| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| The problem with courting the "craziest son of a bitch" vote |
| 2021-08-13 |
| HotAir Massie’s comment came to mind again today when I saw the news that Sen. Paul has been temporarily suspended from YouTube for a video in which he said "most of the masks you can get over the counter don’t work because the virus particles are too small and go right through them." (You can see the video here; begin at 3:20 for the relevant part.) In a follow-up video protesting the suspension, Paul commented further. "Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work, they don’t prevent infection," he said. "Saying cloth masks work when they don’t actually risks lives, as someone may choose to care for a loved one with COVID while only wearing a cloth mask. This is not only bad advice but also potentially deadly information." I’m probably closer on policy to Paul than most members of Congress — I once interviewed him for The Week — but this strikes me as courting the craziest SOB vote. Everything he’s saying is true, yet in a deeply misleading way. Of course, viruses are much smaller than holes in the weave of cloth or surgical masks. The point isn’t to catch individual viruses; it’s to catch far larger drops of virus-laden spittle. Yes, these masks are comparatively ineffective for protecting their wearer. Catching spittle protects other people. And yeah, if you’re unvaccinated and caring for someone with an active COVID-19 infection, a cloth mask isn’t enough. Did anyone credible say it was? You should get something like an N95 respirator, which keeps nearly all viruses out instead of simply keeping your spittle in. Paul technically didn’t lie, but I think he did court this voting base. Massie does it, too. The libertarian position, for example, is that freedom of association allows employers to condition employment on vaccination if they so choose. But Massie recently touted a Kentucky statehouse "bill to prohibit employers from requiring the vax." I'm sure if some firm announced they are not going to employ, ahem, Wakandans. Paul & Massie would have condemned that firm - but announced their own readiness to fight to the death for "the rights of private enterprise against governmental dictates." Now, they're the source of "government dictates". Wonder what Ain Rand would say? And where he used to pal around with the likes of former Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.), now he’s buddy-buddy with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), she of the QAnon ties, bad Holocaust analogy, and big craziest SOB vibes. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #1 " Sen. Paul ....said "most of the masks you can get over the counter don’t work because the virus particles are too small and go right through them." These are FACTS proven with CDC,Federal sources cited here many times over the last 18 months. Even including Dr. Death's "we should wear 2 or more masks..." public comments. BUT... Can we at least agree that: Water droplets (aka virus-laden spittle) and airborne virus particles BOTH cause infections? At the least we can discuss: Whether Infected Outgoing or Incoming Water droplets that are caught by the wearers mask, still contain the virus and are now sitting on or inside the mask with air flowing past them to others as a serious problem. Given the commonly worn cheap masks do not filter to the Virus size levels. So let us discuss whether each infected breath is transmitting the virus into the surrounding air. Spreading forever how long the virus lives in typical Office/Store HVAC controlled air space. Which we have been told is anywhere from 1 min to 15+ mins of being airborne. NOTE: I agree ANY mask filtering at any level of your air flow is better than no mask all. But eyes are also a infection point. We wear a N-95's and a face shield in public, not the 50 masks for $7.99 cheap paper masks. Neither of us have been VAX'd and we have been out in stores and etc. almost everyday w/o infection for 18 months. |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2021-08-13 07:53 |