The stupid, it burns us

I am beyond delighted that Texas has elected to end the various and sundry mandated Covid restrictions that were in place. That said, I do not feel any need to express my thanks to the state government (including our governor) for that. “Oh, thank you for allowing me to again exercise my rights” is not something I ever intend to say to any government, bureaucrat, or elected office-holder. After all, you chose to limit them without my permission. Still, I’m glad.

Something I’ve noticed is that wearing a mask at the behest of a merchant with whom I want to do business, doesn’t bother me nearly as much as being told by government that I have to wear one. Besides, a good part of my nursing career was spent in the OR. In spite of often well-meaning insistences to the contrary, and in spite of some rather dubious studies which purport to suggest otherwise, there is a reason we wear masks in the OR. To wit, they reduce the risk of infection, and not just surgical site infections, among patients (all of whom become compromised during their time in the operating room).

Based on the above, then, you might think I would be annoyed by those who decline to wear a mask. You might even think I’d favor at least a mask mandate. Nope. I’m a big believer in not interfering with people doing what they want, even if it’s stupid ill-advised. What I favor, then, is the at risk and arguably overly fearful voluntarily staying home. Government mandates occupy a prime stop on my List of Things to Dislike. I tend to object to not only mandates, but also to busybodies and authoritarians.

I also favor people being able to believe what they want. Even if it is stupid. Or really stupid. Allow me to provide a few real-world illustrations. WARNING: The following provide examples of idiocy in full bloom. You have been warned.

We’re not done, though. The above was followed by this pronouncement.

Both of the above are, as far as I can tell, from someone who makes no claim to any sort of medical or scientific expertise. That can’t be said of the next one, though the quote was offered by such a person.

Let’s note that the quote is from a German biologist who, among other things, has made the claim that there is no measles virus. Instead, he has said, measles is a “psychosomatic illness” caused by “traumatic separations.”

If you parrot the above sort of nonsense, you are an idiot (in the old and now obsolete clinical sense). If you parrot the above noted crap as truth and object to being labeled an idiot, I offer the following. You are simply a liar. I guess you could be a lying idiot, but that’s really not better.

Don’t want to wear a mask? I absolutely and without hesitation support your right to make and live by that decision (unless you are spending time around the high risk folks). I have a greater-greater-than-average risk and I don’t care if you wear one around me and mine. It’s when you begin spouting nonsense and insisting that it is true that we part company, because then you become dangerous. Dangerous to yourself and potentially dangerous to others. At some point, someone whose condition is dependent upon medical knowledge will believe you and act upon your words. And then, they will die. From something that does not exist. Because nanotechnology, 5G and reasons.