I’ve been avoiding visiting major urban retailers as much as possible, due to the coronamadness that has infected cities and major towns. Here in the Virginia Outback things are more relaxed, and it’s close to business as usual. But in the cities you’re far more likely to encounter people and commercial establishments that regard the edicts of Governor Ralph “Coonman” Northam with utmost seriousness and observe the masking and social distancing rules with something approaching religious zeal.
Readers may recall that I’ve been doing archaeological excavations in this house since Dymphna died, rooting through forty years’ worth of accumulated stuff (more than fifty years if you count the boxes and trunks that came down here from my mother’s house unopened). I’m organizing, consolidating, and curating materials accumulated over several generations.
I needed some shelving materials to rationalize some of the storage space, and that required a trip into town today to shop at Lowe’s. I wondered whether they would be enforcing Coonman’s masking bull, but I went on into the store anyway without a mask. They had no signs about masks, and only about 80% of the people there wore them, which was a relief. The young assistant who helped me wore a mask, but he didn’t seem concerned that I wasn’t wearing one. So that part of my itinerary went well.
While I was in the great metropolis I went to CVS (large chain pharmacy). As expected, they had a sign on the door about masks, saying that they are “required by law”. Which is nonsense — they are required by a gubernatorial executive order, which is not at all the same thing. The legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia was not consulted. This particular order exceeds the governor’s statutory authority, and is thus unconstitutional. Furthermore, it is currently being litigated in court by Rob Schilling, a Charlottesville talk show host, and a pawnshop owner, also in Charlottesville.
So I went on into the store, brazenly unmasked. I was the only one there who refused to comply — 100% of the staff and other customers wore masks.
I could feel the dread weight of social pressure on my shoulders as I walked around the store, sticking out like a sore thumb in my selfish indifference to the well-being of others. I could have relieved the feeling by rushing back to the car and grabbing my mask out of the glove compartment, but I toughed it out.
I can understand why people give in to relentless social pressure. To resist it takes a conscious act of will that must be maintained continuously during one’s sojourns in public spaces. It’s very difficult and unpleasant not to do what everyone else is doing. But as a matter of principle, I considered it important not to comply with something so obviously arbitrary and insane.
There is a collective hysteria abroad in the land. The non-rural part of the land, that is — it’s not so bad out here, and it was good to come home.
When I stopped at the mailbox on my way in, I stood and chatted with my neighbor for a while. Neither of us was wearing a mask.
Baron,
Kudos to you for resisting the siren call of the lemmings! I too venture out without a mask. There is no statewide edict from the governor here in New Hampshire, but the social pressure brought to bear on us “free folk” is immense. I get many dirty looks from masked people, but no one has dared yet to say anything to me about my choice. The Facebook page of my town is full of posts enjoining people to “be kind, wear a mask”, it shows you care about others. And that is the mild version. People get really heated about this, insisting you are killing their grandma with your selfishness and stupidity. I just go about my business. If I were sick, I’d do the right thing and stay home. You are right about the pressure, though. I’ve always been a person who followed their own path, and usually there are others doing the same. This mask thing has changed the rules, it seems, and most people are willing to bow to the pressure and conform. I’m getting lonely out here, and hoping this thing blows over soon.
We have seen nothing yet! This is the start of something far nastier. The Left are going for broke. Soros and the Banking NGO’s are pouring billions of dollars and pounds into this effort. This is WW3! Trust me in this please? Antifa are paid mercenary revolutionaries.
The populations are stirring as the situation becomes increasingly obvious, even to the most stupid. I know all about civil wars. The situation we are in now is a classic.
People’s anger is off the wall. It is becoming obvious the elderly have been deliberately exposed to death. Millions have already died…. Straight out of Gate’s Nazi lexicon of death. The suicide rate is horrendous too.
Smiley Marxism- a mass murdering care plan of death is underway. Nurses have reported patients being openly killed-all is listed as “Covid19”. Mengele would be proud.
Oh I definitely know this is just the beginning of a much bigger plan. The Left is evil and will stop at nothing. Can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next, after all there are still a few more months before the election in November. Time to ratchet up even further in their quest to eject the Bad Orange Man from the White House. And if they fail at that, I’m sure they’ll release the hounds of hell.
Bonjour baron.
I live in rural France and it it much the same here. In the village I see no masks, except for the few ‘outsiders’ who come to deliver things, or the itinerant sales vans who come every Thursday.
In the tows I find that 80 – 90% of the ladies wear masks, but only 40 – 50% of the men. Since, as in most of rural France, most of the population are aged and are the most vulnerable, I find surprising. I had a haircut yesterday where masks were obligatory and there was a ‘clean-up’ after each customer. Hand gel is available at the entrance to every shop that I entered. The bars and cafés are open, but with strict enforcement of distancing between customers.
No protesting or rioting in my area. Thinking about it, I haven’t seen a Gendarme for months.
Keep well.
I stopped wearing a mask in Texas many weeks ago. I’ve not been asked most of the time, but at one Costco I was asked on the way in and I told them “I’m medically exempt from wearing a mask” and kept walking. No issue. Weeks later, at another Costco and the attached liquor store, I was asked upon checkout that next time I needed to wear a mask. Again, I stated “I’m medically exempt from wearing a mask”. That garnered a response of OK, that’s great each time. I’m prepared to ask them if they know the ADA fine for discriminating against the disabled, but it never goes there.
Most of the stores here in the burbs of LA have signs that require masks but even the sales staff wear them incorrectly. I bought a breakfast burrito a couple of weeks ago and the lady at the counter had a mask but not covering her nose. I bought a battery and a local Napa store last month. I entered with my mask on and as soon as I saw that the counter men were not wearing masks I said “Great!” and took mine off. I had my oven repaired a couple of weeks ago. It’s a 1955 O’keefe and Meritt DeVille and I only ever call the guy who restored it for me 20 some years ago. Jimmy. At first he was masked up but I was not, I had a recent negative test result and I never go out plus I was having a drink. By the end of the service call his mask came off as I showed off my aquarium fish and put some tools away and we talked about cars. Be the end of his visit we were evens so bold as to shake hands!
My mask protocol is pretty simple. I keep a couple of 3M N95 masks hanging from my drill press for dusty projects. They simply moved to my cars during these times. Tomorrow I have my first haircut appointment since December with the lady who’s been cutting my hair for over 25 years. I plan on carrying my mask in case I’m asked to wear it but the 3M mask is the kind that has two elastic bands the surround the head which will interfere with haircutting. Time will tell.
Hello all,
I am among the most threatened group by virtue of age, medical problems and, let’s be honest, general decrepitude. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that, after the original measures, people like me should have been identified (asked to identify ourselves) and treated as a separate group, with all possible precautions. The rest of society should have been unleashed a couple of months ago.
I wore a mask at an anti-lockdown rally. If anyone mentioned it, I was going to say that I do what I want, and so should they. But, anti-lockdown people tend to be individualists who support personal freedom, so there were no interactions on the topic.
I kind of like the mask wearing. The reason is that the culture used to be, if you wore a mask, you were weird. Sometimes, like if you have a cold or related respiratory infection, it’s just plain considerate to wear a mask. The Overton window has shifted, and masks are now part of the landscape, if you feel the need to wear one.
The research shows the Covid virus is too small to be stopped by any mask, even an N95. But, the mask stops moisture droplets, and simple logic infers that if you’re infected, wearing a mask prevents you from injecting virus-filled droplets into the air. The only thing that ever irritated me is when a restaurant asked me to use hand sanitizer before dining in. I HATE hand sanitizer, but I complied. Who am I to hassle waitresses and restaurant employees, and make their jobs more stressful?
My opinion is that the next big disruption will be another black resisting arrest getting killed. I think the lockdown has run its course, and most political leaders recognize another lockdown order will be massively ignored. Plus, the police that they threw to the wolves will not be likely to hassle the segment of the population, working people, who are most likely to support them.