Face masks are symbolic, nothing more. Each one should have printed on it the words “I submit.” Public officials are becoming more strident. They are now touting false positive PCR tests as evidence of “asymptomatic carriers” of a disease never proven to exist apart from normal cold and flu season, caused by a virus that has never been isolated.
Here is a real exchange – we were at the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel to use the rest rooms. My wife, grandson and I walked past the sign requiring face masks inside, they to the johns, me to stand about. A woman approached me. Keep in mind that the hotel is closed, the building empty.
“Sir, you have to wear a face mask.”
“No I don’t.”
Incomprehensible, I know, to her native intelligence. If the boss says so, we must do so. The idea that we stand alone, and possess inalienable rights, among them life, liberty … foreign to her. She left.
Another woman approached me, carrying a box of face masks.
“Sir, you are required to wear a face mask in here. It is a policy of the hotel.”
“I don’t care.”
At this point she was going to offer me one of her choice of masks in a box, so I reached in my pocket and pulled mine out, the one that says “This mask is useless.” I did not put it on, but merely held it in front of my face. She seemed taken aback, and walked away, but I heard her saying something like “He’s not going to wear one. We need to …”
I assumed that she was going to summon the thugs. I casually wandered out of the building. In the meantime, my wife and grandson completed their chores, free of masks. In effect I ran interference. I ain’t that smart. It just worked out that way.
It is only going to get worse. We are in the final days of personal choice and freedom. But who deserves to be free? I am still pissed at Maarten, who has lectured me in the art of human persuasion, that I should never be strident, always approach people with respect and reason. I am a “zealot,” he implied, no apology forthcoming.
My response was that I do not attempt to change minds. That is foolish. Dunning-Krueger aside, I don’t have the empathy for people as a group, though the individuals I meet seem nice and somewhat rational. But to get them to change their minds? How is that done? It is not.
I write. I like writing. It helps me navigate this whacked planet. If people like what I write, we enjoy some sympathetic comfort. I can be guided by comments from smart people, often enough well said. But for those I need to “persuade,” I have no energy. The odds are they didn’t read it anyway, even if exposed. They just skimmed and moved on, assuming I am the one who is whacked, not them.
The art of persuasion is studied by experts. They work in advertising and public relations. They are, as Noam Chomsky wrote years ago when I still respected him, “professional liars.” They are too smart to reason with anyone. Instead, they study our weaknesses, and undermine us. The whole of the Covid-19 affair has convinced most people that there is a virus, that it is dangerous, and that we should be afraid. We cannot even look at a menu in a restaurant, as these liars have convinced people that this dangerous virus “lives” 14 days on the plastic covers.
Such lies are pernicious and insidious and effective. I am not a liar. I can’t do that stuff. But I do think in terms of comedy, as I love it. The idea of people in a governor’s office (think Blazing Saddles and Mel Brooks with the word “guv” on the back of his suit coat) going about their chores singing or humming “Springtime for Hitler in Germany” makes me laugh. I love the image. These are fascists and apparatchiks. They are eugenicists. They have lived among us for decades now, and have uncloaked. That I should make Hitler reference? Maarten says no … treat them with unearned respect, or I will never persuade them.
They do not deserved respect, only ridicule. Persuade them? Are you daft?
Years ago, in a different time and culture, my wife and I attended a talk given by a woman who was anti-advertising on the MSU campus in Bozeman. One point she made stuck out and remains with me. At that time Bud Light beer was running TV ads that contained juvenile humor, such things as young men bowing in worship as a fridge opened in the wall like a secret passage. The humor, she said, was not intended to amuse. It was done with purpose.
At the center of every ad agency is a group of behavioral psychologists. Their job is to craft a central message. The rest of the people in the agency, the creatives and such, are tasked with embedding that message in a form that will slide by the normal resistance that people have to “advertising.” They know we hate it, and so have to camouflage it, in effect subverting our native intelligence. The message of a professional ad is always deeply buried
What was the message of the Bud Light ads? Not the humor, aimed at kids 13 and older. That was the vehicle. The message was this: In a few years you’ll be able to drink legally. When you do, we want you to be pre-branded. We want you to drink our swill, Bud Light. Not theirs.
It works, and Maarten, they persuaded these kids. They did so with complete contempt for them. They have no respect for us or our intelligence.
If only I could be that dishonest, I too could be effective! But I cannot. It’s springtime for Hitler in Germany …
Piece of Mindful 
Last summer my family and I took out a trip out west to several national parks, including Yellowstone and GTNP. We absolutely loved it.
I can think of few better examples to illustrate the absurdity of the New Normal than a mask mandate at Yellowstone. Something that struck me as just silly and odd back then, but I did not give much thought at the time were the random groups of (mostly all) Asian tourists we encountered at various times throughout that trip wearing surgical masks. Riding around in cars and buses in masks. Hiking at Yellowstone in masks.
Of course they looked ridiculous, but beyond that I remember feeling that they seemed so anti-social and unfriendly.
I could never have imagined that less than a year later, those creepy surgical masks would be foisted on the entire world as a sign of ‘’caring’’ and ‘’respect for others.’’ And that so many people would fall for the scam, even believing themselves intelligent for doing so!
I think you are right about persuading people. I’ve noticed that many of the happily muzzled actually seem to become more smug and attached their masks when challenged on their beliefs.
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Ah, I see. We’re going to do this in front of God and everybody. Not my choice, but so be it …
I don’t know when “zeal” became a dirty word. I certainly consider myself zealous about several matters: 9-11 Truth, the evils of the medical-industrial complex, etc. Call me a zealot all you want, for these issues or for any other: I am not insulted. Like the word “fan,” in common usage “zealot” is a relatively value-neutral word. (Even though “fan” is historically a shortening of “fanatic,” which is not neutral.)
Be that as it may, in my earlier comment I did not actually call you a zealot. You inferred that by your own choice. But this was just grasping at straws for a Tu Quoque response. I.e., I mustn’t find fault with your calling people Nazis since I am calling you a name myself. [sigh] But as long as you are already salty, I will opine openly: you are a zealot against mask-wearing, and I do not apologize for saying this because it is no insult.
The second part of your response to my observations about the ineffectiveness of the Reductio ad Hitlerum was to claim that you “do not try to change minds.”
But changing minds was precisely the matter that you asked me to weigh in on. (Please don’t say that I “lectured” you when it was you who asked me to answer a question. ) You asked: how do we “approach the brainwashed masses” [in order to enlighten them]? And: “You’re going the wrong way on a freeway. [sic] How do you convince anyone to turn around?” Of course you are looking for ways to change minds. And changing minds is the whole point of having a blog, for Pete’s sake.
I also did not say that there is never a time for stridency. There can be: but rarely on someone’s private property, like a home or restaurant or hotel. You go on to their property, you abide by their rules. They decide the rules that apply on their premises. You and I may not like it, but our proper recourse is to go elsewhere with our business, and not to break rules and hassle innocent employees.
I understand your anger at the present situation and I even share it. But when we vent our spleen on well-meaning friends and neighbors, we accomplish nothing and actually hurt our cause. When you find yourself face to face with one of the fascists you rail at, then go ahead and call him a Nazi. But the people around you are not fascists, and they will consider you an unhinged person for calling them such names.
I’ll say it again: there are better ways to make a point.
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Maarten, I wonder if you are trying to argue logically about something that’s really more a matter of personality and temperament. My goal (which I don’t always achieve) is to take a similar approach to the one you’re espousing, but I don’t think it would necessarily be a good thing if everyone who saw through this bullshit did so. In your comment on the other thread–the one that prompted this little exchange–you said:
If anything, name-calling hardens people in their attitudes.
You also said
The times in my life that I changed my mind on major issues were due to finding out that someone I respected held the opposite position. When that person explained his views with kindness, patience, and openness to questions, I was able to reassess my own position more intelligently.
For the most part, my own experience and perceptions resonate with this. However, there have been times in my life when I’ve changed my mind on major issues because someone bluntly pointed out to me what a total fucking idiot I was.
I have to be careful with my anger because I have a tendency to get carried away (as I’ve demonstrated on this site a few times), and when I do, it hurts me. I can’t afford to indulge it; it’s like a drug to me. But I’m glad people like Mark are thumping people on the head now and then. Sure, most of them will remain hardened in their positions, but who knows? Maybe his bluntness will shake something loose in somebody. It happens. Not often, but it does happen.
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I am going to hazard a guess that the people who changed your mind by calling you an idiot were people that you already knew. And not only knew, but knew and trusted to some extent—trusted to have your best interests in mind.
At least, so it has been for me in similar situations. But if a stranger walks up to me out of the blue and tells me that I am holding an idiotic opinion on some matter we never discussed before … I back away. And to an extent, that person’s behavior would black-wash their own position in my mind, if only slightly and subconsciously.
Now, if any of us could have an audience with Anthony Fauci, I would give my heartfelt blessing for them to call him any name in the book, including “Dr. Mengele.” But the clerk down at the Piggly Wiggly? She’s just a bystander in this mess. Accosting her will only get you arrested.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” I don’t care who said it first. As a short-fused person myself, I know it is entirely true. And genuinely as a friend, I say: anyone who doesn’t heed this wisdom is indeed a fucking idiot …
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One’s hatred is powerful, as is love, love and hate being synonymous in
the fact both emotions reinforce belief and respect in whatever is being loved or hated. It implies some level of the mind’s acceptance of false existence, which makes the fight against it that much more difficult. Conundrum.
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Maarten, I may have been mixing apples and oranges, though with the Covid hoax, it’s difficult not to. You’re talking about somebody changing my mind about an intellectual position or belief. Yeah, that’s probably going to require that I trust and respect the person. But if a total stranger asks or orders me to wear a mask, I think treating them like they’re out of their goddamn minds is a valid choice. That’s not proselytizing. It’s asserting one’s free will. The person may not change their mind about the reality of the hoax, but they might think twice about presuming to tell strangers what to do.
Mark’s example doesn’t quite fit this, because he entered a hotel and refused to follow rules it had every right to impose on people who enter the property. But part of the “New Normal” appears to involve confronting non-mask-wearers as a matter of principle. Telling those people to go fuck themselves doesn’t seem invalid to me, and could possibly change someone’s mind about presuming to boss strangers around. I disagree with almost everything Jon Le Bon posts here, but when he called me out for being an annoying asshole about it, I realized I needed to leave him the fuck alone, and I have. So he did change my mind about something, you see.
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But let’s zero in on employees who are “just enforcing” the boss’s orders… Who is also “just obeying” orders handed down to him…
I think there is value in putting up friction and resistance, to whatever degree you are comfortable. At least, let them make the first confrontational move. Walk in without a mask and see where it goes from there. Many times no one will even say anything. If they do, you have a spectrum of options from griping about it but complying (if you really want to shop there) to leaving to asking to talk to a manager etc.
I would qualify that, that small businesses are between a rock and a hard place. So with them, depending on size, I would try to speak directly w the owner to tell them you think it’s bs, and see if they’re just being pragmatic or what. But for big chains, I say make it as difficult on them as possible so that they find it difficult to enforce.
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TimR—Absolutely. Make it difficult for the liars. Make it difficult for those who comply with the liars. Do it in a detached and reasonable way or be a total prick about it or find some happy medium, each according to his personality and temperament, or whatever the mood of the moment is. As long as we aren’t making our collective dehumanization easy for the dehumanizers, we are doing the Lord’s work.
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100% agree here Maarten, I said the same thing about the term zealot elsewhere…saying that on many topics, I am a zealot.
Mark, if it’s any consolation, I think the only reason I do not take your approach is my low opinion of my fellow man. I do not consider it statistically probable that anyone I encounter on the street is intellectually strong and resilient enough to have their minds opened. This is just the God’s honest truth. Therefore, as Maarten said, if I’m on their property it’s their rules. As much as it sucks hugely for us, that’s the way it is.
As we’re both saying, I agree…this sucks, this is not right, this is upside down. But that’s simply the reality of it. It won’t help anything to “rage, rage against the dying of the light”.
It seems that tyranny came not with a bang, but with a whimper. I understand your outrage, it’s just that such outbursts serve only to make us look crazy to “them”. Don’t worry, there will be one guy in the hundred of the crowd watching who will be gleeful seeing you try to take a stand. Doubtful that this one guy connecting is worth poisoning the other 99, though. [Note: I am the one guy in the crowd gleefully watching you tell them to shove it.]
I say awaken carefully, only after the person has already sought you out.
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See my comment above. I disagree with this “just comply” outlook. At least wrt big chains or big biz.
Obviously many are deep asleep. Not saying you need to get into Plato’s allegory of the cave with them. Just saying to try to add to the numbers who make it difficult to enforce from a practical point of view.
Again, most people aren’t looking for confrontation and won’t even say anything. At least make them insist on it, before you weigh whether to comply or not.
You can also “comply” and then walk away and take it off a minute later. So that you’re a good example to other customers. Probably also good to be friendly and affable and cool so other customers feel like boneheads for wearing one.
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Hey Tokarski, just put on the face mask, loser!
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I appreciate your point of view on this, Mark. It’s cathartic to read another person’s frustration expressed so well.
I’m very fortunate to live in a “red state” where a lot of people–maybe Trump supporters, but oh well–don’t wear masks. Most places I go don’t require it, and if they do, I don’t go there.
My mother is in the hospital right now. I’ve dropped things off for her at the main entrance, where nobody has tried to make me wear a mask, and I talk to her on the phone, but I refuse to visit her. My mother is a sweet woman spending the last years of her life in physical torment. All her life, she has run to doctors for a seemingly never-ending parade of physical aches and pains that have of course only gotten worse with time. Currently, she’s recovering from surgery on her jaw, where she has a lot of dead bone that is apparently a side effect of her lifetime of taking prescription meds. She is a real-life embodiment of that nursery rhyme character–the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.
I feel guilty for not visiting her in person, but she knows how I feel about the medical industry and about this Covid nonsense. Neither one of us particularly wants me there. Sadly, I think I have, to some extent, persuaded her about what a hoax this is, and what a scam the medical industry complex she has thrown her lot in with is. To be honest, I now wish I hadn’t shared my point of view with her, because I know she feels judgment from me, instead of compassion, as she suffers for a lifetime of trusting the medical Nazis. Whenever I talk to her now, I just feel like such a fucking asshole.
Like all of us, I’m still trying to figure out how best to navigate this world full of people subscribing to a plainly idiotic false reality. Anger, frustration and despair are natural, but man, that shit’s also just way too predictable. There has to be a better way.
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I’m on vacation, 500 Miles of Autobahn. There is a phenomenon related. By German law, you are supposed to drive on the most right lane, as speed permits. There are people changing lanes all the time, to teach other drivers, and feel better themselves, as law abiding. The same people don’t care about distances to other vehicles, and their dangerous behavior.
To ridicule people is not the solution. The confronting way described here is similar. The problems are corrupt media and science anyway. As mentioned in previous posts, I suspect this thing is designed to blow. It’s too transparent, I already spotted headlines implying the possibility of error.
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All of you make very sensitive and intelligent comments, but none of you obviously has the inner ferociousness of mark…or me;
by this I mean that sometimes a man feels so strongly about something that the consequences of his actions will be very very far from his mind;
he has to do what he does, even if he knows that he will be struck down dead in the next moment..
so stop trying to convince mark of anything…let him be clubbed to death by police even for not wearing a mask, but stop trying to talk sense into him; sometimes that sense is for weaklings…
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Agree! Thank god there are men like our host who have their own inner compass apart from the herd.
When I look around and see many masked people, my intuitive sense of right and wrong screams out loudly. I don’t need to debate scientific studies. Maybe if I were seeing my friends covered in zombified flesh and dropping dead, I would have to consider some invisible bogeyman. But then, I would want a hazmat suit or real surgical mask, lol. If it were that deadly and terrifying.
Instead we are just seeing people beaten down by media stories, who sleepwalk through their own lives, and so can’t look around them and see the creepiness of what they’ve become. Or willfully blind themselves to it, so they can stay in the safety of the communal dream.
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On this question, I have to side with Mark for his boldness and against Maarten and Faulex urging restraint. I get what you guys are saying, of course, and in some cases I too choose restraint, and sometimes it’s the right thing to do. But…
1) The perpetrators are boldy lying; we should boldly tell the truth
2) Something quite evil is being done to our societies. To go along with it at all, to remain silent even sometimes out of a sense of etiquette or not wanting to rock the boat, is to participate in the evil
3) People know deep down that it’s bullshit. What they lack is courage, and what they need is inspiration. When Mark walks boldly around without a mask, laughing off demands he put one on, he seems strong, healthy, vital. He gives people a glimmer of hope that it’s okay to be free, okay not to “believe.”
4) The best things we truth tellers can do are: a) inspire people to think; and b) mock and ridicule and therefore weaken the propagandists and their propaganda; and c) move the Overton window a little bit. What we CAN’T do effectively is gently nudge normies along. It just doesn’t work. N
5) I’m not claiming to be tough. I’ve bit my tongue with several groups of friends who I don’t want to lose and who I know don’t want to hear skepticism. And I’m glad to still be included in their (virtual) get togethers as a result. But my pretending to be a bit more….moderate…than I am regarding the lockdowns makes me feel dirty and compromised. I can’t help but feel that my friends and I both would have been better off if I had been plainspoken instead of playing along with propaganda.
6) If we had all given voice to our skepticism right off the bat, we could have opened more eyes. No-one is sick. I haven’t heard a cough in months. Why shouldn’t I say that?
6) Finally, here’s Marianne Williamson: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
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Amen, Charlie.
I’m sure there are people so spiritually and intellectually evolved that they can navigate this madness with quietly persuasive dignity. Maybe I’ll be among them someday, but until then, I’d rather err on the side of protesting in an unseemly way, figuring out how to handle this craziness through messy trial and error, than not protest it at all. It seems to me that Maarten and Steve—as much as I admire and respect them—are advocating that we wear different masks—masks of spiritual evolvement and intellectual detachment that they may have achieved, but many of us haven’t. I do not advocate responding to the evils of “See something, say something” with “See something, don’t say anything because people might think you’re crazy and it will make the rest of us dissenters look bad.”
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I did not advocate the wearing of masks. I am advocating for not being an asshole to regular people who are stressed out enough without getting dumped on by some angry rando.
Make your beef with someone who is responsible for this mess. Leave your fellow proles alone.
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Of course. Well, unless that prole is dumping on me on behalf of the people responsible for this mess, in which case, I will shed no tears if my poor stressed-out fellow prole feels a little more stressed by my response.
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Politeness is fine. And a respect for private property is fine. But acquiescing to a lie has costs, both for you and for your fellow proles. It’s a slippery slope between “don’t make the poor waitress ask you to put on your mask” and “pledge allegiance to the new normal of medical tyranny.”
None of us have any ability to really make a beef with those responsible. We can’t get an audience with Gates, Fauci, Big Pharma, Governors, Mayors, or even any of the petty tyrants below them. And if we could, they’d ignore us anyway. Our only hope is to show each other that we are uncompliant and unafraid. Even if that makes people uncomfortable.
Again, Maarten, I understand and respect what you’re saying, and I sometimes act accordingly. My writing is braver than my conduct. But I do think the world is a worse place today because so many of us “went along” with this farce as a courtesy to normies scared stiff by news propaganda. Pretending to believe in lies is not a healthy urge for society long term, even if it reduces friction in the short term.
I mean no offense, but, to play Devil’s Advocate, I’ll put this into Nazi terms. Would we advise Germans “not to bother” the soldiers and train conductors ferrying Jews to the camps? Would we advise them to “take it up with Hitler”?
Masks don’t work. Even the medical establishment says as much. The World Health Organization, Harvard Medical School, and the AMA all say masks don’t work and do more harm than good. We are being told to wear masks by lying politicians and government officials. Some of them are “in on it,” some of them are “useful idiots,” and some of them are just confused fraidy-cats. But the only reason to wear a mask is to signal obedience.
The burden of proof should be on the social engineers trying to change society, not on rationalists who see through the bullshit. It is not good etiquette to wear masks, it is terrible etiquette for friends and businesses and restaurants to ASK us to wear masks which the medical establishment says are worse than useless. We should all say no; we should boldly call bullshit.
We don’t have to stage a sit-in in a hotel lobby and ruin everyone’s day and get arrested. We can leave if asked to leave, laughing at them on our way out. But the powers that be and the “go along to get along” types are asking us to either mask up or never go out in public again. Sorry, I don’t like either of those choices, and I don’t like pretending they’re reasonable either.
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I do not feel anger or rage, though late in the day I get down. The masks need only say “Obey.” These changes are permanent. They are a major clampdown on personal freedom. In the end we will be carrying cards to access our own funds. We will be monitored. If not vaxxed, if unmasked, if we violate social distance, we will be disciplined. Our cards will be turned off, we will have to report to some petty tyrant for reeducation. If you don’t believe me, just listen to Gates.
Faux, I agree with your assessment of our fellow humans. Freedom is wasted on them, they thrive on regiment. Maarten, Nazism was a real outgrowth of human depravity, but it also discredited eugenics. Maybe Hitler was an actor, but eugenics, the ideology, merely went underground. It is back now. Invocation of Hitler and Nazis is not inappropriate. They are here again.
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I kindly recommend the supporters of this site to RE-educate themselves about ‘nazism or Dr Mengele-stuff’ because this coronamadness could only be imposed on the population because the wrong side won WWII.
The victory of the allies allowed big pharma and the military-industrial complexes of both NATO & Warsaw pact to turn the whole world into a experimentation lab and ‘fear of the other side’ + ideology + mass-consumption was used to turn the whole world into slavery, either as paying consumers or low cost slaves. Forget about the buzzwords ‘race-blood-soil -lebensraum-freedom-democracy’; WWII just had to be fought because NS Germany was a too big impediment for economic supremacy of the same ilk we can see at work today.
This coronamadness can only exist because the recipe has been tried and proved in previous scams (medical or historic) and will be used as long it’s accepted by the public, and as long as the public willingly prefers to stay uninformed.
The reason why nazism is teached to be the most evil of evils is founded on projection and the principle of the thief shouting ‘hold the thief’.
This might offend or shock some, but genuine honest people won’t be offended by a call for doing some decent research themselves.
And living in a city that was heavily bombed by the USA and Germany, I don’t need some WWII lectures. Thanks.
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I’ve been vocal about my opinion and pulling no punches about what I really think is going on with the mask order from Gov. Jay Inslee and his handler John Weisman or the corona hoax in general. I’ve walked out of businesses but I’ve not been angry or rude while doing so. Most of the employees at my local hardware and grocery stores feel bad about asking me to mask up or leave and I’ve formed friendships with many of them. However, the mask order has been highly politicized around these parts and months ago when people started wearing masks I noticed that at several of these establishments a few employees became quite cold and curt towards me all of the sudden as events progressed (supposedly my county is the worst per capita on the west coast for covid infection rates) and I remained unmasked. You could tell they wanted to tell me off but didn’t have the guts or authority to do so. Putting on a mask had more to do with virtue signalling their political allegiance than fear of any disease, though they may have said otherwise. Now they smugly inform me at the register that they will tattle on me if I don’t a get muzzle on my disease spreader which was once known as a human face. They are a minority, but are truly contemptible.
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One amazing thing about all this is how the obedience-signalling mask wearers are at their most militant NOW, after even official deaths from Covid have crashed down to essentially zero. It’s like there was a time lag. NOW the Karens have really internalized the program and are enforcing it big time, long after the horse left the barn AND returned to the barn!
CDC shows deaths are…over.
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