Opposing view: ‘We do not consent to a masked America’
It is clear to me as a physician-lawyer that the disinformation about both COVID-19 and the Constitution has caused us to turn a medical issue into a legal crisis.
The scientific usefulness of a mask has been so aggressively overstated, and the foundational importance of the Constitution has been so aggressively understated, that we have people screaming obscenities at each other while hiking.
Expecting bandannas to stop the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus is a con of massive proportion. After all, size matters.
The pore size of cloth face coverings ranges from about 20 microns to 100 microns. The COVID virus is far smaller than that, at 0.1 microns. Putting up a chain link fence will not keep out a mosquito. Even the most esteemed medical journals admit that greatest contribution of masking protocols might be to reduce the transmission of anxiety.
Of course, by knowledge or common sense observation, most Americans already know that masking everyone is superstition. But unlike privately carrying a lucky charm, mandating facial coverings requires the consent of the governed.
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Many cultures mandate clothing that appears totally irrational to outsiders. Never have those cultures pretended that there is a scientific basis for their clothing requirement. Their leaders rule, and their citizens accept, that their choice of clothing is due to religious or cultural preference.
Not wearing a mask is not mere “personal choice” like deciding whether to wear a T-shirt. It is a flashpoint for being a free human being who has consented to be governed but has not consented to be ruled. We do not consent to a masked America, because that is a fundamental change in American society, culture, norms and rights.
People who are apathetic toward their own liberty cannot eliminate Constitutional rights for those who are not. This is not the first (or last) time that people who believe in superstition are screaming the loudest. The Constitution exists precisely to protect all people during times of mass hysteria.
The mask has become a flash point to Americans determined to preserve individual freedom. Thus far most Americans have continued to give their consent to be governed. But you are trying our patience.
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