The freest
The Attorney-General of Missouri. That’s right, not some random goon on Twitter, not that twitchy guy on the bus, not even a Fox News Personality, but the top law person in Missouri.
I see that claim from the other wackaloons – it’s not about the virus, it’s about control!!
Really. Why? To what end? How do you know? Why now? Why not two years ago? What would convince you you’re wrong? Why do you think the CDC and state/national officials should let the virus cut a swathe through the population and then turn around and cut another until we’re all gone?
What kind of control is it to get people to put masks on? Where’s the profit? What’s the next step to get the cunning plan to pay off? Ok you have 300 million people or so in masks; now what?
Is the idea that it’s training us all to obey mindlessly?
But that’s stupid. Putting masks on doesn’t mean our next step will be to obey a command to arrest all the Republicans or set fire to all the banks or kill all the Jews. It doesn’t mean anything except that we want to avoid spreading a lethal disease.
I know; it doesn’t matter; the already crazy will believe the crazy no matter how stupid it is. I still need to point out the crazy.
And there is always crazy to point out. You’d think they’d run out.
The factories must be going 24/7/365.
I’ve found myself mystified by this lately… I mean, I’m academic faculty, and we can certainly “you’re not the boss of me!” with the best of ‘em (yes I’m using that phrase as a verb, you can’t tell me not to! ;-) ) But this is just weird… there just isn’t (as you point out) any capacity for malicious intent here. I mean, the goal can’t even be unthinking obedience because clear, evidenced explanations for the decisions are provided for analysis (and they’re a hell of a lot more than “wear a mask because we say so!”), and are based on protecting the populace from a virus, not some mysterious force or demonized “other”. Rebels without a cause?
If the vaccine-evading variant evolves in the US (the single country in the world that has not faced vaccine scarcity in 2021), can the rest of us sue you for damages in an American court? That would seem fair.
ibbica,
Yes, I think it’s “rebels without a cause,” or more specifically, “rebels without rebellion.” It’s about posing as rebellious without actually sacrificing anything — these people just don’t want to wear masks because they have lousy risk assessment and/or are big babies about it, but they want to dress it up as being an act of bold individual defiance.
The sheeple are not the ones getting vaccinated and wearing masks. The sheeple are the ones who are desperately trying not to be sheeple, and failing. Aspiring conspiracy theorists are leading these people by the nose, by telling them how outraged they should be at being led by the nose. The sheeple are being sold ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’ at the expense of their abilities to make their own judgements and choose for themselves. It’s an unsophisticated con game, and the con men will leverage the sheeple’s political alignment whenever possible.
I have encountered these anti-mask and anti-vaccine arguments from more than a few people, and I tell them I have the freedom to get vaccinated and wear a mask if I choose also, and am fortunate to have the option. (What I don’t tell them is that freedom to use bad judgement or to be fooled by soapbox idiots is also freedom.) Baa :P
twiliter,
It never ceases to amaze me how selective conspiracy theorists are about applying their beloved principle of “cui bono?”
“Pharmaceuticals are not to be trusted because Big Pharma makes money off them, but I’m totally gonna buy whatever unregulated supplements Alex Jones or whoever is hawking.”
“The government and mainstream news media want you to wear masks because [convoluted chain of reasoning as to how this benefits the Shadowy Cabal,] but Shouty Guy can be trusted, because he has no financial agenda. You should totally subscribe to his podcast, just $20/month, and buy some merch on his site!”
Screechy, yes, no kidding. Experts like Fauci and the CDC are vilified by the likes of know-nothing talking heads like Cruz and Carlson. Suckers who buy into that crap could also benefit from caveat emptor.