I don’t understand how she made it through 15 years without him.
JimNorCal:
“Is this proximity thing from medical safety considerations?”
Yes, primarily.
“Or from disapproval of their personal choices and their distrust of govt and authority?”
More frustration than disapproval, but yes, this plays a (small) role. I have a healthy distrust of government and authority as well. I still got vaccinated without hesitation. The cost benefit analysis to me was a no brainer.
To be clear, I respect anyone’s right not to get vaccinated. Respecting the right doesn’t mean I’m thrilled with the choice.
“How much space do you need? The 1 meter favored by Europe or the six feet specified in the US? Or do you simply not want people of this ilk anywhere in sight?”
Six feet is sufficient in situations where I don’t (and can’t) know. If I do know a person(s) near me has not been vaccinated, I’d prefer to leave the environment entirely.
“If someone survived Covid and has natural antibodies will you abide them, or distance yourself “out of an abundance of caution””
Good question. My initial answer is I probably would, but it would depend on the situation and a personal cost benefit analysis as to whether I concluded it was preferable.
G.B.
“Given your statement, I assume you have been fully vaccinated.”
Correct; since April. I am scheduled for a booster at the end of October.
“I have not and refuse to do so.”
That’s your right, and I respect it, even if I’m not thrilled with the choice you and unvaccinated people have made.
“Of what possible threat do I as an unvaccinated person, pose to you, a fully vaccinated person?”
No vaccine is perfect. There is still a risk even for a fully vaccinated person. If/when we reach herd immunity, the risk will be so minimal as to be easy to put out of mind. But until that time, I am going to err on the side of caution and try to avoid the unvaccinated, as much as I reasonably can.
Ackler, thanks for your answers.
Given the choice, at a restaurant would you prefer to sit at a table next to
1) an infected, sick person who has been fully vaccinated and has a vaxx passport
or
2) a healthy, uninfected person who has not been vaccinated?
Geoffrey Britain:
The publications from the NHS and Israel are that the unvaccinated are more susceptible to infection, but that the fully vaccinated are more likely to suffer disease progression and death. A minority of the latter will also exhibit symptom suppression, a degree of personal protection, but higher viral loads, and are thus silent spreaders.
There is little evidence of asymptomatic spread from the unvaccinated. There is little evidence of significant transmission through droplets, too, which was the justification for the mask mandates and “social” distancing (e.g. 6 ft, the Chinese observation was at least 50% greater), despite not following protocol to ensure a statistical benefit. The minority who are at risk and cannot isolate, should wear respirators with protective clothing. Anything less has a random effect at best (essentially a placebo).
While there is a conditional risk of infection and disease progression, there is an absolute risk from vaccination (e.g. menstrual dysfunction, myocarditis, clotting, death). So, the vaccines are one choice for individuals in high risk cohorts (e.g. fat, metabolically comprised, immuno compromised), and a less credible choice for the population.
“If someone survived Covid and has natural antibodies will you abide them, or distance yourself “out of an abundance of caution””
It’s not just antibodies, although that is one indicator of an immune response. Natural immunity has been observed to be more robust and durable than vaccinated immunity.
I’m vaccinated. I take it as given that some others are not vaccinated.
People who are given to disparaging the unvaccinated should consider wearing hazmat suits and let everyone else be.
neo,
Given their consistent behavior I now trust little to nothing that the medical ‘authorities’ put out. Whereas, I trust much though not all, of what those criticizing the medical authorities are saying.
The efficacy of Ivermectin is a prime example.
Why would I trust those with the blood of millions upon their hands?
n.n.,
Please clarify, are you stating the the vaccinated “exhibit symptom suppression, a degree of personal protection, but higher viral loads, and are thus silent spreaders” or that the unvaccinated do so?
n.n.: “Natural immunity has been observed to be more robust and durable than vaccinated immunity.”
That’s my understanding as well.
If true it should be shouted from the rooftops. If untrue, it should be debunked. It should not be shrouded in silence.
A second big “cognitive dissonance” issue for me, at least, is why “they” are not allowing people to try therapeutics such as HCQ and Ivermectin. For those two, I’ve read that we have a medical history of a billion or two doses consumed by humans. Dosages are well know, side effects are entirely minor. There are real world results from Mexico, Uttar Pradesh in India, or other areas. Yet authorities are insisting that a long, multi-year, double blind trial is necessary. Seems like stalling. Giving people therapeutics in the early stages does not preclude any other treatments. So what’s the downside? There are even instances of pharmacists refusing to fill legitimate prescriptions.
A third issue for me is the desperate insistence of vaxxing more and more people. Like pregnant women. And increasingly younger children. We should always be extra cautious treating pregnant women. And the risk of Covid to children is so tiny that some claim they are put in more danger from the drive to the clinic to get the shot. After all, car accidents are not unknown. Long term effects of the vaccine are of course not known, caution in treating children is entirely warranted. Yet no debate is allowed.
The harshness towards the unvaxxed, both in rhetoric and more direct consequences (being fired, denied entry to buildings, in the near future denied plane flights or even interstate access) are puzzling for a disease that appears to have a survival rate of 99.75%.
Why the desperation?
Why the extreme, coordinated efforts at censorship?
JimNorCal,
You know the reason why, it’s just horrific to contemplate it. To give it true consideration is to face horror.
“Ackler, thanks for your answers.”
You’re welcome.
“Given the choice, at a restaurant would you prefer to sit at a table next to
1) an infected, sick person who has been fully vaccinated and has a vaxx passport
or
2) a healthy, uninfected person who has not been vaccinated?”
Ideally, neither. But if I had to choose, I would go with the healthy unvaccinated person.
Thanks, Ackler. Your position may be a minority one on this blog, or perhaps there is simply a group of us truculent rebels who are louder in the comments.
Either way, your honest and non-defensive answers are appreciated.
Griffin, I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your mother.
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