Who was that Masked Man?

Wrong Brother.

Oh ain’t it lonely
When you’re livin’ with a gun
Well you can’t slow down and you can’t turn ’round
And you can’t trust anyone

You just sit there like a butterfly
And you’re all encased in glass
You’re so fragile you just may break
And you don’t know who to ask

Oh ain’t it lonely
When you’re livin’ with a gun
Well you can’t slow down and you can’t turn ’round
And you can’t trust anyone

You just sit there like a butterfly
You’re well protected by the glass
You’re such a rare collector’s item
When they throw away what’s the trash
You can hang suspended from a star
Or wish on a toilet roll
You can just soak up the atmosphere
Like a fish inside a bowl

When the ghost comes round at midnight
Well you both can have some fun
He can drive you mad, he can make you sad
He can keep you from the sun
When they take him down, he’ll be both safe and sound
And the hand does fit the glove
And no matter what they tell you,
There’s good and evil in everyone

Now I kinda dig the fact that I can now wear a mask everywhere I go because I think the bandana makes me look like a badass gangsta. I also have a problem with ubiquitous video surveillance, so much so I’ve grown a beard even though I don’t much like them (it’s itchy, ok?).

But the truth of the matter is it’s a virtue signal. Unless it’s an N95 or heftier it doesn’t protect you so much as it protects those around you. Same with the gloves.

What you really have to do is wash your hands.

Constantly.

And don’t touch your face.

That’s it. If you do those things you’ll be as safe as can be expected and the more you limit your exposure to other people the better off you’ll be. Since I already live like a Hermit Goatherder it’s not so hard for me.

But the instinct to own the Libs is sooo hard to resist.

Snowflake or safety first? How face masks were drawn into Trump’s culture wars
by Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian
Wed 13 May 2020

Let’s face it: wearing a face mask is not pleasant. They can fog up your glasses and hurt your ears. If you are cursed with terrible allergies, as I am, they quickly become a disgusting sneeze chamber. They make breathing difficult.

But you know what else makes breathing difficult? Covid-19. So I suck it up and wear a mask, because that is what we are supposed to do now. In New York, where I live, it is also what we have been required to do for the past few weeks. You can’t go into a shop without a face covering and you must wear one whenever physical distancing is not possible.

One minute, wearing a mask made you an outlier; now not wearing one does. I would estimate that 99% of people I see out and about in Manhattan have a mask on. The other 1% are joggers who seem to think that, if they run fast enough, the virus won’t catch up with them.

While most New Yorkers appear to have embraced masks, it is a different story in other parts of the country. Everything is partisan in the US now, even death. As such, masks have become a political statement. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say that they will wear one (76% versus 59%), according to a recent poll. Wearing one signals that you believe in science; that you believe in putting the greater good ahead of your individual comfort. To some people, they are a sign of solidarity; to others, they signify that you are a liberal snowflake. They have become the opposite of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” caps.

This may soon change. While Trump conspicuously eschews masks – he reportedly told advisers that wearing one would “send the wrong message” – his campaign never misses a monetisation opportunity. Last week, Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, shared a photo in which he was wearing a Maga mask with a caption announcing that there were “more coming soon!” Knowing Trump, his masks will probably be made in China.

Live Free or Die baby.