In February 1692, Salem, MA broke from reality, nuance, and stability into a whirlwind of chaos, kangaroo court, and hysteria. In short, more than 200 people (mostly women) were accused of practicing witchcraft. 30 were found guilty, 19 of them were executed by hanging (14 women, 5 men) and at least 5 people died in jail. This was politicized, spreading like wildfire throughout the town and lead to needless catastrophe and human rights abuses. This lasted until May of 1693. All in the name to stop witchcraft - something that doesn’t even exist.
In the 1950s, McCarthyism was at its peak. Joseph McCarthy made accusations of treason (aligning with the commies) without any evidence, resulting in people losing their livelihoods, a society scared shitless, and an overall lack of trust in government. This ended on December, 2nd, 1954, when the Senate voted to censure McCarthy, effectively ending his influence. He went down in history as a massive liar and panic pusher, drinking himself to death.
Man doesn’t change. I grew up in post 9/11 America. It shaped my political beliefs, my lack of trust in government, my overall skepticism of authority, and my distaste for the establishment/bureaucracy. I’m politically homeless and have never voted, although that may change soon. But, I thought we’d recognize our failures overseas, understand that authority figures lie to push an agenda, turn the fucking national news off, and vow to not let that happen again.
Oh boy was I wrong! You see, last March 13th, 2020 - we let it happen again. Early reports in January coming out of China hinted at a scary, lethal, killer virus that left people dead in the middle of the road. By the second week in March, the WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic. The States were told we were “two weeks until Italy” and plunged into lockdown, something that had never been done before in the West.
I can cut this an infinite number of ways. I’m sure you can too. But as we stalled out in lockdown purgatory for the past year, I saw a worrisome sign that the pandemic crossed with our never ending culture war. Specifically, on masks. Early on in the pandemic, both Dr. Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Americans not to wear masks:
However, that advice quickly changed by April and May as many states enacted mask mandates. You couldn’t enter a building without one on.
What we saw in the past year was truly fucking insane. People (looking at you leftists) made masks into an entire personality trait. Suddenly, masks went from being something doctors and surgeons wear during surgery to a cure-all. Don’t want to catch the sniffles? Mask! Don’t want to deal with allergies? Mask! Are you a fucking ugly, anti-social reject who’s drowning in your own misery? Mask!
If you even doubted their effectiveness, which - lets be honest, it’s pretty shoddy, you were called a science denying Trump supporter who wants everybody to die. That last point - about how these mandates enabled hermits who are jjjjjuuuusssstttt a bit too into “theory” to grab moral superiority over people who want to be left alone. They got off on it. It’s not enough for them to do it, we all had to - and we all had to like it and not question it. They do it with every single issue.
When Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and other governors ditched mask mandates, the mask cult let them have it on Twitter. Every Floridian and Texan was going to die. It was Neanderthal-thinking. It was going to invite death. Recall Boy called it “absolutely reckless.” But that didn’t happen. Florida and Texas declined like the rest of the nation, and are mid pack in deaths/capita. So, scientifically (look, I’m just trying to follow the science, OK?!), there’s not really a strong correlation. But it didn’t matter. Instead of revising strategy, blue areas of the country, public health officials, and the cult doubled down.
The cult enjoys the shame. It empowers them. The Us vs. Them War masks brought up was the most fun they’ve had in their lives. It’s their adrenaline. Usually, these are the kinds of people who can’t stop bitching about the Approved Issue of the Day - climate change, voting rights, SaViNG dEmOcRaCy; they make this their fucking lives. Since sports, concerts and other live events, casinos, etc. were largely not happening or fan-less for the past year, all we had as outlet was politics. The mainstream media and their case/death count like an ESPN stat ticker. Andrew Cuomo’s daily covid briefings. So it’s no shock to me that we fell into a culture war about masks - and it probably cost lives. Instead of trying to make our country healthy both physically and mentally, so much time was spent on this fucking issue. The cult never would’ve grown if our public health officials didn’t go on TV and scare an already weak and declining nation into compliance.
But ultimately, we have ourselves to blame. We elect leaders, for the most part. The bureaucracy, the governors, functioned exactly as intended. The end of Vice always hangs in my mind:
Pay attention to what’s said when Cheney turns to the camera, especially the last bit of it:
“I will not apologize…for keeping your family safe. And I will not apologize for doing what needed be done…so that your loved ones can sleep peaceably at night. It has been my honor to be your servant, and I did what you asked."
I get this is a fictional interpretation, but there’s truth to this. They did what we asked. We bought into the hysteria from the media. We wanted to lockdown - it was never “safe enough” to reopen, and some still think it’s not. We wanted to make masks into a political symbol; in response, governors hung on to it way longer than they ever should have and muddied the waters whenever they were questioned. That’s how they function. They use our division to push an agenda.
Despite the CDC essentially ending indoor mandates, the cult is clinging on to masks. They’re coping. They don’t know what to do. They don’t want to take it off because they don’t want to be mistaken for a Trump supporting, science denying, anti vax, anti masker who wants all of us to die. It was never about science. It was about a deep inferiority complex. Fear. Obedience. Control.
It’s on us to fix this. It’s on us to cultivate a strong environment - mentally, physically, morally, so we can build cultural leaders. This will reduce governments’ influence on the culture war. They won’t be able to do much because we won’t ask for much. We’ll turn to ourselves and our communities to lead through crises. Government actors and media pundits only serve the almighty dollar and the next election cycle, using the cultural issues we create as a means to end - regardless of the outcome or second order effects. We can never let this happen again, but history doesn’t repeat itself; man does.
I’ve been saying masks have become a security blanket- but the more I think about it, the more they’re more like an emotional support animal. Need/want to do something that’s banned? It’s fine if you have a mask on. Want to avoid doing something? You don’t feel comfortable even with a mask on. Want people to stay away from you? A mask can make you anti social. They can be whatever you want them to be- no wonder people don’t want to give them up.
The other thing that makes sense to me is that they’re basically MAGA hats. You see someone with a cute mask on, or double/triple masks and you know they’re probably on “your side.” Take them off and you might be a trump supporter.
It’s unfortunate because if masks were just to “slow the spread of Covid” they’d be a lot easier to give up.