Mask Mandates and Vaccines

 I'm quite sure by now that you've seen the post that has been circulating on social media for some time now. It's an undated photo of a group of masked individuals with one holding a sign that reads "Wear a mask or go to jail." The photo is said to have been taken in America at the time of the Spanish Flu. Of course, conservatives have claimed the phot is faked, that it must have been photo shopped.

The photo is completely real. The original photo was taken by local photographer Raymond Coyne in November 1918 at a train station in Mill Valley, California. Town historians have even verified the photo for anyone and any media outlet that has questioned its authenticity. The people in question were part of a hiking group called the "Hash and Eggers" who'd stopped in town to grab a bite to eat. The sign worn by the woman on the right, reading "WEAR A MASK OR GO TO JAIL," reflects local and state mask ordinances that had gone into effect that fall. If you're still not convinced, feel free to contact the Mill Valley Library, whom has the photo in their archives. And I'm sure you can do a little further research, and you'll find that people were actually being arrested during this time for violating the mask mandate. In San Francisco, California, several people had been jailed and fined for not wearing a mask. So, if you are part of the crowd that has been duped into thinking mask mandates are something brand new, you couldn't be further from the truth.  I don't do these blogs simply with a political agenda. I research the topics. Sadly, research is quickly becoming passe in a world where it's easier to share a meme strictly because it shares your ideology.

As for the mask mandates of 1918. At first, they issued an order that lasted around four weeks. Then, when it seemed that everything had reached its apex, restrictions became to loosen. Then came the second wave of the flu, which brought with it a second wave of mandates. And let's keep one thing clear, mask back then were nothing like we have now. Sometimes, people would take to taping the cloth mask to their face. Imagine having to remove that several times during the day. And the historical record bares no note of mass protest, people chanting "No Mask" or what ever catchy slogan you could imagine. Understanding they'd have to suffer for the betterment of their fellow Americans, they bore inconvenience and save lives. 

One of the things I find ironic is that many of the same folks who champion outlawing abortion are the same ones proclaiming that no government is going to tell them what to do with their bodies, the irony lost on them. Lost on them advocating that laws been put into place by those who have never consulted a medical book like Tabor's for instance.  Many of those seem folks are upset that states are quickly decriminalizing marijuana demanding once again, the right to determine what one person can put into their body. So when the anti-vaccine and anti-mask crowd chat "No Mask!" or "No Vaccine Mandate", it's not the winning argument they think it happens to be. 

Let's examine vaccine mandates. In 1902, Cambridge, Massachusetts  was besieged with a smallpox outbreak. The board of health adopted a mandate ordering that all residents receive a vaccination. Enter Henning Jacobson a pastor and immigrant from Sweden. He had a terrible experience in his homeland with Sweden, itself under attack from smallpox. Jacobson's experience with a vaccine was not a positive one, hence his opposition once he learned of the Massachusetts mandate. Jacobson refused to get the vaccine and was fined $5, quite a sum back then. Jacobson appealed the fine, calling such a mandate a violation of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Th matter when all the way to the supreme court, who ruled against Jacobson. In his opinion, Judge Harlan delivered the majority decision, essentially stating that a state could impose a mandate, as long as said mandate did not extend beyond "what was reasonably required for the safety of the public." For those seeking to learn more, google Jacobson v. Massachusetts 197 U.S. 11 (1905). Just copy and paste that in your search box and you'll find the text of the decision. It was this decision that the Supreme court recently leaned on regarding Does V. Mills which sought to challenge the COVID mandates for health care workers. Once again, the court ruled in favor of the mandates, saying the states were within their right to impose them.

As you have read (and feel free to research on your own) the mandates that conservatives are suddenly crying foul about have been deemed legal in America for going on 127 years now. So when you see a meme, or some political commentator drone on about how these mandates are an infringement of personal liberties, you will know that what each says has no basis in fact. As for the political commentator, they are merely echoing what their network tells them. A network, by the way, that saw no problem ordering its employees to be vaccinated. All while they spread hysteria, lies and outright fear. In reality, if you don't like wearing a mask, the resolution is quite simple. Wear it. Wear it until we can get COVID until control so that it's not ravaging through, ending countless lives and leaving families mourning lost loved ones. Once we can get it under control, then we can emerge, just as the folks did back in 1918.      

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

 As I write this blog, we're essentially back to square one as it pertains to the Corona Virus. In New York, Governor Hochul announced recently a requirement to mask at all indoor businesses. Of course, by now, we could have easily defeated the virus and reduced its effectiveness. However, it was made political, with some noise makers taking to T.V. and use their pulpits to spread the false narrative that Americans were losing freedoms and were ever being 'oppressed'.

Saying that wearing a mask is repressive is insulting to those that actually have been oppressed. When one has been dragged out of their home in the dead of night, into frigid temperatures, and even seen their belongings stolen in the process, then you can talk about oppression.  When you've had the mask slapped on your face before you've been brought to a relocation camp, then you can talk to me about feeling oppressed. When pundits and others liken wearing the mask to what happened with the Jewish community in occupied Germany, I can only shake my head in disgust. Disgust that they'd not only use that as the measuring stick, but that they'd use that atrocity in such a trivial manner.

It used to be Americans rallied around each other in trying times like these. I hesitate to use 9/11 as an example, as yeah, we rallied around each other, but it came with a dark side. We made everyone who was Muslim the scapegoat for our fears and anguish.   I think a better example will be what happened in Kentucky, and how it was devastated by recent tornados. Political dogma doesn't matter, Americans see fellow Americans whose lives have bene torn apart by the storms. Many have lost everything, just as the holiday season approaches. Already we have people rallying around those communities, offering help. 

 Alas, when it comes to the masking to help keep other Americans safe, our selfish side comes on strong. Those that sacrifice comfort to wear the mask are mocked. Many of those self-assured folks who brazenly thumbed their nose at the mask regulations now suffer in hospitals. Some take to social media to present themselves as cautionary tales to wear the mask, get the shots, and the boosters. For many of them, those videos have been the last they'll ever do, as the unlucky souls die not long after. Lives lost and all they had to do was wear a simple mask.

For those who are so steadfast that wearing a mask infringes on their rights, why do they wear a seat belt in a car. After all, seat belts are completely uncomfortable and annoying. It wasn't that long ago that seat belts weren't a requirement on school buses. So, if wearing a mask in public is such a strain on your freedoms, what about seat belts? If big government isn't going to tell you to wear a mask, why should you let it tell you to wear seat belts, right? 

When one reads that aloud they quickly see how ridiculous the argument about masks really has become. I for one, don't like wearing mask. For one, I have hearing issues. They are self-inflicted, but there are times I have to ask someone wearing a mask to repeat themselves because I have trouble understanding what they are saying. However, I deal with it because another person's safety is more important than a brief inconvenience for myself. Second, overall, they annoy me. I've had them break, come off, and even failed to remove one before a sneezing fit. Once again, I'll wear the mask anyways because I care about the well-being of others.

And when you really think about it, we should get used to wearing mask, and it has nothing to do with COVID. It has to do with the environment. In China, it's not uncommon to see people wearing mask as part of their daily lives. Of course, China is one of the top polluters and they've pretty much destroyed the air quality of their country. Given the GOP's lack of belief that mankind has any effect on the environment and their desire to roll back as many regulations as possible, we could very well be like China in five to ten years. Living in a country whose air is so chalk full of chemicals that belonged intake is not advisable. 

If there had been less in-fighting and more people willing to sacrifice comfort for the betterment of those around them, it's quite possible we could have returned to normalcy by now. Instead, we get to suffer because of the selfish few. And it doesn't feel like, by scanning the feedback, we've learned our lesson, we could very well be spending the foreseeable future stuck in a rut, looking upon the other countries as they make a quicker return to normalcy. Even then, we'd complain about why it's taking so long, we'd blame the leaders that were actually doing the most to help us, and all around not see the irony of what we are doing. You want to return to normal, as do I. I'm tired of wearing the mask, more tired of having to wear it because of the selfishness of others.  Let's do this, get this virus in the rearview mirror and get back to being normal. Stop listening to uneducated hacks like Joe Rogan. Stop listening to the fear mongers of "insert news network here". Just as brave patriots before sacrificed use of electricity, newspapers, and other such items before, maybe we can do the same. We can learn at least the lesson of sacrifice from them, before we get them all killed because we don't want to wear a mask.