This is right. Focus on the well-intentioned majority. I remember some health official digging in on masks - "regular people aren't trained in taking them off and might get infected by the dirty outside of the mask". I wondered, if the outside of masks are treacherous, what about my shirt?
Thanks for this. The past few weeks one could see Fauci, Walensky, et al visibly struggling to tailor what they say about vaccines, boosters, masks, etc. without making obvious the unknowns and the conflicts. I sympathized with their dilemma, but it was becoming tiresome.
"There was the “You shouldn’t wear masks” phase, a message pushed because they were afraid people would snatch up supplies needed for medical personnel"
Nope. That was an after-the-fact justification for that stupid stance. There were medical personnel prohibited from wearing masks at their jobs.
Just seconding what TGGP said: Western authorities likely genuinely believed that masks had no effect at best, or were actively detrimental. I think some of the evidence was shown in Scott's ACX post about masks, but here's a more detailed analysis, albeit restricted to the UK: https://lessonsfromthecrisis.substack.com/p/the-noble-lie-on-masks-probably-wasnt
I remember thinking half the world had gone mad when I saw that BBC video of a doctor saying why masks are bad and subsequently encountered people arguing for that position on reddit. In Hong Kong, masking up was just common sense, especially after SARS.
When they really take away your license to blog, it’ll be because you were too reasonable.
This is right. Focus on the well-intentioned majority. I remember some health official digging in on masks - "regular people aren't trained in taking them off and might get infected by the dirty outside of the mask". I wondered, if the outside of masks are treacherous, what about my shirt?
Thanks for this. The past few weeks one could see Fauci, Walensky, et al visibly struggling to tailor what they say about vaccines, boosters, masks, etc. without making obvious the unknowns and the conflicts. I sympathized with their dilemma, but it was becoming tiresome.
"There was the “You shouldn’t wear masks” phase, a message pushed because they were afraid people would snatch up supplies needed for medical personnel"
Nope. That was an after-the-fact justification for that stupid stance. There were medical personnel prohibited from wearing masks at their jobs.
Just seconding what TGGP said: Western authorities likely genuinely believed that masks had no effect at best, or were actively detrimental. I think some of the evidence was shown in Scott's ACX post about masks, but here's a more detailed analysis, albeit restricted to the UK: https://lessonsfromthecrisis.substack.com/p/the-noble-lie-on-masks-probably-wasnt
I remember thinking half the world had gone mad when I saw that BBC video of a doctor saying why masks are bad and subsequently encountered people arguing for that position on reddit. In Hong Kong, masking up was just common sense, especially after SARS.