The
mask wars are over. Science
lost.
I’ve
written about mask edicts before, and the widespread belief that cloth or paper
masks can protect the public from catching viruses like the Rona. At this point, I think I’ve read everything
that has been published on the subject in peer-reviewed journals for the last
twenty-five years or so. (It’s
surprisingly easy to find academic articles these days, and it generally costs
nothing.) To summarize, there is no
evidence that wearing a mask in the park or in a supermarket does a damn bit of
good in stopping the spread of viral infections.
In
addition to these studies and findings, there have been a number of articles in
the past few months (mostly not peer-reviewed and mostly published by “associations”
rather than academic periodicals), all of which purport to tell us that cloth
masks provide a “barrier” (a word they invariably use), to viruses. The coolest ones use laser-enhanced photography
to show colored plumes of aerosol droplets raining down ten feet away, at least
until a mask is interposed. They shed no
light on the spreading of viruses, of course, but the pictures are great.
You don’t
really have to read all these articles, though it’s educational to do so
because you will rather quickly discover how much of “science” (which you are
paying for), is pure horseshit. But
rather than read all the articles, all you really have to do is watch a few
interviews or podcasts about COVID featuring epidemiology researchers and
professors and such. Whenever the
subject of masks comes up, they chuckle.
The reaction is involuntary. Many
of these people have dealt with deadly pathogens in labs, wearing elaborate
haz-mat gear to protect themselves. The
idea that masks, even the N-95 variety, could prevent the transmission of
viruses, is amusing to them.
But you
will never read this perspective in a newspaper or see it on TV because the
effectiveness of mask-wearing has now been accepted by virtually all news
outlets, regardless of their slant or politics.
Even scientists and doctors have stopped talking about the uselessness
(and even negative effects), of mask-wearing, at least partly because some
dissenters have lost research funding and others find their views taken down
from social media sites with no explanation.
The “illusory
truth effect” is a phenomenon, identified at Villanova University in 1977,
where people will come to believe a falsehood when it has been repeated often
enough. Familiarity alone, rather than
any reasoning or factual inquiry, becomes the basis for an accepted truth. This seems to be what has occurred with the
belief that wearing a mask in public protects us from the Rona. And now that this is the “truth,” no
discussion is permitted. It never was,
actually. I still have not seen an
article in a mainstream publication (e.g., the NYT, the WSJ, etc.), where the
past twenty-five years of medical research is even mentioned. All you get is the same admonitions and the
same scolding, from every newspaper, every bureaucrat, every health department
czar, every Fauci-wannabe, every governor, every mayor---wear the mask, we’re
all in this together, etc. etc. etc.
The
resolution of this issue is accepted even by many scientists who know that
masking is pointless. Ivor Cummins, an
Irish biochemical engineer and science reporter, has said he doesn’t like to
appear “churlish” by criticizing public mask-wearing rules since he understands
the impulse people might have to “do something” about COVID, even if the thing
they are doing is useless.
OK. I get it.
But I still don’t share this view because the powers enforcing
mask-wearing are not uniformly benign.
It is being used by authoritarians in some places (i.e., Europe), to
punish mask-dissenters with huge fines and even jail time.
More importantly,
accepting a falsehood as a ruling principle for society is fundamentally
contrary to our basic values. We in the
West have become historically free and wealthy and long-lived because we have
embraced reason and science, at least where public policy is concerned. What possible good can come from a return to
irrational beliefs and superstition in the face of a deadly medical challenge,
even if it’s churlish to tell all the scolds and politicians and time-servers
they are wrong?
Besides,
I’m irrational enough as it is. I
believe God spoke to Moses and parted the Red Sea and I believe Christ died on
the cross and was resurrected to save my soul.
I believe these things with all my heart and I can’t prove any of them,
and when I actually write them down they sound a little ridiculous but I
believe them anyway.
But
that’s it. That’s all the irrationality
I can stand. I’m not going to believe in
mask-wearing too, no matter how many people want me to and how many nice people
believe in it. I’m not going to believe
GMOs are bad for you either, or that OMEGA-3s make you healthy.
God is
love. I’m cool with that. For everything else, I need a double-blind
study.
Copyright2020MichaelKubacki
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