Government instilled fear in people to make them wear masks during COVID pandemic

02/18/2022 / By Mary Villareal

Asking people to wear masks was a visual sign that the world is in a pandemic, and many are supposed to be afraid and panicked at all times. Mask-wearing showed that the government can tell everyone what to do and force them to do something without really explaining the reasons why.

During the February 16 episode of “The American Journal,” Ian Miller talked about how masking narratives are affecting the way people think. Miller is the author of the book “Unmasked: The Global Failure of COVID Mask Mandates.”

He noted that people followed the mask mandates due to fear: simply because they didn’t know early on what COVID was about. “Remember, the World Health Organization was saying that something like three and a half percent of people that got COVID were going to die.”

Miller added that there was this thought that if people collectively do something that they believe will protect themselves, then they can avoid the disease. However, that has been proven to be inaccurate. (Related: DeSantis: Study shows no correlation between mask mandates and lower coronavirus transmission.)

People are also afraid of being ostracized. “Once things kind of open and you see everybody wearing a mask and you don’t want to be the only person there and cause a scene and have conflict and get yelled at because you’re not doing what everybody else is doing,” Miller said.

“The American Journal” host Harrison Smith pointed out that the masks from the very beginning “have been totally not based on science, totally baseless” and that “all of the published works before showed the masks were ineffective.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci himself sent an email to one of the employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), saying that he reviewed all the randomized controlled trials on masking, and there had been no benefit to it. Then three or four days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Fauci himself came to say that everyone should wear a mask. It is not possible for science to change in three or four days in that way.

Still, masks remain mandatory. People can wear whatever kind of mask, even a handkerchief or a bandana, or even a used mask, and it counts because the masks are merely symbolic, and it’s not actually being used as protection.

Furthermore, Miller believes that a lot of people want to feel like they’re good, and wearing masks make them feel like they’re helping and contributing. Once that became a kind of message from the CDC, that it wasn’t just about protecting one’s self, but protecting others as well, people are keener to enforce the mask mandates themselves.

“It’s like, well, you’re not protecting me, you’re a bad person.”

Ending mask mandates is a step into post-COVID normal

Several states are now ending mask mandates, including in schools. While masks have been symbolic of the pandemic life, shedding them would signal a transition to the “new normal.”

A literal breath of fresh air to throw away the masks and see the smiles of friends and families, the U.S. is on a good trajectory that will soon move COVID from a pandemic to an endemic phase.

However, the CDC still argues that mask-wearing remains vital and that governors are acting prematurely as cases remain high and hospitals are still overwhelmed, especially with the more transmissible variants. There is also the issue of facing a severe shortage of effective treatments to keep people from hospitalizations.

The collective frustration of the public is palpable. Two years into the pandemic, and people now want to socialize – especially for children, for whom socialization is critical in development. (Related: Governments left and right just won’t stop tyrannizing people with mask mandates.)

If current trends are to be believed, mask mandates should be withdrawn. However, individuals may still continue to wear their masks voluntarily as the CDC still continues its narrative to recommend the use of masks in areas of “high and substantial transmission.”