on masks

WHIDBEY ISLAND, Washington - It is, I guess, an open issue whether I'm crazy, or the maskers are crazy. I'm of the thought that masking of the public clearly doesn't help; this comes from all the literature around masking and influenza prior to 2020, and all the results from around the world in 2020, the complete failure to do anything about the trajectory of the virus, anywhere. I won't recapitulate the evidence in more detail here.

All I see behind the masking is do-something-ism, fear, lusts for control and eagerness for compliance and conformity.

I'm not willing to wear the masks, to go along to get along. I wore a clear visor a bit in the early months of the mask mandate, but I've now abandoned it. Haven't worn a mask of any sort in 3-4 months. I drove across the country for the holidays, largely to avoid wearing a mask for a few hours to fly. I do curbside pickup of groceries, etc.

The masking of everyone was getting to me, to the point where I was having dark thoughts, I mean really dark thoughts. I know I'm just supposed to be strong and let the lunacy around me bounce off me, but I was failing. I walk down wide open waterfront paths, or nearly deserted forest trails, and 90% of the people are either already wearing a mask, or pull it over their face as I approach, as if one or both of us are horrible bioweapons.

I moved in July, and I've not see the face of anyone I interact with on a regular basis. Not a barista, not a curbside attendant, no one.

Since I won't put on a mask, I've not been anywhere indoors except my own house for months, with the exception of the holiday road trip.

This isn't healthy for me. Part of me just wants to cave, so I can do crazy things like walk into a store, but that's exactly what the coercive establishment wants. I'm really shocked there isn't more widespread resistance. The businesses don't want trouble from the clucking 5% of masking extremists, or from health inspectors.

I've perked up a bit from a few months ago, hopefully I stay on that track. If I had a month or two more of flexibility this spring, I would have moved to a state with less arduous masking, a place where I visited on my road trip and had the simple pleasure of sitting in a coffee shop, of having smiling staff greet me. But I'm here for the duration and have to show some patience.