An advert plays incessantly on the radio telling me that "Wearing a mask is an act of intentional kindness."
An intention cannot be ascribed to an action by a third party. How does the creator of this advert know why I am wearing a mask?
If I go into the supermarket maskless I will be asked to don one or leave. So I take my own. It is an act of resentful compliance. I resent the rule, the enforcer of the rule and worse, myself for complying.
Every time I hear the ad these angry feelings are reinforced.
My strategy for dealing with unwanted emotion is to rationalize. What if the ad said, "Be kind, wear a mask" which at least eliminates the absurd idea that someone else can live in my head and know my thoughts. But what is kind about wearing a mask? I'm not a surgeon. I have no illness and even if I did, isn't sharing germs part of how we have existed together for eons?
Perhaps the rational response is to understand the message in its inversion, "If you don't wear a mask people will think you are cruel and uncaring."
That I think is what's really going on.
We've had five f------g years of this 'be kind' guilt-tripping propaganda shoved down our throats and everywhere you look the results are crippled systems and crippled people.
Now I'm getting confused over what it is to be genuinely kind. Maskless, I gave a girl some money the other day. Broke my own rule. She said she wanted to get a feed. I checked she had a roof over her head at night and some sort of support system and then gave her $20. Maybe she'll go and buy a bottle of wine or whatever it takes to get off her face but why shouldn't she enjoy a few hours escapism? I'd like a few myself but my meagre daily alcohol ration makes that an impossible option.
Perhaps I should have walked up to this kid and said, "Excuse me. Where is your mask? You do know that it's an act of intentional kindness to wear one, don't you?"
7 comments:
Lindsay don't wear a mask, you'll feel better about yourself, I don't. I go to Pack n Save in Petone, Countdown the Mall maskless and no one takes a blind bit of notice.
Lol Lindsay, does your radio not have an off switch?
I not only don't wear a mask, I've stopped wearing the kitchen colander lined with weapons grade tinfoil.
Indeed it does but I stay tuned for either the music or a glimmer of light when someone like Hosking tears a shred off the PM.
The only time I wear a mask now is in the GP's practice our Doctor is at.
I tested the Hastings Library a few days ago but about half the people in there were without masks and I was left alone by the staff.
I almost hope the Govt keeps the mask mandates. Not because they are of any medical value at all (they aren't), but because if will irritate the voters more, and less of them will be inclined to vote for this pack of muppets again.
The really interesting thing about the masks is it demonstrates how compliant NZers are, or perhaps how polite and considerate of other peoples feelings. Right from the introduction of these monstrosities the exemption rules were so broad that anyone who didn't want to wear one did not need to. No proof of exemption was required, all that was needed was to have a legitimate reason not to wear one, and the requirements were so vague that anyone was eligible for the exemption. No one needed to wear one. Yet the vast majority chose to wear one.
It will be very interesting to see how many continue to mask up after the requirements are dropped. Some of us (such as myself) are pig-headed or arrogant or narcissistic enough to have never worn a mask at any stage. I'm not proud of my non-compliance but not ashamed of it either. I just don't care. I'm also not vaccinated, and as a middle aged unjabbed mask non-complier the story was I should be dead, instead of just getting on with life and having experienced covid as a 24hr mild cold. There are going to be some very unhappy people when everyone knows just how useless and socially/economically destructive the NZ covid policies were.
Wearing a mask is analogous to going whitebaiting with a flounder net!
Wearing a mask is analogous to trying to catch inanga in a patiki net!
Nobody will bug you for not wearing a mask; Join us! I visit many supermarkets, shops, airports, public transport, private transport, libraries, and both ferry services. It is very seldom even observed let along challenged now.
As to the propaganda adverts my suggestion is that Labour 6.0 is running a fine line. On the one hand they want to do what is expected of them and benefit from keeping people in fear. On the other, they need to stay on the right side of the law and not tell us what to do. So they've found a slimy way to get both with the phrasing of these adverts.
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