28 November 2021
Any three non-exclusive descriptions can easily be expressed as a Venn Diagram, with singular lobes all around, intersections between, and all at the center.
It has been clear to many, long before the advent of Wuhan Flu™ (“hallowed be its name”), that the fat and the frail are much more susceptible to respiratory distress than the rest of us. Influenzae, Coronae, and Rhino viruses have been killing the elderly and the sick and the obese in much greater proportions than everybody else for centuries. “Virus gonna virus” means that new strains will claim new victims. As they mutate, they’ll become more transmissible and less lethal. Otherwise, they would extinguish themselves, which is a poor business model for any predator.
People generally know their own interests best, so I’m disinclined to confront them over their personal precautions. Even if I doubt their motives or reasoning, we should still be able to peacefully coexist. If a private merchant insists that I muzzle up before entering his shop, I will either comply (if I want what’s inside enough), or I will move on. When a privileged insider who remains open while his smaller competitors are padlocked by the state makes the same “request” I am less sympathetic. I have to both breathe AND eat, so I will cheerfully endure the stink-eye and hectoring as I shop. If ChowMart™ or JohnBoy’s™ want to throw me out, they’re going to have to tell me personally, or maybe even threaten me with violence. Again, I have to eat. But that’s just me. You do you all you want.
For me, a face mask outside of the ICU or surgical theatre makes as much sense as casual swimwear. They are often just sectarian vestments, so I’d rather not. And if I can get away with it, I won’t. But sometimes the penalties for non-compliance are too dire, so I’ll wear pants at some beaches, and masks in some shops or homes.
I am less sanguine about the sacraments and sacrifices of this new faith. I’ll pass on the alleged “vaccines” partly for the same reason that my old chum stays away from LSD or Quaaludes while still enjoying weed or booze. Some things have passed the tests of generations, and some things are a little too new for our comfort levels. I am horrified by the gerontocratic insistence that babies and toddlers be jabbed or muzzled for the sake of their grandparents. If Granny is in precarious enough shape, then we’ll cheerfully muzzle up in her presence. We love her. Otherwise, we’re going to play in the sun and the dirt, just as we have for millennia. Children (other than the fat and the frail) are generally the most durable of us, so subjecting them to dangerous experimental injections constitutes child sacrifice. Moloch seems to be back with a vengeance. Maybe it’s time to crush Canaan again. Paging Joshua…
update 211201 — Cultish Comparisons
I’ll clarify for the eagerly aggrieved. Some people have very good reasons for masking up or accepting an injection that mitigates their risk. Their behavior may be neither cultish nor irrational, but prudently cautious. I would not presume to know their motives, so I’m satisfied to let them be.
Some other people who decline these precautions are much too eager to presume motives of sheepish compliance and to excoriate those whom they consider to be “Branch Covidians.” I wish they wouldn’t. First, because we’re not living each others’ lives so, in general, we should not infer reasons for face masks or yarmulkas or Mardi Gras beads. As Mr Jefferson reminds me, if “it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket” it’s probably none of my business. Second, and specifically, the late Branch Davidians were the victims of state violence, whereas the most egregious of the pushy Maskerati and Jabolins are the proponents of state violence.