http://ethicsalarms.com/2020/12/02/on-masks-i-get-the-message/
DECEMBER 2, 2020 / JACK MARSHALL
face-masks-chart
The New York Times has been a primary offender in fearmongering and 
hyping the pandemic, while trying to bolster the efforts of 
power-abusing mayors and governors to make life miserable for the public 
in order to show they are “doing something.” Thus when the Times 
published this article, with the sub-head, “The accumulating research 
may be imperfect, and it’s still evolving, but the takeaway is simple. 
Right now, masks are necessary to slow the pandemic,” I assumed that I 
would read an unequivocal, full-throated, air-tight brief for mask-wearing.
Well, it wasn’t. In fact, there is so much equivocation and doubt in the 
article, which announces itself as pro-mask, that it reinforces the 
conclusion that the case for masks is being overstated, which is to say 
dishonestly reported. The takeaway is “simple” if one is inclined to 
blindly follow orders without good reason. I’m not.
The thing is rife with red flags. “May be imperfect” is a euphemism for 
“it might turn out that this is all wrong.” “It’s still evolving” is 
another dodge. One section of the article is headed, “Over time, 
recommendations on masks have changed. That’s how science works.” Wait, 
aren’t we always being told that challenging conventional scientific 
“consensus” is being a science denier? Skepticism is just a caution that 
what is being pronounced as the absolute answer isn’t as certain as its 
advocates claim. Here, the Times is saying that science being proved 
wrong is “how science works.” This obviously a procrustean standard at 
best. “Believe what we say, because we are scientists, but when it turns 
out we were wrong, that just proves how trustworthy we are.”
The Times says:
The C.D.C. has been criticized for an about-face on masks since the 
beginning of the pandemic, when it urged only symptomatic people to wear 
them. The agency did not recommend universal use of face coverings until 
April. (The World Health Organization was even later, issuing its 
endorsement in July.)The agency was reluctant to recommend masks at 
first because it worried about a run on the high-quality masks needed 
for health care workers, Dr. Marr said. “I think it took time to realize 
that there’s different objectives in the health care setting versus in 
the community,” she said.
In fact, what this tells us is that these trustworthy scientists and 
experts deliberately withhold information from the public for their own 
reasons. As I would say to a witness on cross examination, “You admit 
you lied then. How do we know you’re not lying now?” And the only answer 
to that is, “You don’t.” Another doctor interviewed tells the Times, 
changes in guidance “should be seen as a sign that the policy is 
following the latest science.” That’s funny: didn’t the article just 
tell us that Dr. Fauci’s change in guidance on masks had nothing to do 
with science, and everything to do with expediency?
“Somehow that change has been framed by some people as public health 
experts not knowing what we’re doing,” another doctor says. “But 
actually, we should see this change in guidance as part of the necessary 
evolution. That’s the cornerstone of a solid public health response.” 
That’s doubletalk, and Yoo’s Rationalization, “It isn’t what it is.” 
That change was an admission of a lie.
“Evolution” my..foot.
As for the rest of the article, we get vague and head-scratching 
statements like…
“With the coronavirus on the march through much of the United States, 
scientists are urging Americans to adopt the few health measures shown 
to slow the virus: universal mask use, social distancing, good 
ventilation indoors and hand hygiene.“
Slow? If they slow the virus, why is the virus matching? Slow how and 
how much?
“Among public health experts, there is near-unanimous endorsement of 
universal mask mandates to shield people from the virus and slow the 
pandemic.“
Mandates? Mandates mean penalties. It’s easy for “health experts” to 
demand mandates—they don’t care about any consequences no related to 
health. “Sure, what the heck, make everyone wear masks, day and night. 
Can’t hurt!” Remember the recommendations that we all wear masks during 
sex? That we wear masks while eating and drinking? Can’t hurt! And 
there’s slow again…show how much, and how reliably? Is any level of 
inconvenience, discomfort, and disruption of normal human interaction 
and the enjoyment of life a reasonable price to pay for this “slowing”? 
Since health officials literally care about only one thing, they don’t 
even consider such important factors as trade-offs. What does “near 
unanimous” mean, exactly? Maybe the non-conforming experts are the 
rational ones. Maybe they’re the right ones.
Meanwhile, why should anyone obey or take seriously mandates issued by 
elected officials who don’t follow the rules themselves?
“Increasing the proportion of people who wear masks by 15 percent could 
prevent the need for lockdowns and cut economic losses that may reach $1 
trillion, about 5 percent of gross domestic product, the C.D.C. said.”
Could? Could? So this is just a guess, then, right? A guess by the same 
organization that regards being wrong and having to retract what it said 
was true earlier proof of what’s wonderful about “science.”
“If it can’t help us avert the shutdowns that are happening, it can 
certainly help us come down the backside of this peak and then keep 
things down,” Dr. Brooks said.
Oh! So maybe it CAN’T prevent the need for shutdowns.
“The term mask refers to any kind of protective facial covering, but its 
effectiveness depends greatly on the type…The average person, on the 
other hand, is exposed to much less virus and less often, and so can be 
protected with a well-made cloth covering, Dr. Brooks said. The best 
cloth face coverings, which have multiple layers that can trap viral 
particles — the thickest are mostly impervious to light — are as 
effective as surgical masks in some circumstances.”
In what circumstances? What are the standards for a “well-made” mask? I 
see many people wearing paper masks, and wrote earlier about lattice 
masks on sale over the web. Are there standards for what masks are 
effective? Er, a, well, no, not officially. Why the hell not? Later we 
learn that it’s because there isn’t enough study data to say for sure 
what the standards for an effective mask should be.
But we should all wear masks anyway, because…
“The average person can be protected, at least somewhat, with a 
well-made cloth covering, according to the C.D.C.“
That’s a double indefinite! “At least somewhat” and a “well-made cloth 
mask” when we have no standards regarding what “well-made” means, because…
“All kinds of masks offer the wearer some degree of protection, multiple 
studies have shown. Exactly how much protection is not yet clear.“
Oh.
There is increasing evidence that cloth face coverings, too, stop virus 
expelled by an infected person when breathing, talking, singing or 
shouting — controlling the spread at the source.
That’s funny: there is “increasing evidence” that the 2020 election was 
full of dishonest election tricks and efforts to distort the vote, and 
the New York Times is leading the shouts that such evidence isn’t good 
enough to conclude anything or take major action….and that’s correct.
“This discovery became especially important once scientists learned that 
people who don’t even feel symptoms may spread the virus.”
Wait: is it increasing evidence, or is it a discovery? They are not the 
same thing. This is dishonest advocacy. designed for casual and gullible 
readers.
“More than 50 percent of all infections may be transmitted by 
asymptomatic people.”
Or, apparently, they may not.
Critics of mask-wearing measures have long demanded a randomized 
clinical trial that establishes their effectiveness. But while such 
trials are the standard for drugs and vaccines, they are not ideal for 
evaluating behaviors subject to people’s recall, experts said.
Boy, those ignorant critics demanding actual proof before they agree to 
alter the way they live their lives!
“Show me the clinical trials that showed the efficacy of hand washing,” 
Dr. Volckens said. “And I think we all agree that smoking causes cancer 
and is bad for you — does that mean that we can’t believe that smoking 
causes cancer because there isn’t a clinical trial?”
Do you really want us to list all of the things the public agreed on 
that turned out to be untrue once actual research and data were 
available? So we should just believe this because the “experts” say so, 
I guess. This is the “scientific” argument.
“A Danish study published on Wednesday was a randomized clinical trial 
assessing whether a mask protected wearers. It found no statistically 
significant effect. But the study has serious limitations, experts said: 
It was conducted when community transmission in Denmark was low, and 
masks were far from the norm.”
The actual study on masks isn’t good enough, but the near-unanimous 
belief of health experts without studies is to be trusted and obeyed.
“’It’s hard to do these studies in real life,’” [one doctor] said.”
Oh…we should all wear masks without sufficient evidence because actually 
finding out whether they work is “hard” ! Isn’t science wonderful?
“The study still found a 15 percent protection for the wearer, although 
the figure was not statistically significant. But it may be an 
underestimate, Dr. Marr and other researchers said.”
It “may” be. Then again, it may not. This is one powerful argument for 
masks, don’t you think?
“I still think masks are the most cheap, effective, versatile 
intervention that we can have if social distancing is not possible or 
variable, or if indoor ventilation is poor,” said Julian Tang, honorary 
professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester in the 
United Kingdom.
And this is what I think. I think the New York Times set out to make the 
case for mandatory masks and found that the case was weak, so they 
engaged in appeals to authority, deceit, cherry-picking and dishonesty. 
I think that rather than critically examine the justification for the 
sweeping endorsements of wearing masks, it just resorted to pushing a 
narrative at the expense of public understanding, counting on their 
readers to accept what is basically a lot of evocations as fact. I think 
that if this is the best the nation’s paper of record can do to make the 
claim that masks are crucial when it undertakes the job—this was a 
special feature in the Science section!—then the public is being misled, 
once again, “for their own good.”
What the Times article essentially says is,
“Health professionals don’t really know how much masks will prevent the 
spread of the Wuhan virus, but it’s probably better than nothing, and 
since they don’t care at all about the many, many negative consequences 
of doing it, we’re expected to do what they say.”
Case made.
Got it.
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