I know and work with many people who act and perhaps truly believe that we live in some dystopian science fiction story wherein there are cooties in the air and we all have to wear masks in order to survive.
I traveled for a month this past summer. 7 states, 30 days, 4600 miles. Everywhere I went I encountered people going about their normal lives. A few people here and there wore masks, and they weren't harassed or chastised for doing so. In some states, it seems like the philosophy is "you do you". I wore one once in 30 days, when I rode "public transit"--the gondola to the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque is considered public transit. A couple thousand of us gathered at the convention center in Rapid City and almost no one wore masks, and somehow we survived.
This feverish nightmare that the maskers imagine is a strange one indeed. The virus is politically attuned, which is why Barack Obama's birthday party and Chicago's Lollapalooza and Gavin Newsom's fundraising and massive riots in the streets don't spread the virus but "Trump rallies" and the Sturgis motorcycle rally do.
Or do they?
I've seen no evidence that any rally by President Trump caused an uptick in cootie cases, and here's some data showing that Sturgis didn't, either:
Two weeks after the gathering with more than a half-million attendees concluded, fewer than 200 cases have been attributed to the event.
The Associated Press still breathlessly reported Sunday that “nearly 4,000 people have been newly diagnosed with COVID-19 in the state,” but later noted that “a South Dakota Department of Health spokesman declined to link the Sturgis rally to the rising virus surge, noting only 39 COVID-19 cases directly attributed to the rally.”That such a small number of statewide cases came from Sturgis is a miracle and should have been the headline.
Why do some people choose to live in an apocalyptic nightmare?
ReplyDeleteBecause they relish the opportunity to control others. The following quote from C.S. Lewis comes to mind:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
Middle school math teacher outsmarts educated public health experts yet again, I see.
ReplyDeleteWhere in this post is there a middle school teacher?
ReplyDeleteWhen the facts contradict your expectations, believe the facts. You, however, choose to live in an apocalyptic nightmare. Do not expect me to congratulate you on this.
39 cases (at least in SD; other state officials have computed higher numbers for residents from other states who attended the rally): And remember, there's also secondary and tertiary spread.
ReplyDeleteThere was only one case initially linked to a bat in Wuhan but it led to millions of deaths.
A bat?
ReplyDeleteYour idiocy is willful.