Last year my wife and I were attacked in anAshland grocery store by a stranger who was furious that we weren’t wearingmasks outside, even though it was not mandated then, we were social distanced, and a breeze was dissipating any potential viruses floating around. He screamed obscenities at us, stalked us from aisle to aisle, and filed a complaint with customer service. I wrote to the store, hoping they might forward him my letter of apology.
Here’s what’s fueling our conflict: the official advice we’regiven is confusing. Remember when Dr. Fauci said masks weren’t required, then changed his mind? And this early glitch didn’t help: “The WHOcreated confusion yesterday (June 2020) when it reported that asymptomatic patients rarely spread the disease,” an email from the Harvard Global Health Institute said Tuesday. “All of the best evidence suggests that people without symptoms can and do readily spread SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.”
I just read a Reuters fact checkingpost referencing a widely circulated CDC report that proved only minor protection from masks against Covid infection. From the CDC report: “It is true that 85% of people in the study who tested positive for the coronavirus were reported to have worn a mask always or often. It is also true that mask-wearing levels were reportedly high (88.7%) among people who did not catch the virus.” Does that make any sense to you? Me neither.
Confused by experts arguing with each other, we tend to over-react in fear and do irrational things, like wearing masks when we’re driving alone or while hiking in the wilderness. Or forcing school children to wear masks when they run races, which resulted in one young girl collapsing of oxygen deprivation. And why do the same experts scornfully reject even proven methods for strengthening the immune system to fight colds and the flu, like taking more Vitamin D? No wonder conspiracy theories develop!
The CDC just announced that fully vaccinated individuals can safely remove their masks, prompting a tsunami of relief and more confusion. As numerous commentators have warned, what’s stopping the non-vaccinated from removing their masks? Are businesses really supposed to become vaccine policemen?
An unverified report outof the U.K. quoted some politician proposing the death penalty for those who refused the vaccine. Seriously? A hypnotic spell of fear seems to be gripping the whole world, turning it into a madhouse and turning neighbors against each other.
Did no parents questionthe obvious insanity of their children running with masks on? Are there no mainstream virologists concerned enough to verify or disprove a recent study that concluded “… falsepositives occur in PCR tests for COVID-19 often enough to be a significant problem.” Instead, we get a daily barrage of suspiciously similar talking points from big media celebrities paid by corporations with huge profits to be made. Remember, propaganda was the primary weapon in Hitler’s Germany. Some things don’t change, they just become more effective.
Perhaps we’re beginningt o understand how Hitler and his henchmen managed to brainwash millions of decent citizens to spy on their friends and blind themselves to genocide. I was just 13 when my father and I visited Mathausen, once a concentration camp in Austria, then a museum. We stood in a gas chamber and we saw the ovens, with two sizes of trays, one for adults and one for children. I still weep when I remember.
“It can’t happen here,”Frank Zappa sang in 1966. I wonder. “Show me your papers” was the Nazi refrain.How different is that from demanding proof of vaccination? Jews were likewise accused of being infected, a threat to the good people.
So, let’s be nice to each other. After all, we live here in this beautiful valley, and we have a local newspaper willing to print something like this (they just did) that promotes free speech and raises valid questions, rather than stoking more fear. Please, let them know you appreciate it. And no matter what’s happening around us, let’s find ways to live in peace within ourselves and respect each other, excluding no-one. Let’s take our peaceful stand while we still can.
It's the healthy thing to do.
