If you’re one of the handful of people who have found these musings via the site formerly known as Twitter, nice to e-meet you. But I’m afraid we probably disagree on a few issues, and based upon what I’m consistently being served up during the nanoseconds I spend on the site to share my musings, it has almost nothing to do with our respective political leanings.
What I seem to see at the top of my timeline, lately on a regular basis, are posts from folks who are passionately, feverishly and downright screamingly begging, pleading and imploring the world to allow them to feel “safe” enough to live their lives, and bar none the only way they seem to believe that is possible is if everyone follows their lead and wears masks at virtually every waking moment beyond active eating and drinking. And because even they know that personal pleas seem never to resonate sufficiently, they’re getting more creative at finding lanes which they think will be impactful.
One hashtag that has been increasing in presence is #thirstmasking, which typically is contributed to by accounts where folks proudly pose with their medical grade masks, attempting to smile with their eyes in an effective enough manner to convey sincerity. As it often is when I see something more than three times (my threshold for not being random), I allowed myself to descend into a rabbit hole that might allow me to understand a bit more about this. Of all the possibilities out there for an explanation, the closest I could come to something resembling discourse came from the esteemed commentator SOMBERAMARANTH:
Yesterday, I posted a brief piece on #ThirstMasking in my Musings blog (available here on somberamarath.com under the writing section). This came after several days of tracking a definitive shift in the tone of the discourse in and around the COVID informed community. My first impression was that we were seeing the rise of a new movement, ala #YallMasking, aimed at normalizing masking in a novel way given the behemoth COVID surge that we are currently experiencing and the looming gargantuan surge that is expected just over the horizon.
In short, I concluded in the piece that we are not witnessing a new #YallMasking. Instead, we are witnessing a new #SaltingTheVibes. As it turns out, much like with the #SaltingTheVibes movement, it all stems from a rightfully facetious response to a negative comment on a previous tweet that was meant to be positive. As you can see below, Persephone🦋 quite kindly posted praise for gentlemen that choose to be COVID responsible by wearing masks. Describing these men as “so hot” and making use of 😍 emojis to further emphasize the point.
No, I’ve never heard of Somberamaranth, either. The fact that he chooses an avatar like this to discuss this issue and also uses the term “musings” gives me great pause as to what side of sanity he may be coming from.
Many of you know I have a rather dubious view on this particular issue. By all logical assumptions to be derived from any empirical data on who and how contracts COVID, I should be extremely vulnerable and arguably am suffering from the effects of something akin to Long Covid. All I know is that I’ve never tested positive, I regularly work and travel in what “experts” claim are petri dishes where infection is unavoidable and on the rare occasions when a clinic’s draconian rules mandated I wear a mask, that’s what often causes me issues. The last time I was ordered to don a well-fitting paper face diaper the odor caused me to dry heave, and since after my surgeries I am incapable of actually vomiting it left me dazed and in dire abdominal pain. The time before that, I was ordered to don an N-95 respirator whose straps were so tight on my ears that one actually left me bleeding.
But, hey, why should my health and comfort matter when so many “experts” would contend that I’m putting them at risk by merely breathing normally?
Instead, I should heed the words of the likes of Dr. Sean Mullen, who regularly contributes to this discourse with these kind of incendiary observations:
When I see and hear people coughing, repeatedly, I have FIVE thoughts: 1. They could have Long Covid 2. It might be a new Covid infection 3. It’s probably a combination of the two. 4. If 2 or 3, you should be isolating. Why aren’t you home? 5. Why aren’t any of you masking? Why are you letting them cough on you like that? Are you stupid?
Look, I am not completely insensitive to folks who claim to be immunocompromised and merely looking to regain some sort of presence in society. It’s one reason I am in the sliver of the population who has had seven vaccines, six of which produced almost no reaction whatsoever. And I’ve long since given up hoping to learn anything sensible from the babble of RFK, Jr., and since I’m clearly not quite his type he’s yet to answer my dms.
When I do engage with others, admittedly something I probably shouldn’t be doing in the first place, I ask a simple question: what kind of empirical, statistically significant study can you point me towards that conclusively shows that wearing a mask is itself an impactful enough factor to diminish published rates of hospitalization or infection in the United States?
I’ll occasionally get an outdated study or two with smaller sample sizes conducted in Australia, New Zealand or Europe. Those I have read are quick to point out that their conclusions are amplified by observational studies. None have been able to have control groups to offer counterbalance to their clickworthy conclusions.
Mind you, I’m not faulting these well-intentioned researchers. The simple fact is that it is logistically and financially nearly impossible for a study with such guardrails to be conducted, and in this currently polarized climate the chances of finding sufficient cooperation and funding virtually nil. So, to me, arguing this to either conclusion is a fool’s errand.
But there’s another reason why I just can’t cover my mouth, and apparently I’m not alone in such opinions. And AM NEW YORK’s Barbara Russo-Lennon dropped a sobering reminder of it on her far more wide-reaching platform yesterday:
A coalition of public safety advocates called for a mask ban in NYC on Monday — the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel — as violent protestors and criminals continue to don face coverings while terrorizing the city on public streets, transit and college campuses.
Members of #UnMaskHateNY, a campaign launched in June following a wave of violent college protests that rocked the city, said it is time to reimplement a mask ban, ended during the COVID-19 pandemic, to stop those who hide their faces while they break the law.
Will Miller, a spokesperson for the group, said hate crimes are increasing around the city in part because criminals are able to hide their identity behind masks.
And apparently a few exits east on the LIE, they’ve already made up their minds, as THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Philip Marcelo wrote on September 20th:
A pro-Palestinian protester wearing a keffiyeh scarf has been charged with violating a Long Island county’s new law banning face masks in public, reviving fears from opponents that the statute is being used to diminish free speech rights.
Police said the 26-year-old North Bellmore resident was arrested Sunday afternoon during a protest in front of Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, an orthodox synagogue near the New York City borough of Queens.
Sunday’s arrest is among the first under the Mask Transparency Act approved by Nassau County’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Blakeman last month.
The first instance was an 18-year-old arrested as he walked around the Levittown and Hicksville area wearing a black ski mask late last month. Police said at the time that the teen displayed other suspicious behavior, including attempting to conceal something in his waistband that turned out to be a large hunting knife.
And last week, as the LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL’s Killian Baarlaer reported, they’re apparently on their way to similar rethinking in a city about as removed from the Tri-State area as any:
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg plans for Louisville Metro Police to begin enforcing a decades-old ordinance that makes wearing face coverings in public illegal in an attempt to curb gun violence, he said in a news conference Tuesday.
Greenberg started discussing the idea of leveraging the ordinance with LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey after a shooting took place in the Pleasure Ridge Park High School parking lot during a football game Sunday night. The suspects in the shooting were wearing “surgical masks and other face coverings to conceal their identities,” Greenberg said.
“This is not an isolated incident. LMPD officers see time and time again when assailants, trigger-pullers, are wearing masks to conceal their identities,” Greenberg said.
I personally would experience far more discomfort when someone who I couldn’t identify in a police lineup might choose to insult or threaten me because of my personal beliefs than if someone accidentally coughed on me. But, of course, that makes me a threat to society in the minds of the #ThirstMasking cul–er, community.
But until someone can actually offer me empirical evidence that my decisions are themselves impacting their lives, I’ll merely continue to ask for similar respect for how I live mine. Even if it means I have to give up the possibility of a hookup with Persephone.
Until next time…