Brace yourself.
“Sir, you have to wear a mask.”
How many times have you heard it? How many times has it sent chills down your spine? How many times have you just gone along with it, because you needed groceries, because you had an appointment, or because it just wasn’t worth the hassle of saying no? How many times have you really reflected on the implications of masking?
Early in the pandemic, when the government was telling everyone they had to cover their face, stifle their speech, and restrict their breathing if they wanted to participate in public life, I bristled at the notion. I looked into the masks. Masks don’t work. I made a presentation that showed that it’s mathematically impossible for masks to work. I pointed to the CDC, the NIH, the WHO, and decades of blue ribbon scientific studies that had proven, repeatedly, that masks do not stop viruses from spreading.
Masks are worthless. Masks are harmful. I will not be wearing a mask. Period.
Personally, I chose to disconnect from any place / anyone who attempted to force a mask on my face. I adamantly refused, and I was vocal about it:
“NO. I will NOT wear a mask. I WON’T cover my face. And NO, I sure as hell don’t HAVE to, especially just because you tell me to. Who the hell are you? If you think I HAVE to wear a mask, come on over and try to put one on me. The second you touch me, I have every right to annihilate you in self-defense.”
Having had that conversation countless times, it was always surprising to me how many people thought I was crazy. What’s the big deal? Just mask up! Come on dude, do your part. Can’t you read the sign? And my favorite: Is this really the hill you want to die on? The answer was yes, it was a hill I was willing to die on. I would rather live out in the woods, scraping by a self-subsistence lifestyle, breathing as a free human being, than be masked up, locked down, and treated like a lab rat and slave.
But I’m a little crazy like that. I get it.
I’m not normal, but here’s the thing: I’m right.
Nobody has the right to cover your face. Nobody has the authority to restrict your breathing, to steal your smile, to stifle your expression, or violate you in this way.
NOBODY. Not the state. Not the CDC. Not the police. Nobody. Not ever.
And yet, every time people complied with the demands of all the local petty tyrants, they condoned this tyranny, they propagated the lie, and they enshrined the assumption that someone has the “authority” to force a mask on everyone’s face. And, since the vast majority of people seemed to believe this lie—that someone has the authority to demand they mask up—government officials naturally continued to assume that this authoritarian impulse was somehow justified, for the sake of public health and safety, for the sake of the greater good.
Thus, the precedent has been set.
Now, anytime, for any reason that can even remotely be linked to public health and safety, the government assumes they have the authority to make you mask up.
They don’t, just to be perfectly clear, but the problem is they assume that they do.
And quite unfortunately, the majority of people assume they do too.
Here’s the reason I’m bringing this up:
There are a few things I want to point out here:
NYC officials “recommend” face masks. They strongly suggest people mask back up. They’re giving the masks out for free and people are being “urged” to use them. You see, it’s not a demand, per se, it’s just high-pressure social conditioning.
However, in an epic slip that will likely be redacted, the New York Times accidentally let the cat out of the bag and reported that the masks ultimately fail against smoke particles—which is why it’s best to stay inside, according to them.
Regardless of the actual science, or the laws of physics, people are going to happily comply, put on their worthless face mask, and believe that it’s keeping them “safe” from whatever invisible enemy happens to be threatening them at the moment, whether it a virus or other “airborne pollutant.”
Now, to be fair, I understand that masks do filter out some of the particles in super smoky, smoggy, or polluted air—and keeping some of the particles out of your lungs is better than keeping none of them out, in theory. That said, this logic doesn’t hold for viruses, which are much smaller than smoke particles. Regardless, the point I want to emphasize is the social conditioning and the public’s acceptance of the state’s supposed authority to impose mask mandates for whatever reason.
For me, it’s the principle of the matter. In the rawest sense, I would rather die than comply. I would fight to the death to breathe freely as a free human being. I might put on a mask, in some situations for whatever reason, but it would always be a matter of choice—as in, I chose to put on a mask, but certainly not because someone was trying to forcefully cover my face. Does that make sense? Am I out on a limb here?
No doubt you’ve heard it said:
Isn’t that an interesting thought?
When someone is willing to give up their freedom for the sake of safety, they actually deserve neither. Why do you think that is? The first answer that comes to mind is that these people—those who forfeit freedom for the illusion of safety—are idiots, but it’s really not that simple. Most people want to be safe more than they want to be free.
This is human nature. Safety is linked with survival, which taps into deep, primal, primitive instinct. Freedom on the other hand, is more nebulous. Strictly speaking, freedom is not necessary for survival—at least not for the majority of the population. That said, freedom does exist as an innate aspect of our human nature, and it manifests prolifically in the natural world. Freedom is our natural state, but most people have no concept of how powerful this truth actually is.
We are born free.
But whether we live free—or live as slaves to the state—is a matter of CHOICE.
If it’s not obvious, I’m talking in absolutes and ideals here, and I fully acknowledge that life is lived in the grey area. Nevertheless, this is my mindset, and I believe this was the mindset of Thomas Jefferson when he penned the Declaration of Independence. I believe this was the mindset of the founding fathers as they framed the Constitution—and, I believe this is the proper mindset for all of the proud patriots who continue to embody the American Spirit today.
Hence the battle cry to “Live free or die!” and “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Sadly, those words do not resonate with people like they used to.
But let’s get practical.
More and more people are going to continue to forfeit their freedom for the illusion of safety, precisely because they have been conditioned to do so. This is what the transformation of human consciousness is all about—it’s about subtly but steadily shifting people’s beliefs and perspectives until they no longer realize that they’re free.
It’s domestication. It’s husbandry. It’s despicable. But it’s working.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has just proposed a new constitutional amendment to ban so-called “assault rifles” and declared that these “common sense gun safety measures” are supported by the majority of Americans, left, right, or in the middle. Is he right? Do you think most Americans support these so-called “safety measures”?
Probably.
Of course, Newsom is referring to the majority of the population—who happen to live in the big blue metro areas—NOT the majority of the country, who are bitterly clinging to their guns and Bibles and dead set on maintaining their barbaric and antiquated beliefs, such as the right to self-defense. For the Left, that’s the beauty of democracy: it allows the ignorant masses to rule over and impose their will upon the minority. That’s also why we’re not a democracy. We don’t want mob rule.
We want mutual respect.
We want life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We want to live free and be left alone. We want to rest at the end of the day knowing that all of those who have fought and died to protect and preserve our freedoms have not done so in vain. We want to know that our children and grandchildren will enjoy the blessings of liberty as well.
We want these things, but do we want them more than safety? Do we want freedom more than we want comfort? Do we want liberty more than we want leisure?
Where’s your line? What hill are you willing to fight and die on? For what cause, for what principle, for what reason might you be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?
I only ask because I believe the day we each must decide may quickly be upon us.
Tyrants will do what tyrants do and stupid is as stupid does—as for the rest of us:
Resist we must!
PS: Don’t forget, now it’s easy to catch up on previous episodes by listening to The Torch Report on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple iTunes —enjoy!
TR 382 - Stupid is as Stupid Does