Promotional image from the 1956 TV show “The Lone Ranger” starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels
Anymore people’s avatar photos or other images depict a lot of folks wearing masks. I see this on Facebook, twitter, various blogs, and other social media venues. I’m calling BS on this.
No, I’m not an “anti-masker” (funny how the word “anti” usually means either “stupid” or “evil”). I do wear a mask whenever I go out in public (although * gasp * I don’t wear a mask to check the mail, go out into my backyard, or when I go to bed…oh the horror…yes, I’m being sarcastic).
Let me explain.
My identity and certainly my “virtue” is NOT a mask. I wear a mask, not because it’s a fashion statement, not because I think it morally makes me better than anyone else, and not because it’s “the new normal” (a phrase which I detest). I do so because, in the world of COVID and government imposed lockdowns, it’s a temporary necessity.
Yes, you read that right, temporary.
All of this will pass, and in spite of what the government and various news agencies and “scientific experts” pronounce, we will reach a point in our lives when all of this is totally unnecessary.
That time is certainly not now, and no, I have exactly zero faith that a vaccine will magically transform anything.
I will wear a mask for the sake of obeying, well, not the “law” since no legislation was passed, but the pronouncements and dictates of various government officials. I’ll wear one because yes, there’s this thing running around that is infectious (although I’ve known people who’ve done everything right and still became infected), and because it makes people feel more comfortable emotionally.
But this whole mess has completely dehumanized us. All of our practices and customs on how to treat each other, to show respect, to show dignity, have gone out the window in the face of “anyone could be unknowingly sick and infect us with the virus”.
Me
It hurts the very young and the very old the most. Yes, you can isolate my 88-year-old Mom who suffers from Alzheimer’s in the name of “saving her life,” but there’s more than one way to kill someone. How many people have committed suicide because they became isolated and saw no hope? Do you really think your masking posturing is doing them any good?
Compassion is more than a mask and we’re being taught that masking and social distancing is a virtue while caring for someone’s loneliness is a crime.
I will wear a mask in public but I will absolutely not make it a part of my online or real life personality.
I’m not a mask. I’m a person. So are you.
poweredbyrobots.com 
Like you, I wear a mask when I go outside where there are other people around or even likely to be around. I support wearing face masks and social distancing because I think it’s the appropriate thing to do in a country that is in the throes of a pandemic that has sickened more than 17 million Americans and caused the death of more than 300,000. I want to protect myself and I want to demonstrate my compassion for others by taking step to ensure that I’m not going to be responsible for spreading the virus to any of them. I feel for those who have committed suicide due to being isolated, but those who did likely had a predisposition to do so, and I think it’s wrong to use their personal tragedies an yet another excuse to not mask-up.
LikeLike
Well said. And properly contextualized as a social concession. Some folks don’t want to accept that scientific controlled studies among the American military population have revealed that the occurrence of the virus is no different between masked and non-masked individuals, and that “social distancing” doesn’t actually work, either. Hence “the science” doesn’t support the mask hysteria. It is nothing but a magical talisman sanctioned by governments and interest groups. That’s actually a violation of the first amendment, but who’s paying attention to the Constitution, anyway? Some folks are even saying that vaccinated individuals must still isolate themselves, even after the second dose, as if they had not been made immune to the virus. That’s saying that the vaccine is utterly worthless. Do they know something that the medical establishment doesn’t? Or are they just in denial that Pres.Trump’s herculean efforts to encourage rapid development of vaccines succeeded?
I view the solution somewhat differently, and would have recommended equivalent or greater effort to develop easy-to-use tests that accuratly detect the infection as quickly as possible, along with therapeutic and prophylactic treatments to combat infection before severe symptoms can develop, i.e., actual cures and preventatives. Then there would really be no further excuse for draconian isolation that destroys economies and educational processes and psychological well-being.
LikeLike
I agree that the science is not “settled.” https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/293348
LikeLike