Mask Mandates

[King Nuts]

V interesting piece from Unherd: External Link/Members Only

Summed up well in this paragraph towards the end of the article:

It is not difficult to see why mask mandates proved irresistible to politicians. Masks are the perfect form of hygiene theatre, conveying an intuitive sense of safety regardless of demonstrable efficacy at scale. They also offload responsibility for controlling the pandemic to ordinary people. The overcrowding of ICUs can be blamed on the bad behavior of “anti-maskers”, rather than on the allocation of resources by governments and hospital CEOs. When cases and deaths spike, it is the fault of the citizenry, not the leadership.

[daviemac]

Seems quite political and Covid related.   

[King Nuts]

Seems quite political.   

So is the price of fish. Or cars. Or train tickets.

Yes, I understand the ban on discussions of certain subjects here. As regards the ban on 'politics', I have taken that to mean a ban on party political or partisan or factional issues, designed to promote certain themes and to wind up opponents.

There are other subjects that are not party political or factional, and this is one of them. But hey, it's not my board and not my rules. If this breaches the rules, then you can of course remove the thread. No hard feelings from me.

[Thecunninglinguist]

Isn't it time to give the subject a rest and just start to get on with our lives as we see fit?

[Thecunninglinguist]

Isn't it time to give the subject a rest and just start to get on with our lives as we see fit?

[Doc Holliday]

So is the price of fish. Or cars. Or train tickets.

Yes, I understand the ban on discussions of certain subjects here. As regards the ban on 'politics', I have taken that to mean a ban on party political or partisan or factional issues, designed to promote certain themes and to wind up opponents.

Which is surely what your post was aimed at doing?

Been done to death already in the Covid threads. Masks, as with much of Covid, has been highly politicised. Unfortunately we cannot go down that discussion route.

That article is also highly biased and much of it inaccurate. Mask effectiveness is not a black and white subject as many would have us believe.

[Doc Holliday]

Isn't it time to give the subject a rest and just start to get on with our lives as we see fit?

Yes

[daviemac]

It's a direct attack on the government who they claim used the wearing of masks to divert responsibility away form them and onto the public.

Unless I am misunderstanding this -

'It is not difficult to see why mask mandates proved irresistible to politicians. Masks are the perfect form of hygiene theatre, conveying an intuitive sense of safety regardless of demonstrable efficacy at scale. They also offload responsibility for controlling the pandemic to ordinary people. The overcrowding of ICUs can be blamed on the bad behavior of “anti-maskers”, rather than on the allocation of resources by governments and hospital CEOs. When cases and deaths spike, it is the fault of the citizenry, not the leadership.'

I'm sure the wearing of masks has been discussed in the long running Covid thread without the political aspect.

[King Nuts]

Isn't it time to give the subject a rest and just start to get on with our lives as we see fit?

The vast majority of threads on here, I have little or no interest in. Sometimes I have even a minus amount of interest in them.

I don't go into those threads and slag them off.

If you're not interested, then don't answer or add anything and the thread will sink to the bottom of the heap of its own accord.

[Thecunninglinguist]

The vast majority of threads on here, I have little or no interest in. Sometimes I have even a minus amount of interest in them.

I don't go into those threads and slag them off.

If you're not interested, then don't answer or add anything and the thread will sink to the bottom of the heap of its own accord.

I was making a comment, not slagging one off.
I will read your future comments with renewed interest, which will always be at the top of the pile, naturally.

[mradventures]

it could be moved to the covid thread?

but imo masks are pretty simple, they help the situation.

are they 100% effective? nope. but then nothing is. but dropping case rates by 10-20% and probably reducing severity for those who do catch it (because reduced viral load) is still highly desirable from a public health point of view

[daviemac]

it could be moved to the covid thread?

but imo masks are pretty simple, they help the situation.

are they 100% effective? nope. but then nothing is. but dropping case rates by 10-20% and probably reducing severity for those who do catch it (because reduced viral load) is still highly desirable from a public health point of view

The pros and cons of wearing masks has been discussed extensively in the Covid thread. As pointed out above, this thread is about some dodgy site claiming the mask mandate was brought in by the government to divert attention away  from them and lay it firmly at everyone else's door.

[King Nuts]

The pros and cons of wearing masks has been discussed extensively in the Covid thread. As pointed out above, this thread is about some dodgy site claiming the mask mandate was brought in by the government to divert attention away  from them and lay it firmly at everyone else's door.

I'd dispute your comment that unherd is a dodgy website. Matter of opinion of course, but I've found it interesting as it publishes all manner of news and topical stories you don't see anywhere else. Contributors seem to come from all over, and the site doesn't have any bias one way or the other.

[Doc Holliday]

I'd dispute your comment that unherd is a dodgy website. Matter of opinion of course, but I've found it interesting as it publishes all manner of news and topical stories you don't see anywhere else. Contributors seem to come from all over, and the site doesn't have any bias one way or the other.

Ok I will bite. Firstly Unherd generally is an opinion platform for journalists, not a news site. Nothing wrong with that and many articles are excellent reads. You also need to look at it's history and how it is financed.

That apart, this article declaring "Masks were a waste of time" is written by a Geoff Shullenberger. "I'm a Clinical Associate Professor in the Expository Writing Program at NYU. I've written extensively about the intersection of cultural theory and the internet, the decline of academia, conspiracy theory, the recent evolution of biopolitical technocracy, and more."

Clearly eminently qualified to talk about the highly complex science of masks?

To be fair he maybe doesn't claim to, but instead the article is largely a review of a book by an Ian Miller and Geoff seems to treat Ian as a reliable unbiased source for the science he quotes.

This is Ian Miller's Twitter account External Link/Members Only where he seems to spend most of his time and has built up a loyal following of the usual suspects.

Other than describing himself as an Author, I have no idea if he has any science/data credentials? His twitter account says "insert whatever credentials you think are important here"

Have a read of it if you haven't already.  Clearly no bias or agenda there.