To Tex’s point, we actually have a developed ideological analysis of that from our encounters with Islam. The hijab may well be liberating, insofar as it is chosen and not forced. Perhaps even the niqab; less the burqa.
However oppressive they may or may not be, though, this one is surely mostly ineffective; I notice a crease that indicates a sizable gap preventing it from doing much more than signal virtue.
Yes, I wear biker boots and a big beard to the same effect. Well, usually. A surprising number of women really like the beard and start conversations with me by praising it.
Having children who grew up under actual oppression in Romania, I disagree. What the Australians are doing, requiring people to stay home, comes closer, perhaps. Whether people have good reasons or bad for wearing them voluntarily, they are still nothing worse than an inconvenience.
As for effectiveness, Quillette noted at least one study that showed 100% correct compliance with masks resulted in 24% reduction in cases, which aint nothin'. The problem is that the number drops off rapidly with improper wearing or less than 100% compliance. Similar to condoms in that way. But that's not the fault of masking, but of usage.
I wouldn't support mandatory condom laws, either. Granting that oppression is a spectrum and that deadly oppression is worse than non-deadly oppression, imposing mask mandates on an unwilling population, particularly in the face of at least ambiguous data on effectiveness, can easily qualify as oppression under a reasonable definition of the word.
The data on the effectiveness of vaccines is impressive, but still insufficient to justify a mandate. The data on the effectiveness of masks is not impressive. The more it looks like theater whose main purpose is to signal obedience, the closer it gets to oppression.
I support the right of people to wear masks, just not their right to require others to do so.
Having children who grew up under actual oppression in Romania....
We don't live in Romania; we live in the United States. For us, this is oppression, and it's an early slip down the razorblade banister to Romanian-scale oppression.
Agreed. There's no point in waiting until it gets as bad as a place like Romania before calling it what it is. It's a direction, and a warning sign, one we'd do well to heed before it becomes nearly impossible to resist.
At this point, the most important thing may be to push back on the notion that the government is fit to mandate anything.
That said, here's an article recommended by a cousin of mine who is a medical professional, from a top VA guy who recommends masks as well as vaccines. I'm not planning on adopting this advice to wear masks, but I also live in a very rural and non-dense area. If you live in a city and take the bus or the train, you might choose to do otherwise.
17 comments:
Masks are not oppression.
To Tex’s point, we actually have a developed ideological analysis of that from our encounters with Islam. The hijab may well be liberating, insofar as it is chosen and not forced. Perhaps even the niqab; less the burqa.
However oppressive they may or may not be, though, this one is surely mostly ineffective; I notice a crease that indicates a sizable gap preventing it from doing much more than signal virtue.
I sometimes don such a mask, not to signal virtue, but to signal "I don't want to talk about masks (or anything else) with you."
It generally works.
Cousin Eddie
Yes, I wear biker boots and a big beard to the same effect. Well, usually. A surprising number of women really like the beard and start conversations with me by praising it.
If she's on public transportation, then the book is far more of a statement than the mask is. (Federal requirement to mask on buses, et al.)
LittleRed1
I obscure some of my best features--the chin dimple in particular-- when I wear a full beard, or a mask.
The price of privacy.
You know, now that you mention it I have a cleft chin I haven’t seen since 2011.
Masks can be oppression.
Having children who grew up under actual oppression in Romania, I disagree. What the Australians are doing, requiring people to stay home, comes closer, perhaps. Whether people have good reasons or bad for wearing them voluntarily, they are still nothing worse than an inconvenience.
As for effectiveness, Quillette noted at least one study that showed 100% correct compliance with masks resulted in 24% reduction in cases, which aint nothin'. The problem is that the number drops off rapidly with improper wearing or less than 100% compliance. Similar to condoms in that way. But that's not the fault of masking, but of usage.
I wouldn't support mandatory condom laws, either. Granting that oppression is a spectrum and that deadly oppression is worse than non-deadly oppression, imposing mask mandates on an unwilling population, particularly in the face of at least ambiguous data on effectiveness, can easily qualify as oppression under a reasonable definition of the word.
The data on the effectiveness of vaccines is impressive, but still insufficient to justify a mandate. The data on the effectiveness of masks is not impressive. The more it looks like theater whose main purpose is to signal obedience, the closer it gets to oppression.
I support the right of people to wear masks, just not their right to require others to do so.
Free the Cleft! My beard, though not very thick, manages also to be hot, and I'm sweaty enough already.
Any testing on WET masks?
Having children who grew up under actual oppression in Romania....
We don't live in Romania; we live in the United States. For us, this is oppression, and it's an early slip down the razorblade banister to Romanian-scale oppression.
Eric Hines
Agreed. There's no point in waiting until it gets as bad as a place like Romania before calling it what it is. It's a direction, and a warning sign, one we'd do well to heed before it becomes nearly impossible to resist.
At this point, the most important thing may be to push back on the notion that the government is fit to mandate anything.
That said, here's an article recommended by a cousin of mine who is a medical professional, from a top VA guy who recommends masks as well as vaccines. I'm not planning on adopting this advice to wear masks, but I also live in a very rural and non-dense area. If you live in a city and take the bus or the train, you might choose to do otherwise.
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/08/10/what-we-now-know-about-how-to-fight-the-delta-variant-of-covid-column/
"Free the Cleft!"
Nah, I think I'll keep the beard. I've been growing it for about ten years now, and the wife likes it.
The clef is free to clothe itself with beard.
Thus, the clef already is freed.
Eric Hines
That's very zen, Eric Hines.
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