I’m back and honestly, I’m only madder than I was two days ago because I’ve had time to mull the bullshit over. Link, for those of y’all out of the know.
It appalls me that any community of people that claim to be marxists, that claim to follow the scientific method in all things that would contribute to the betterment of the world we’re forced to share, that claim to be really out here performing praxis and making differences in their communities; it fucking galls me that a community like everything I just described can still look at a still on-going pandemic and still have such a tacit anti-mask stance.
More of you admitted to not masking than I’m comfortable with and y’know what, maybe we could’ve left it at that. It’d have been a form of liberalism to not dig my heels in on that and take a swing at that mindset because again: I took on a new disability in the wake of a COVID infection. My partner took on a new disability in the wake of their infection. I was put in a hospital bed, my grandparents were put on respirators, so many members of my family and my community were genuinely out of commission and a good number of us really had to question if we were going to make it to see the next morning under those infections-- but maybe, we could’ve left it at that.
But then, I have to see you people not only trying to justify it, but taking up for smuggards who just think it’s all some big fuckin joke, like they’re their favorite podcast crackerbro getting to have their own personal Matt Christman moment. I expect “u mad bro” smuglord fuckery out of crackers who can’t even be trusted to properly wipe their asses after they shit, or to wash their hands after doing so. And worse, you expect me to not be heated about smug-assed crackers making light of genuinely-disabling infections after the fact.
I stand ten motherfucking toes down on what I said to Cantaloupe Ass and Ghost of Faso; any plague rat motherfucker who wants to take issue with how I feel about people who won’t mask can catch the same cases my partners and my family caught. It’s a whole lot of you motherfuckers that are so unserious, so emphatically not my comrades that it sickens me seeing you call yourselves so.
Do better. Deuces.
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As @CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml stated here, the reason you received a temp ban was because you told someone (from a comrade server) that you hope they get covid. That is completely innappropriate, and its almost unbelievable that you’d wish that pain on someone else. The point of these temp bans is to give people a chance to cool off, and that’s a very minor thing considering.
I’d wager that most of us on lemmygrad (including me) mask in public, and your temp ban had nothing to do with that. The only bannable offense w/ respect to masking here would be someone posting anti-science articles, or wishing that someone gets covid like you did. People can (and do) report those comments, so we can remove them as necessary.
I’m locking this as its trying to start a struggle session that’s a distraction over your temp ban for saying you hope someone gets covid.
Here’s the internet, I can be a bit aggressive to strangers, send you all PBB and hope you fall on your butt. What depresses me is how so few of my comrades IRL mask. Being the most white cis male person ever, I don’t feel super great being aggressive about masks with a lot of my comrades. Although one can definitely detect an inverse relationship with masking and privilege.
I stand ten motherfucking toes down on what I said to Cantaloupe Ass and Ghost of Faso; any plague rat motherfucker who wants to take issue with how I feel about people who won’t mask can catch the same cases my partners and my family caught. It’s a whole lot of you motherfuckers that are so unserious, so emphatically not my comrades that it sickens me seeing you call yourselves so.
To address this, at no point have I ever said that people should not mask, I advocated for masking alongside infection rates rising and not masking when the current infection levels are low enough (like less than 10 cases country wide) and at that point masking in clinical settings or around more vulernable people.
I took issue with you wishing death/disablity on another poster, and I stand by that.
Edit:
To people bandstanding about how in the coming revolution they dont understand how people like me would be able to contribute.
I was in the COVID trenches, I was working in a hospital helping manage my cities infection response to COVID. I alone probably helped vaccinate and give mask/isolation/money advice to over 20,000 people and managed a team that facilaited my entire city getting that.
A year in after threatining to strike I managed to convince our managers manager to let us work from home. I have been a tireless advocate for worker centric policies and responses and changed and effected as much as I could to protect as many people as I could.
I would have to get a bus to the hospital everyday, when I realized most people on the bus to hospital where not masking, I literally just got off the bus and walked, I biked everyday (2 hours) after that, even in the winter, on xmas day and new years eve I was working. I would often have to pass piles of dead bodies, sobbing carers ect to get there.
This is all to say, have some goddam empathy, most of us are exhausted, I did all of this while managing my own schizophrenia and recent enstrangement from both of my biological parents over there fascist politics.
I understand you’re in the same position Pharoh and rightfully angry and pissed off, but please pick your battles more carefully.
Masks, just like the “litterbug” campaign, are a way to offload responsibility and blame onto the working class, responsibility that should fall to the government and companies.
Case: a person is sick, maybe covid maybe not. Instead of telling the person to stay home (cutting productivity, therefore cutting profits), they just tell the person to wear a mask.
Case: a person works from home, and is sick. Instead of the government providing groceries and ensuring the person doesn’t have to go out during the 4-5 days they are contagious, they tell them to mask up and go grocery shopping.
People don’t even know how to wear a mask. I have seen so many people wear a mask under their nose, or have a mask on that is used and wet from sweat (ineffective). I also see many people have gaps on the sides, or under their chin, might as well not wear a mask at that point. Don’t even get me started on those visors…
The media lied to people. First they said masks don’t work, told people not to buy, but then couple of months later there was a mask mandate.
Their mask rules were ridiculous. When the restaurants opened (for example), the rules were that you had to wear a mask while not seated, walking between tables, but then you could take it off once you’re at the table. LMAO
Those thin masks don’t offer much protection. The ones that do are the N95 and surgical ones, yet people were allowed to wear homemade knitted masks, cloth masks, novelty masks, etc. There was no enforcing of a standard. Masks other than N95 or surgical simply don’t work.
“Well, what’s the alternative??!!”
- when sick, people should stay home (they should have paid sick leave)
- covid tests should have been free and people should have been testing themselves every few days, I’d much rather that everyone around me had been tested in the last 24-48h, than everyone wearing a mask (improperly) while not knowing whether they have covid or not
- ventilation, UV lights (like others have said)
- hand sanitisers everywhere, plus free hand sanitisers given out (this has been done for the most part)
- quick, population-wide vaccination, no dilly-dallying, no vaccinating this group, then this group, then this group
There’s so much to unpack here. Most COVID infections are passed from an asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic carrier. Surgical masks absolutely protect the wearer and more so the people around the wearer. But you know what? You can wear an KN95 and above. Hand sanitiser is a pretty low effect remedy when touching is a lower risk danger for a respiratory virus.
restaurants
Careful people can avoid indoor dining. We can’t avoid you in mass transit and in the shop
The media lied to people. First they said masks don’t work, told people not to buy, but then couple of months later there was a mask mandate.
In the first few months of the pandemic, there was a short supply of masks for hospitals. I don’t want to be mean, but this sounds like stuff old white dudes post on Facebook.
I swear I say this out of concern for you, but I would delete your comment as it doesn’t put you in the best light.
In the first few months of the pandemic, there was a short supply of masks for hospitals.
But why lie? Why not say “masks work, but there is a shortage in healthcare and refrain from buying too much”? This is why people’s trust in institutions is eroding. Our institutions are neoliberal constructed and controlled anyway. Then they lied about the efficacy of vaccines. Again, why not be honest about it? Liberals have been digging their own grave for a while.
Surgical masks absolutely protect the wearer and more so the people around the wearer.
Where did I say they don’t?
We can’t avoid you in mass transit and in the shop
lol
I would delete your comment as it doesn’t put you in the best light.
You should read my comment more carefully, before having a knee-jerk reaction to a few key words.
But why lie?
Honestly, post a source that the media lied about masks. I can’t believe you’re allowed to post this.
Surgical masks absolutely protect the wearer and more so the people around the wearer.
Where did I say they don’t?
“Those thin masks don’t offer much protection.” This is just misinformation.
We can’t avoid you in mass transit and in the shop
lol
Sociopath level response.
Also I told you about asymptomatic transmission yet your comment remains unedited.
“Those thin masks don’t offer much protection.”
Not compared to N95 and surgical masks, no. I’ve seen people wear one-layer cloth masks. Can anyone guarantee that every mask sold in a shop or at home is made according to WHO’s recommendation of three layers of certain fabrics/material?
post a source that the media lied about masks.
Only place I could find from a quick search: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/fact-checkoutdated-video-of-fauci-saying-theres-no-reason-to-be-walking-arou-idUSKBN26T2T9/
A video circulating on social media shows Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), saying “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” Fauci’s remarks were made on March 8, 2020 [start of the Pandemic]
In the clip, Dr Fauci says “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.”
I remember seeing that on TV in March. I remember cause I wasn’t traveling and I was watching TV in the hotel. For a second I thought I may have imagined it (which I would have admitted had I not found anything).
Also I told you about asymptomatic transmission yet your comment remains unedited.
What do you want me to do about it? Isn’t asymptomatic transmission more likely at home or at work where you spend a lot of time indoors with the same people? Do people wear masks at home?
Not compared to N95 and surgical masks, no. I’ve seen people wear one-layer cloth masks. Can anyone guarantee that every mask sold in a shop or at home is made according to WHO’s recommendation of three layers of certain fabrics/material?
And this is an argument to not mask to protect vulnerable comrades why?
Only place I could find from a quick search: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/fact-checkoutdated-video-of-fauci-saying-theres-no-reason-to-be-walking-arou-idUSKBN26T2T9/
At least you found a source. I hope that you see that something that happened at month 1 of the pandemic, shared solely on Facebook of all places, shouldn’t be affecting your decisions in any way.
What do you want me to do about it?
Remove insinuations that sick leave and hand sanitising are substitutes for masking. By themselves, they’re fine. But to uses them as an argument that we shouldn’t mask is hella misguided.
And this is an argument to not mask to protect vulnerable comrades why?
That’s not the argument I made.
to uses them as an argument that we shouldn’t mask is hella misguided
My argument was that blaming individuals (especially the working class, rich people never got punished for breaking covid regulations) for the spread of covid when governments should have done much more in the very beginning, namely shutting down most international flights, gave people months off work, shut down everything but the essential places, etc. But throughout the whole pandemic every Western government kept thinking about is keeping the economy afloat, coming up with ad-hoc measures and silly half-measures (like wearing masks in restaurants while walking). By the time covid is all around you that you need a mask 24/7 it’s already too late and the blame shouldn’t be put on working class people who (rightfully) have grown distrustful of their governments and their institutions.
Even if we set aside the question of efficacy of masking in a society where few others do (and it is still efficacious to you and people you regularly interact with), any so-called communist who doesn’t mask is a communist who is utterly failing at even the bare minimum of solidarity with their immunocompromised comrades. Do you consider yourself someone who is mindful and compassionate of other working people in your community? Then you should be masking.
