I was on the conference call with you a week or three ago in which – through the moderator – I asked what the criteria were for dropping the mask mandate you enacted.
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The pap non-answer answer was what I expected: “Well, when the science says…” and “When the experts say it’s OK…” and so on.
My concern is that you still don’t have the guts to take the correct decision on your own, but instead you choose to keep relying on the same political calculation to which I referred in a prior GraniteGrok post:
So what is this calculus? Simple. If you take no action, if you help protect those truly vulnerable people but otherwise, let us live our lives, people will die. And the effects on your careers, standing, appointments, and political prestige is clear: you will be blamed for having taken no action. The fingers will point directly at you.
You don’t appear to care about the freedom of the citizens of Nashua and the surrounds in the Live Free or Die state. It seems that you just want to show you care without actually doing anything that could be considered “caring.” You only want to show that you are woke and concerned and making people aware, and be lauded by supporters, party acolytes, and the press. To show that you’ve done “something” even if that something is wholly and completely ineffective. Take a look at the states that are dropping mask mandates.
Even Dr. Fauci is , baffled why rates are falling in these states. But then, revisiting the assumptions about masks and isolation and distancing and constant hand washing would require the willingness to assimilate and act on new information – something that is clearly lacking in the Mask Covidian cult.
In my experience leaders do not just look at one side of the coin but would consider the medical data from both sides of the equation: specifically, mask-wearing vs. not mask-wearing.
When presented with contradictory evidence, as the above – the most “closed” states are seeing increases in cases, and the most “open” states are seeing decreases in cases – wise people re-examine their conclusions and potentially change their minds. As an engineer, I have long mentored younger engineers in the idea that the single most important trait is the ability to adjust paths when new information comes available
Dr. Fauci has made so many widely and wildly contradictory statements about masks that he truly is on all sides of the issue. The same for his statements on virtually everything else related to this pandemic. Echoing another piece I wrote which has a lot of links as to the physical, health, and psychological damage masks are causing:
First, there are the risks of bacterial pneumonia, e.g., see the paper from the NIH showing that most of the deaths in 1918 came from bacteria, not viruses and that there are growing concerns that mask-wearing is contributing to increased bacterial infections.
Another just-published article carries multiple cautions about plastic and other microfibers/particles shed by these masks and inhaled by young and old alike. What long-term harm is your mask mandate doing to our pulmonary health?
To those who already have lung impairments such as asthma? “But… I meant well. I had good intentions.” We know where that road leads. And while I wish no person ill, if there are long-lasting effects from wearing masks would your continued and unwavering mask mandate put you in the path of medical lawsuits?
If you did not know “the science” but acted on rumor, or if you claimed you knew “the science” but cherry-picked to suit your political needs, could you be liable for the expenses to treat medical damage done to young and old by your unwavering mask mandate?
Intelligent people understand that there are no perfect solutions in life – only trade-offs.
The enemedia occasionally use “some people say”, or “it has been heard that…” and so forth. So, fair warning, tyrant. Some people are saying that they are going to start to disobey you. They claim they will be doing it in the name of “civil disobedience” as a peaceful way of resisting illegitimate restrictions on liberty.
Conversations, as I go about my daily business, have shown that there is a massive distrust in you, the rubber-stamping of your “experts” on the board of health, and increasing beliefs we are being lied to by all levels of government. Just this morning I had a great chat with a woman outside a supermarket as she tore off her mask seconds after getting out the door. I’ve seen this mask – and similar ones – as I go about my business:
As far as the Board of Health, none of the current members are board-certified epidemiological virologists and thus are unqualified to make broad-based declarations on how to handle a pandemic. They do not know “the science,” and any claim to the contrary is a lie. They, too, are making a political calculus, not a health-based one, and I believe you’ve pushed them to that conclusion. “Nice slot on the BoH you have…” kind of thing.
In summary: We no longer believe you. We no longer trust you. And the fact that you cannot even cite clear criteria, either from the Board of Health or other agencies, for dropping the mandate means you have no plans or intentions to restore “normal.” Just yesterday I had a woman covering her face rapidly at my approach and when I asked her what she was doing, she said I need to make sure I was not frightened of her. Yes, there is a pandemic – an artificial pandemic of fear over a virus that is little more than a bad flu with wildly and deliberately overinflated fatality statistics
Coda: An open note to the police: you, as our sheepdogs, for whom I have in general the utmost respect, have the absolute right and moral duty to refuse to accept or follow unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful orders whether from the mayor or governor or even the President, regardless of the subject of the directive. Practice saying this: Sir, I will not obey that order!
The wolves you protect us from are not just the street criminals. There are wolves in city hall. There are wolves all the way up to the White House. Do your duty to protect us from them as well.