by William Skink

Partisan Democrats who believe any conspiracy theory involving Russia (to avoid responsibility for their candidate losing to Trump in 2016) are gleefully writing about sex with demons.

Why, you ask?

Because equating mask skepticism with conspiratorial absurdities creates a guilt by association deterrent for weak-minded people who are more afraid of ridicule than they are of the possibility they are being lied to by their trusted media sources.

From the link:

Montana Republican leaders, who refuse to believe Dr. Anthony Fauci, the physician and immunologist who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since the Reagan Administration, are convinced that the social media giants and globalists who run the world are hiding the truth presented by a doctor named Stella Immanuel, a viral sensation in the right-wing world who claimed that pharmaceutical companies are lying when they say hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective and declared that we don’t need to wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19.

And here is the fun list of crazy this Immanuel apparently subscribes to:

• “gynecological problems, such as endometriosis, cysts and infertility, are caused by individuals having sex with demons and witches in their dreams.”
• reptilians run the government.
• Alien DNA is used in medical treatments.
• researchers are working on a vaccine to turn people away from religion.
  Magic 8 Ball toys are a gateway to witchcraft.

While it’s easy to tar and feather Republicans with this tactic, it’s a little more challenging to extend this guilt-by-association technique to an entire government of a foreign nation, like the Dutch government and it’s decision to NOT advise its citizens to wear masks everywhere:

The decision was announced by Minister for Medical Care Tamara van Ark after a review by the country’s National Institute for Health (RIVM). The government will instead seek better adherence to social distancing rules after a surge in coronavirus cases in the country this week, Van Ark said at a press conference in The Hague.

“Because from a medical perspective there is no proven effectiveness of masks, the Cabinet has decided that there will be no national obligation for wearing non-medical masks” Van Ark said.

The decision bucks the trend as many European countries have made masks mandatory in stores or crowded outdoor areas.

No word on Van Ark’s opinions on the origin of vaginal cysts. And yet somehow the article continues:

RIVM chief Jaap van Dissel said that the organization was aware of studies that show masks help slow the spread of disease but it was not convinced they will help during the current coronavirus outbreak in the Netherlands.

He argued wearing masks incorrectly, together with worse adherence to social distancing rules, could increase the risk of transmitting the disease.

“So we think that if you’re going to use masks (in a public setting) … then you must give good training for it,” he said.

As I go about my daily life in Missoula I see all manner of stupid when it comes to masks. There is also plenty of stupid emanating from the “smart people” on social media.

I saw one tweet claiming only men are dumb enough to not cover their noses with masks, but yesterday (as I was buying ammo) the female clerk at the sporting goods store had her schnoz exposed, and guess what I did to unleash my superior knowledge on her reckless ignorance?

Nothing. I did nothing. The only muffled words that came from my masked face was THANK YOU as she handed me my purchase.

Despite the best efforts of partisans to mock and ridicule anyone who doesn’t mindlessly accept their preferred dictates from their preferred media sources, skepticism about the array of solutions being presented to us is trickling into places like Democracy Now!.

I don’t normally listen to Democracy Now!, but I caught some of this episode on KBGA while driving around. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Amy Goodman use the Republican urge toward deregulation and Big Pharma’s profit motive to exhibit some vaccine skepticism, but the question put to Chomsky was almost totally ignored. Here is the exchange:

AMY GOODMAN: Do people have reason to be afraid, Professor Chomsky, about a vaccine that has been developed, in Trump’s words, the name of the program “Warp Speed”? That in his zeal at deregulation to get a vaccine, which so many people want around the world, that there would be a danger in the original vaccines?

NOAM CHOMSKY: If vaccines are rushed through, there is always a danger. It means that many of the possibilities simply haven’t been tested. That’s what happens when you rush things through. Maybe the balance of costs and benefits says you should do it anyway. But what are we going to do? We are talking about the United states, how to distribute a vaccine. What about Africa? What about Yemen? What about poor areas of Latin America? And what about the huge mass of deeply impoverished people in India? What is going to happen to them? That’s most of the population of the world.

While I haven’t written much about masks, I have been reading and listening to various sources. I can’t say I have any firm conclusions, but I will say this: I won’t be mocked and ridiculed away from my well-founded skepticism when it comes to mask mandates, vaccine safety, and the financial incentive driving Big Pharma.

As my wife and I prepare for whatever school is going to look like, the prospect of my children being forced to wear masks all day has me GREATLY concerned, so I expect I’ll be writing more about this topic in the days and weeks ahead.

What I WON’T be writing about is sex with demons. For that lurid content, you’ll have to read the journalist wannabes at The Montana Post.