Wearing face masks can be helpful in some very specific instances and should remain a personal choice. With that noted, mask mandates must be firmly opposed in government facilities or elsewhere because a free society organized on the basis of the rights and welfare of its citizens should never inflict such an emotionally devastating policy upon its own people under the guise of protecting public health.
Furthermore, the stain of forced masking during the COVID-19 pandemic will forever live on in our memories as an unparalleled and unequivocal moral abomination public or private policy must not continue to endorse. A society or public institution that enforces or tolerates such abuse does not deserve to exist.
The Science and Product Labeling Do Not Support Mask Mandates
Mask mandates seem especially odious and heavy-handed in response to COVID-19 when some valid scientific debate (see here, here and here) still exists as to whether or not masks are actually effective in preventing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is so minuscule it can easily pass through a standard face mask.
It also seems ludicrous for public policy to insist on people wearing cheap earloop masks to prevent the spread of COVID when those masks have on their own packaging a warning that they do “not provide any protection against COVID-19” and its associated SARS-CoV-2 virus. (See image to left.)
Emotional and Physical Harms Resulting From Mask Mandates
Being forced to wear masks can also be physically and emotionally harmful to human health. Some of the very significant harms inflicted on humans by the forced wearing of face masks include:
Masks Cause Physical Discomfort
Wearing masks is extremely uncomfortable to many people, including children, especially those forced to wear them for 7-8 hours or more each day. Additionally, people can experience irritation or infections from face masks, as well as discomfort from the lack of oxygen and the difficulty or straining of routine breathing through face masks that obstruct free airflow. Mask Mandates Amount to Emotional Abuse
Mask mandates leave many people feeling emotionally abused. This is both from the masking being forced upon them despite all the mental and emotional distress it causes – in other words, abuse – and from the constant manipulation and cruelty that is characteristic of self-righteous abusers that results from the implementation and enforcement of mask mandates.
Mask Mandates Cause a Sense of Helplessness
Being at the mercy of the arbitrary and capricious whims of others makes humans feel a sense of helplessness. This is extremely stressful and grueling, and can eventually break a person mentally and emotionally.
Masks Ruin Human Interactions
The quality and nature of social interactions are greatly reduced. Every interaction behind masks is fundamentally different. Interacting in this way can feel sad, despondent, isolating, cold and/or cruel, among other things. This is devastating to the human psyche and also causes intrinsic emotional distress due to having their social/intellectual/mental development compromised as a result.
Masks Increase the Stress and Difficulty of Communicating
The frustration that comes from difficulty communicating is underappreciated and tends to leave people feeling annoyed, frustrated and stressed. Humans have a great need for functional and efficient communication and are harmed by this because they feel that they cannot learn from or communicate with others.
Masks Change Your Personality Over Time
Face masks are a radical and unnatural impingement on normal physical, mental and emotional functioning among humans. Over time, this can change your personality – such as making you less social, less outgoing, more suspicious, decreased tendency or desire to be kind, and so on. Mask Mandates Turn Some People Into Abusive Tyrants
Mask mandates have turned a subset of people into cruel and vicious individuals who abuse people they have power over. These might include teachers, security guards and other over-zealous individuals who incoherently screech at the sight of an unmasked person anywhere on the horizon.
Mask Mandates Give People the Feeling That Others Matter More Than They Do
The idea that “I don't matter” is a distinct form of distress in addition to demonstrating a lack of fairness in society that is amplified considerably when “other people matter” more. This is what people who are systematically disregarded tend to feel, and it is very painful. This is definitely not the sort of lesson a government agency should want its constituents to get.
Mask Mandates Result in Distress From Constant Harassment
Mask mandates are a constant intrusion into people’s personal lives that leaves them feeling exasperated and making comments like “just leave me alone already” or “just let me live in peace”. It is a basic human need to not be constantly harassed by others. Children are also very stressed from the “evil mask compliance enforcer teacher” constantly haranguing them to keep their masks on at school.
Mask Wearing Saps the Joy From a Variety of Activities
Being forced to wear a stifling mask and not being able to show or see the facial expressions of other humans has a tendency to reduce the enjoyment that people derive from various social activities.
Mask Mandates Cause People to Live In Perpetual Stress From Social Enforcers
Inevitably, people opposed to mask mandates will not be particularly zealous about following them strictly, whether it be letting their mask slide down their face, taking it off for a few minutes here and there to breathe, or just munching on snacks. These people suffer under mask mandates from the baseline stress of constantly having to be alert for the “mask police”, whether they are actual police or just really annoying individuals or teachers who have been known to scream at unmasked people like unhinged maniacs.
Mask Mandates Cause the Trauma of Public Humiliation
The “mask police” are often extremely zealous – despite a lack of any overwhelming scientific basis for the efficacy of masks against the spread of a minuscule virus that can easily penetrate them. A person who won't or can’t adhere to the inhumane mask requirements getting verbally or even physically abused in public is now sadly a common occurrence. Public humiliation can be a traumatic experience, especially for little children who can internalize very negative ideas about themselves as a result.
Sign the Medical Freedom Petition to Oppose Mask Mandates in Lake County
If you are concerned about the County of Lake imposing unethical, pointless and potentially harmful mask mandates in response to COVID-19, then please take a moment to sign this important Medical Freedom petition and share it widely on Social Media now to take a clear stand for medical freedom in Lake County.
Excellent article, Julia - masks are much more harmful than people realize, and they are used to dehumanize us and make us susceptible not only to tyrannical laws and regulations, but to the loss of bodily autonomy. A mask is actually a medical device, and the government has no right to force us to use an unwanted medical device.