25 Comments

I'll say it over and over again... It has never been about science, because all scientific references tell us that masks do not work. But it cannot be about "respect" either. If I really believed that I can give you COVID, then it may be a sign of respect to wear a mask, in an attempt (however futile) to avoid it. But the fact is that no one - unless they are sick - has any significant risk of transmitting this virus to others by just walking around without a mask. So, wearing a mask is not about "respect"; it is just about having been duped into believing something ridiculous.

Expand full comment

Agree. But let me try to steelman the position of bat shit crazy folks who worry and wear masks and the respect comment. Here goes:

---

I watch MSNBC and CNN. I believe what they say as I'm more of a *feeler,* and don't like Shapiros 'my facts don't care about your feelings.' I bought into the mask wearing as both a useful tool to protect me, and also a signal to others that I was one of the good ones.

I bought in so much, that now when the CDC and the Pres et al - the cathedral - comes out and says we don't need masks, that I'm left adrift. Masks were my passie blanket. I was already neurotic, and covid pushed me to my extremes.

So in that light, Mayor Pete is talking to me - about respecting my paranoia, my craziness.

---

This audience that Mayor Pete is talking to is large - double digit % of the adult US population. "Othering" them doesn't go too far to move them into being less bat shit crazy.

Expand full comment

This basically sums up my trip over Memorial Day: the bluer the area, MA and CT specifically on my way up to Maine, the more compulsive the masking. You could spot the long distance travelers at the CT rest areas by their dumbfounded looks on their bare faces! Crossing into NH, it even seemed like normalcy where store employees weren't masked anymore either. I just avoided the few beachfront shops that still had "please wear a mask" signs. Kind of sucks being back on Long Island today, near 100% compliance despite all the masking signs coming down over the weekend.

Expand full comment

I'm more interested in CNN - Tapper and his producers - asking real (ish) questions. Tapper wasn't going rogue in asking these questions. As I'm not a mind reader, I'm left wondering if this move is as:

1. CNN can see their viewership plummet - for their target demo even. Is this part of a strategic move to attempt to claw back credibility?

2. Trump is now 6 months in the rear mirror. The attention span of Americans is short. Is CNNs assessment that it's now ok to question Team Blue, however politely?

Expand full comment

It’s behavioural science. If everyone uses mask, everyone remembers all the time about the pandemia.

I

Expand full comment

The mask mandate is still in effect in Pennsylvania for the "unvaccinated". About a week ago, they told us that the mandate would be lifted on June 28 or when 70% of the adult population was "fully vaccinated"...whichever came first. The leftist loonies went crazy. What if 70% haven't have gotten the injections by that date? Oh, no. Over the weekend, they dropped "whichever comes first". I'm not sure if that's meaningful.

But, now I'm in a quandary when I go into a building. Do I defiantly go maskless because masks are useless? Or do I defiantly wear the mask as a protest against the injection coercion?

I don't want my lack of mask to be interpreted as an endorsement fo the poison injections and socially coerce others who are wearing masks.

So, for the time being, I guess I'll wear the mask.

Expand full comment

Is Pete still riding his bike to work? Is he wearing a mask while doing so? How much does this joker get paid to be a moron?

Expand full comment
author

Just a check: Cheryl - did you know that he faked his riding, when you posted your comment? Doing some anecdotal checking on how much reach him getting caught had.

Expand full comment

Yes I did and it was meant to be read sarcastically...

Expand full comment

My point exactly...yes it was. Hence the "moron" comment.

Expand full comment

he was a moron for riding outside with a mask on - there was zero evidence it helped, and more that it didn't.

But then by faking his riding, he became a fake moron.

It'd be great to be a fly on the wall to his decision to do this. Was it his, and everyone around him went along? His handlers or husband and HE went along?

Expand full comment

My take is Pete is *very* intelligent, and will continue to rise in power with Team Blue. The 'cathedral' - as the libertarians call it - know that they have the corp press on their side, as the press no longer challenge authority. They're solely stenographers of the 1% and the IC.

What's surprising is that as intelligent as he is, he still got 'caught' doing the performance art of having his protectors drop him off within riding distance of his office, so he could be seen riding his bike in, while masked.

I'd bet that 50% of the US population *never* heard that 'getting dropped off' story. Outliers like this substack will, hopefully grow in reach. Just saw that Crystal and Saagar went out on their own, so hopefully an independent eco-system, independent of the cathedral, will grow.

Expand full comment
author

from what i have heard, he's not intelligent, he's stage managed and coddled.

he's a mascot, not a leader.

if he faced real questions from real reporters on any sort of regular basis, i suspect we'd rapidly see just how true this is.

Expand full comment

I knew of this. I commuted for years. No one rides in that get-up for any distance.

Expand full comment

Oh, yes, here's a clip of Li'l Pete getting out of his SUV with his security detail handing him a bike so he can ride it in the last 100 years to the office so it looks like he rides the thing. This is the post-truth world we live in. https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/02/clown-show-pete-buttigieg-bikes-to-work-after-suvs-drive-him-part-of-the-way/

Expand full comment

My wearing a mask in your presence, even though I don't want to and even though there is no logical, scientific reason, is my way of saying, "I respect your right to be a frightened, irrational germaphobe."

Expand full comment

Ah the same Pete who could barely manage to fill in the potholes while he ran the booming metropolis of South Bend, which as everyone knows is the best form of training to become the secretary of transportation! Wake me up when this bad dream ends! Pete B is a virtue signaller without par, and gives

Me a bit of a Justin Trudeau vibe. Speaking of whom just sprained his ankle playing frisbee! Yup these are our leaders. We should be very afraid

Expand full comment

I'm just a kitten when it comes to Substack, so I can't figure out how to email you directly. Please forgive me for a comment that's not related to this post:

I saw this on the front page of Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/npna39/no_going_back_to_normal_43000_us_kids_lost_a/

I was wondering if you could explain it/put it in the proper context? Because all I see in the comments is hysteria.

Expand full comment

The issue is: Do you want the people who don't wear a mask to get a tatoo or wear their vaccine card around their neck to show they have been vaccinated? Otherwise many folks will simply claim they have been vaccinated when they haven't. I understand those cloth masks are useless but few people understand that. The solution to the problem would be to get the CDC to admit all that mask wearing was cosplay, but that isn't going to happen, so the eventual solution is for them to say you don't have to wear a mask. However, in Florida, Gov. DeSantis already did that, but left it up to individual businesses whether to allow unmasked customers. In my experience only about 10% allow the unmasked, and for those, almost all the customers still wear them, still pulled down below their nose and often below their mouths.

Expand full comment

Who cares if the unvaccinated go unmasked? The vaccinated are protected, masks have never worked & asymptomatic spread doesn’t exist. We don’t need to divide humankind into separate classes.

Expand full comment

Anyone not vaccinated yet has weighed the risks and are willing to take their risk with the virus. Those who are vaccinated are now as safe as they will ever be. The at-risk who can’t be vaccinated need to protect themselves, from all pathogens (not just covid). So we are all copacetic at this point. No regulations needed.

Expand full comment

In exactly zero states have we seen a spike after lifting mask mandates. This is because they don't do anything to slow the virus and never did. It's WAY more likely that the entire "masks work" lie was told to get people out from their homes and back into the economy last summer.

Here in WA anybody can lie about being vaxxed and go mask free. Yet the world isn't collapsing.

Expand full comment

that peat...

mask science flimsiness is far behind the mirage that wuhan lockdown worked and is model for places that do not [yet, seems ontario is pursuing] have the pla to weld doors shut.....

peat less dot sec than liz dole with the office lap dog

Expand full comment