What Ever Happened to Common Sense?
Mandated face mask wearing is really making me question our ability to think for ourselves.
I live in the Spanish coutryside. My husband and I moved from the city with the intention of escaping, to some degree, the rules and regulations of Covid. Not because we wanted to be rebels, but because it was making us anxious and sad to constantly see the demise of human interaction, the rise of fear, and the nauseating virtue signalling around mask wearing. We’d both lost our jobs in the city because of Covid, and as we were able to subsequently work remotely, there was no reason to stay somewhere that was stressing us out.
But the plan backfires every time we go for a walk in the countryside, and the only other person we see is wearing a face mask. We wish that we could just ignore it, not feel the deep irritation it provokes. But the question, punctuated with multiple question marks and empahsised with caps lock is always: WHY???
Just to be clear, before I get a load of criticism and labelled a “covid-denier” (I really hate that term), I am not arguing here against the use of face masks per se. I will grudgingly put mine on to enter a shop or crowded space; more than anything to put the minds of the elderly at rest. Because the idea of the mask is to protect yourself and others around you if you can’t maintain a safe distance, right? Fine, I can go along with that; there’s some logic to it.
But living in a so-sleepy-it’s-almost-dead town is revealing that it’s not logic which is behind the obsessive mask wearing: people are simply obeying because they are being told to. And perhaps more worryingly, because of social pressure.
I don’t wear my mask in the street. Yes, I am breaking the law, but I refuse to work against my own common sense and just follow blindly. The reason I don’t wear it is because there is no need: there is barely ever anyone else in the street, and when there is, I make sure I keep my distance, and smile, because we’re still human, aren’t we? Yet I get disapproving looks, and sometimes comments. I refuse to be swayed by them, however, because these people usually fit into one of the following No Logic Behind the Mask groups:
The Smokers.
It seems to be generally accepted that you’re allowed a mask break in the street if you’re smoking. The mask will sit on the chin of its wearer as he or she strides down the street puffing smoke at anyone in their path. Often, they are servers, who stand in restaurant doorway puffing away on a quick fag break. Clearly, if you’re smoking, the germ theory doesn’t apply. I don’t think we need to spend too much time here on the severe irony of just how detrimental first, second and third hand smoke is to human health. And that’s without the added threat of a virus that supposedly attacks the respiratory system.
One morning, I was off on my morning jog, and I clocked a couple of women looking at me, muttering, and then the word “mascarilla” travelled through the air. Because I wasn’t wearing one to go for a jog in the fresh air. I have to cross the street and then go down a little, barely traversed one before reaching the foot path, so ok, ok, maybe I could wear it for that short time, just so I don’t get socially ostracised. But it’s not compulsory to wear a mask while doing vigorous exercise, because, you know, it’s pretty dangerous. This is clearly stated in the WHO guidelines. Also, my own body tells me that it’s really hard to breathe.
But hang on, is that a cigarette I see in your hand, señora? Is that your mask I see dangling around your chin? The pair of them were standing on opposite sides of the road, smoking and shouting (chatting, but Spanish people tend to shout a lot). Can we just take a step back and assess this situation? Are you really using that mask because you want to protect yourself and others, or because you’re scared a policeman’s going to come by and fine you, or your neighbour is going to spy you and tell everyone what an irresponsible citizen you are? I guess as long as you have the mask somewhere near your mouth, you’re demonstrating your status as a law-abiding, upstanding citizen. Common sense is not important. Nor is the fact that you’re inhaling your own second and third hand smoke, for that matter.
The Hikers
Most of us know by now that fresh air and sunshine are vital for our physical and mental health. The benefits of hiking and the Great Outdoors are indesputible. Yet far too many people seem to have lost sight, once again, in the quest to be a Responsible Citizen and avoid fines, that the body needs fresh oxygen, which the countryside provides. Furthermore, how the hell are you going to catch a virus in this environment? Assuming, of course, that hikers aren’t going to spit at each other, cough in each other’s faces or kiss, I see very little possibility of transmission. Granted, I’m no microbiologist, but I do have some basic knowledge of how germs spread. The problem is though, while many put their mask on as they see another hiker approach — which to me is bad enough — it seems that so many masked hikers wear theirs even when they’re nowhere near anyone else. I’ve seen them in the distance, or approaching from afar. Yesterday, I spotted an old woman wearing one as she tottered up a steep hill towards her farm, taking an entirely different path to us. I was so worried about her chest and lungs. The WHO says:
Even when you’re in an area of COVID-19 transmission, masks should not be worn during vigorous physical activity because of the risk of reducing your breathing capacity.
People are putting their health at risk for no reason. Do they think the virus is hanging around in the trees; in the air? I just don’t understand. Why inhale your disgusting, stale breath if you don’t need to?
My neighbour Thea, a Dutch woman in her 60s who’s equally as fed up with the mask neurosis, told us something that would be funny, if it weren’t so scary. While out walking, she bumped into (not literally, now that I’ve made my case about physical contact while hiking) some local friends. They were wearing masks, and Thea attempted to make a joke:
“Be careful, there’s a Corona Virus hiding behind that tree!”
“Where?!” the friends replied, frantically looking around, eyes searching for the deadly foe.
“I realised it’s best not to joke”, she lamented to us. She’s lived in the town for 24 years and has a lot of friends here. She confirmed mine and my husband’s fears: the media has successfully managed to convince the population that the virus is in the air; that breathing fresh air is dangerous.
The Youths
I am not jumping on the bandwagon here of blaming teenagers, and their natural impulse to socialise, for the spread of Corona virus. I think it’s disgraceful that people have been doing that since we were allowed out the house last June.
What I find amusing is the absolute lack of conviction with which teens are using their masks. They diligently put it on to leave the house, then they gather with their friends and the thing hangs around the chin, as the teens share snacks and sweets. When someone from outside their circle passes, they pull the mask over their face, even if that person is passing about four metres away from them. It’s been made very clear, in endless sources, that incorrect use of masks, and the constant touching and reajusting of them, makes them entirely pointless. Clearly, the point is to be seen with the mask, not actually using it to any real effect.
One of the most ridiculous occasions was when we passed a huddle of teenage girls sharing a cigarette. As we passed, they pulled up their masks to cover their faces. I think that if a virus were going to be spread, it would be because of the cigarette travelling between four pairs of lips, not because a couple of unmasked walkers passed them at a great distance. But again, the function of the mask is not to protect, but to signal obedience.
The Bar Goers
To take the bar away from the Spanish is to take away a part of their soul. When I first moved to Spain, I was amazed by how frequently people seemed to eat out. In England you would have to re-mortgage your house after a month of eating out every morning and night, but in Spain it is not only affordable, but a hugely important aspect of social life. At midnight during the hot summer months, children would run between tables while adults ate, drink and talk very loudly.
Two months of lockdown was torture for such a social nation, and as soon as they were able, breakfasts and tapas in bars resumed. Which I’m glad about, of course: the country’s economy has taken a terrible hit from Covid, with the hospitality and tourism industries previously being one of the main earners. I totally support business as usual for bars and restaurants. However, my mind cannot comprehend the absurdity of the compulsory wearing of masks in the street, in the open, when people pile onto the terraces of bars smoking, drinking eating and shouting. The rule is supposed to be that masks are worn at all times, except when actually shovelling food or drink into the mouth; but that definitely isn’t happening.
Instead, society has created a safe bubble once seated in a bar or restaurant. We are safe from Covid while seated here, because the law says we’re allowed to do that. However, as soon as we stand up to leave the premises, Covid detects our movements and tracks us down once more. It’s as though this virus is location and motion activated.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating tighter restaurant regulations, I’m simply pointing out that things don’t add up.
Lone Drivers
One person in a car, windows up. Just why? I choose to believe they simply forgot to take it off after leaving the shop. At least they’ve stopped wearing gloves now.
As I said before, my aim here is not to get into a debate about the efficacy of facemasks in controlling a virus. My concern is that the vast majority of the country, and the world, is following rules without applying any critical thinking or logic. We seem to be unable to make decisions for ourselves and take actions that are appropriate in a given situation. Everything needs to be a law, and I find this distressing, as it takes responsibility and introspection away from the individual.
For example, while I’m glad that things such as racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination are being taken more seriously these days, I am similarly uncomfortable about the fact that it is down to laws to make sure people are decent to each other and don’t go around in white cloaks and hoods burning ethnic minorities. Likewise, the law shouldn’t have to tell a male boss that it’s wrong to harass his female employees; this should be a given. We should be educating our kids to be good humans, not because it’s the law, but because they believe in it.
Before Covid, nobody cared about spreading bugs and viruses. I used to work in a language school, teaching English to kids as young as 4 years old. Far too often, the poor blighters would lay their little heads on the table due to the agony of headaches and fevers. I would usher them from the classroom and ask the receptionist to phone their mum to collect them because they were too ill and miserable to function. Time and time again, the school would attempt to encourage parents to keep their kids at home if they had cold or flu symptoms, because the germs spread like wildfire. Then teachers would go down, one by one, and due to the fact that requesting time off for a cold was inconvenient because of arranging cover, and because pay was deducted for sick leave, we would continue the never-ending cycle of germ transmission.
It was disgusting, really.
People would pile onto public transport, sneezing and coughing in enclosed spaces, touching surfaces with their germy hands, and few thought to bring a bottle of hand sanitizer out with them. We would go to parties, dinners and work, leaving in our wake viruses that grew fatter and stronger each time they latched themselves onto a new host.
Nobody told us to stay at home or wear a mask. In fact, taking yourself to bed with tea and a hot water bottle was for the weak: life moved too fast for illness, people depended on us, we were strong. And we were selfish. Really and truly, we should have spared others the misery of our colds and coughs.
But now you wouldn’t think twice about missing work with even the hint of a symptom. Not now that fines abound. Now you’d be the talk of the town for sending your child to school with a fever. Now it’s illegal to be in public spaces without a face mask, even if you don’t have a single symptom. And only now that it’s illegal, is it socially unacceptable. Suddenly, because the media and the law have got involved, we give a shit about the health of others. Why do we need to be nannied all the time? Why do we have to be told so explicitly what is right and wrong; acceptable and unacceptable? Can’t we just work stuff out for ourselves? The WHO maintains in their guidelines, that mask wearing is not necessary outdoors if a distance of one metre can be maintained; that incorrect use of masks is pointless. But also, we know how germs are spread, so can’t we just use common sense?
Either the public is incapable of self-regulation without the imposition of laws, or the state doesn’t trust it’s people to use their own noggins.
As sceptical as I am about this pandemic and the handling of it, I am not arrogant, and therefore I won’t run the risk of putting anyone in danger or making them feel vulnerable. However, I know that I’m not putting anyone in danger when I’m in an open space without a mask. If the government were to decide tomorrow that the use of masks was no longer mandatory, then most of the population would discard them, which would imply that they never actually believed in them in the first place. So why were they so devoted to them? Because they were told to use them, because they’d have been fined if they didn’t; not because they truly believed they were doing the right thing. And if they did believe they were doing the right thing, how can the inconsistency of their use be explained?
It scares me that a whole generation is being trained in empty obedience; compliance without question. When I see a child wearing a facemask in the open air, I wonder what they were told. It’s the law? It saves lives? I’m sorry, but you aren’t saving anyone’s life. On a bus, perhaps a mask is a good idea. In a busy city centre with narrow streets, maybe (unless you’re smoking of course, then you’re exempt). But in the countryside? Don’t these masks just become disgusting breeding grounds for bacteria and germs after a while? Kids have to wear the damn things all day at school and then they’re told to put it back on to go for a walk in the fresh air. To me, that’s disgraceful.
I understand that many people don’t make good choices and aren’t capable of using common sense to self-regulate, thus laws are made. I mean, most of us know that murder is wrong and horrible and we don’t do it: we don’t need a law to tell us not to do it. Most of us wouldn’t steal a car just because the keys were left dangling in the ignition, because we have a moral compass that guides us. But there are others who need to be told explicitly not to do something, or to do something, and so we become dependent on law to shape society. In the face of a pandemic, it’s assumed that we don’t know how to conduct ourselves in a responsible, caring way just using our own common sense. We need blanket laws that don’t differentiate between the wide range of social and geographic contexts.
I just wish that we would try harder to assert ourselves as critical thinking, logical individuals, who will generally do the right thing without it being mandated. I wish that we weren’t teaching our kids to obey, just because it’s the law and because the neighbours will disapprove if you don’t. Children need to learn to question everything, otherwise history will repeat itself over and over again, and we will be doomed to a future of ignorance and complience.
“The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda — a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity to weigh ideas, but with a simple appetite for gulping ideas ready-made. The aim is to make ‘good’ citizens, which is to say, docile and uninquisitive citizens.” — H. L. Mencken
