"How stupid can you get? With masks now BACK, we're finding out...." by Mark Crispin Miller

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Source: News from Underground by Mark Crispin Miller

How stupid can you get? With masks now BACK, we're finding out.... Nearly four years later, maybe we should try, though tardily, to shoot this Big Lie down MARK CRISPIN MILLER DEC 29   READ IN APP   On the use of masks to block transmission of respiratory viruses, there were those who actually read through the science, while there were many, many more who read “the science” as transmitted by the New York Times and all the rest of “our free press.” The science that some read—which is to say, more honestly, the science that we read—was, by 2020, readily available in all the randomized, controlled studies of masking carried out in hospitals, all of which had found that masks do not prevent transmission of such viruses. (By early 2020 there were ten such studies, whereas there are now many more, which bolster the conclusion of those ten.) That strong consensus was then reconfirmed by the abundant epidemiological data from states throughout the USA, and countries all around the world. All that data made it clear as day that (1) “COVID” rates were highest where the masking was most prevalent, and (2) those rates started spiking after masking was successfully imposed. This by-now-well-established fact was contradicted by “the science” pumped out by the media, which took their lead from Dr. Fauci and the CDC and WHO, which took their lead from Dr. George Gao, Fauci’s Chinese counterpart. Before they pivoted to China’s superstitious line on masks, all three of those authorities had reconfirmed the science on the matter, claiming publicly—and rightly—that masks do not prevent transmission. "There's no reason to be walking around with a mask," infectious disease expert [sic] Dr. Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes. While masks may block some droplets, Fauci said, they do not provide the level of protection people think they do. Wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences: People who wear masks tend to touch their face more often to adjust them, which can spread germs from their hands. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/preventing-coronavirus-facemask-60-minutes-2020-03-08/ Later, on the basis of what he called “further studies” (a/k/a “the science”), Fauci doubled down by urging everyone to wear two masks. Now, since “our free press” (including both the “left” and corporate media) was not only the main conduit for that propaganda version of “the science,” but an army of devout Covidians, who believed that fantasy (because Trump seemed, somehow, not to), they put out toxic, anti-social lunacy like this: So that was then—the Year of COVID, when anyone who dared invoke the science to refute “the science” was condemned as ignorant and heartless (just like Trump). So successful was such nasty propaganda, and so terrorized all those who read “the science,” that the science simply vanished, disappearing into the enormous scientific void of COVID “truth,” which held that anyone who questioned masking (among many other things) was a “conspiracy theorist.” I should have put that last clause in the present tense, because the COVID “truth” still holds that masking works, despite the scientific fact that it does not. So here it is, in the final days of 2023—going on four years later—and we’re seeing things like this: “Nothing should get in the way of true love”? No, what that caption should say is: “Nothing can get in the way of imbecility (if people have been scared enough).” That imbecility is also evident—again—among those (Democratic) politicians, “health” authorities and press outlets which all together spread that Big Lie (not concerning masks alone, but “COVID” overall) in 2020. COVID Mask Mandates Return to Hospitals in Five States December 29, 2023 https://www.newsweek.com/covid-mask-mandate-return-hospitals-usa-1856530 What all this tells us is that once a propaganda fantasy takes hold—which is to say that once stupidity prevails—it will not just keep going, with people still believing it, but it will then enable the promotion, and acceptance, of further imbecilities, which will then do more harm. So, if it’s possible to shoot down that enduring lie at this late date, please let’s all try with all out might (as we’re now somewhat mightier than we were then, at least as far as “COVID” is concerned) to do it.