A nice listener wrote to me about wearing masks and began with: “I am confused about your obsession with opposing people wearing masks.” He proceeded with wrong assumptions of my position and that my position on masks is “illogical and irrational.”
I have no obsession with mask wearing. I have huge obsession with people feeling comfortable with government officials mandating such a thing, especially by decree and not through our elected representatives. I support our republican form of government, not tyranny and that’s a much larger and important issue than masks.
As to the masks themselves, the science that was on the books before the current virus became political almost universally debunked the value of the public wearing such to protect against viral spread. I have documented such in many commentaries all with links to the sources. Even the CDC and WHO sites demeaned the use of masks by the general public.
Even during this emotional “crisis” such respected publications as the New England Journal of Medicine have recently published studies pointing out that masks are not very useful outside of a clinical environment.
Physicians, surgeons, and medical technicians to whom this issue is not new but well settled, and that is important because it is not colored by the emotion of the mob in crisis, have written and called to support my position as that of the well accepted long term scientific literature.
I will not be moved by social engineering peer pressure to ignore the results of decades of study for hot ideas dished out willy-nilly in a political and social crisis by those with unclear agendas.
And, I will not let a politician muzzle me and wear one by decree and without due process.
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THANK you so much for putting this up
Agree with everything in this article. I only wear a muzzle because I’ve been told I have to and just to keep those around me “comfortable”. It’s all BS. There will come a day when we will stop wearing face-diapers. Who’s going to lead that?
Mr. Pratt, As a Certified Safety Specialist (CSM) I can faithfully tell you that these “masks” (let alone home-made types and bandanas) are utterly useless for the prevention of spreading and viral infections. In fact, if a company provided these as a measure of protection against a potentially lethal virus, they would minimally be cited (by OSHA) and potentially face criminal charges of willful negligence if an employee contracted the virus. What the masks do is give a false sense of security and serve as a literal breeding ground for viral infection. While they may retard the direct projection of bodily fluids, they do nothing to protect from the same bodily fluids from the unsealed portion, which is the entire edge of the unfitted mask. Every person working in hazardous industry knows this to be the case.
I’m right there with you. I work in the oil field and at times have to wear a respirator. OSHA requires you to be fit tested by a certified technician. This is to protect us from silica dust which is large enough to be seen by the naked eye. And the politicians try to make us believe a 50¢ mask will stop a virus so small it can’t be seen without an electron microscope. Laughable at best.
Was turned away today at a restaurant because I didn have a face mask
We have found many who don’t go to the stupidity of having your wear a mask 20 or 30 feet to your table. I go to those places and have stopped giving business to those with the utter stupidity of mask wearing from the door to the table.
Masks work as good as a screen door on a submarine
Exactly my thoughts. The public has been white washed with lies and deception and have no clue to what has been done. World War III. Silent but deadly control of masses.
Mr. Pratt, love the show..thank God 790 comes in clear down here in Andrews! I agree totally with your take on the wearing of the mask. There is no scientific proof that they work at all. I will wear one at times as I have a whole slew of Trump themed masks and it drives the Libs nuts! I tell people that the mask is NOT about protection but power! If it were truly about protecting us the government would require that we all wear SCBA 24/7. The mask is a TEST! Its the governments way of seeing just how far they can push and what hoops they can get us to jump through. The American people have failed this test miserably!!!