I’m on an @AmericanAir flight as I type & the crew has spent 90% of the time on the intercom delivering repeated warnings about letting masks slip, including a stern rebuke that two reminders will result in authorities meeting you at the gate & inclusion on a no-fly list…
What I don’t get is that all but the small, fearful minority know that masks are a mere performance whose only utility is *placating the feelings* of an emotionally dysregulated subset of the population…
which includes people with strong, self-righteous political/tribal allegiances, people who overestimate the actual risk from Covid, and people who are inclined - for whatever reason - to be society’s self-appointed hall monitors…
But if the point is to assuage feelings, what about the feelings of those forced to cover their faces against their will? Those required to pretend they are sick when they’re not? Those who feel degraded and unseen by such an inhumane and disconnected policy?…
People who understand - viscerally and acutely - exactly what is lost by requiring everyone to participate this kind of dehumanizing, pointless, pseudo-religious ritual in order to exercise the human right to move freely?…
Those are the people who have a legitimate case to make about feelings.
And if you’re going to prioritize one group’s feelings over another, are you sure you’re picking the right one?…
You’re not going to find the answer in RCTs or data. You’ll find it accumulating in the form of disgruntled employees, dissatisfied customers & general human misery.
I hope someone in your org reads this and understands the significance of what you are actively co-signing…
You are buying into COVID- avoidance as the organizing & primary principle of your product & it is not a path to growth or progress, for business or greater humanity.
@MartinKulldorff said that the Enlightenment has ended with our reaction to Covid and I can’t help but agree.
And @americanair - you, and all the other commercial airlines, are not only complicit.
You’re culpable.
ETA: They also encouraged passengers to narc on their neighbors.
They literally said, “If you see a passenger with safety violation, please report it to your nearest flight attendant.”
Will you show this thread to your leadership @AmericanAir?
It makes you wonder why we didn’t follow those tenets of public health and, instead, decided mandates, porous masks, lockdowns, and sowing panic was the solution this time.
Last night, my youngest went Trick-or-Treating. She came home puffy-eyed & quiet.
She told me she had an ok night but at one of the last houses, an old man was handing out full-size candy bars & when it was her turn, he sneered at her & told her she looked like a ‘punk’…
She was dressed as one of The Outsiders - a homemade ensemble, b/c store-bought costumes - like everything else - were in short supply and she didn’t decide to go until the last minute.
She was worried she was too old…
Lu’s last normal trick-or-treating experience was when she was 8. In 2019 when she was 9, she was super sick and couldn’t even say “trick-or-treat”. We had to stop after two houses and go home so she could rest.
Question: Did anyone *not* have Fauci as the fall guy?…
🧵🪡
1/6
People in those high level positions get there by their willingness to do unsavory things that others won’t do in exchange for power and ego gratification.
A quick read of his emails makes it’s clear that Fauci was vulnerable in that way…
2/6
And the things that get them those power positions, also make them vulnerable to exploitation by other powerful people…
3/6
Given all the claims that masking is cost-free in terms of broader culture, I thought it would be interesting to see what some of our iconic images would look like with the lower half of the subjects' faces covered.
My friend (no, not me) recently had the opportunity to respond to a @tacobell "Tell us about your visit" survey - specifically the "Heath & Safety" portion.
I sure hope that tweeting this doesn't ruin her chances in the $500 sweepstakes.
It made me laugh & had to share ...😂
"I don’t care about your COVID health and safety measures.
I am not operating under the delusion that a fast-food vendor can protect me from a respiratory virus.
You claim to be 'committed to my health' but if that were the case, you’d stop selling me your 'food'...
"The truth is that you don’t give a shit about my health, as evidenced by the nutritional content of your product.
And I'm good with that! In fact, that's been our explicit arrangement all along.
It seems you suddenly misunderstand the role Taco Bell plays in my life...