No, You Don’t Believe In Science

Disclaimer:  This post is NOT a call to stop wearing the mask. Let me make that perfectly clear.  For legal reasons if nothing else you will have to keep wearing the damn things (depending on your location).  I’m just pointing out it’s dumb.

This weekend Lady Cataline found an article that briefly interested her.  It was on a study that claimed that masks were indeed effective in preventing the spread of Covid-19.  She thought it was probably a comparative study between various countries like South Korea and…nope!

This “study” consisted of putting one group of infected rats in a cage, a group of uninfected in a second cage, and there was a mask between these two cages.   That was the study.  I’m not joking, I did not make that up.  This was presented, with perfect conviction, as proof that masks prevent the spread of Covid-19 and if you don’t accept this then you don’t believe in science.  If you don’t understand why this is bullshit then don’t comment here because you are too stupid for me to deal with today.

The wearing of the mask has become an interesting political and in truth religious divide in this country. 

While there is still quite a bit that is unknown about COVID and a lot of what is known is contradictory. For instance, it doesn’t seem to be all that contagious for most people, but a small number are super-spreaders.  Consequently, it hits urban areas harder because the super-spreaders while small in number will have an outsize impact due to the general density of the contact population.  In rural environments the occasional superspreader can’t have much as big of an impact.

Now that is kind of weird. But at least it’s an identifiable effect.

What is not identifiable is the point of wearing a mask in this situation.  When you are talking about trying to prevent the spread of a disease that will kill millions there is some point in trying to shave a few percentage points off that by slowing the disease down a little.  Maybe a mask will help with that and maybe won’t but there is no reason not to try under those circumstances.

These are not those circumstances.  It just isn’t spreading like we thought it did back in March.

Covid-19 was supposed to have killed millions by now and it hasn’t done in more people than an average flu season.  The press is frantically trying to spiral up some panic because at this point blaming Trump for the Black Death is Creepy-Wandering-Corrupt-(and now)-Racist Joe’s only hope for election.  Naturally, they are doing everything they can to inflate the number of Covid-19 deaths and the medical profession (whether they meant to or not) has been helping them.  If you have stage IV liver cancer, your liver finally gives out, but you are COVID positive, you were a COVID Related Death, and the New York Times will helpfully truncate that to COVID Death (and blame Trump for it).

And if you are good Progressive you believe in this wholeheartedly because if you don’t then you don’t believe in science.  

Consequently, if you don’t wear a mask you don’t believe in science. Nevermind, if you are wearing it with your nose over the top or around your neck or (flipside) in an empty parking lot. So long as you have it near your face you believe in science.

Actually, you don’t believe in science at all. What you believe in, is more properly called “fetishism.” 

Although, the fact that you fetishize science is an incredibly hilarious irony.