Masking and Vaxing: part two

 I've had a problem getting this written, as it seems like there's something more, or new (is it?) every day. I do like to be up to date  with my posts, even when they are rapidly outdated by the next new thing to come about. 

But, my main topic was and is about the issue of people's rights. There has been no major change on that front. Some places are refusing to demand them, some places are only demanding proof, and the politicians are squawking and seesawing on the topic. 

That means, to me, that I can safely offer my opinion and give my reasons why. 

I don't think any of my readers are advocates of violence against fat old ladies with bum legs sitting in their hermitage.

Sure hope not.

I said previously that masking is not a civil rights issue. It is an on/off or yes/no situation wherein each person has the right to decide their level of participation. As with all such issues, there are consequences to the choices made, either way. 

I do NOT think the same way about the vaccines.

I do not think anyone should be forced to be vaccinated. 

That is, no one who can think for themselves. And the caretakers of babies, children, and anyone mentally impaired should study and think long and hard over what they will have done to another person. Weigh the risks. Weigh the likelihoods. Weigh the evidence.

Deciding for another person is a weighty matter. In my opinion, even moreso than for yourself. 

I do not think vaccines should be mandated. 

Doing so is a violation of the right to bodily autonomy.

It is forcing a foreign substance known to be rooted in a harmful medium. 

In almost all other ways, this is not allowed. 

Rape is the most obvious form of "sharing" outside elements by forcing them into another body. And our understanding of rape has been growing, so that we are more aware of the wrongness of this action.

From low level battery to high definition assault, no one is allowed to put things in someone else's body without their consent.

From ancient slavery to current human trafficking and the selling of children, no one is allowed to put others in a situation where they must let others put things in their bodies without their consent. 

Sick people who spit or knowingly force their foreign matter into someone else's body have been, are being charged with attempted murder.

Society -- and governments -- know that these are wrongs. 

They would still be wrongs if the parents were selling their children.

They would still be wrongs if the parents were renting out their daughters.

They would still be wrongs if the batterer or murderer says "She's MY wife." (Or boyfriend, or ex, or my best friend from kindergarten.) 

It is a violation of their right to their own body.

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Now, I do not mean to say the vaccines are a bad thing. 

I don't mean to say that they are or aren't nonsense, or that they are a conspiracy, or that they are unnecessary. 

I'm not saying the science is bad, or wrong, either.

I'm saying that I (every individual) have the right to decide what goes in my body.

And when, and where, and how, and, most lately, how often. 

That is my right, and no one else's.

Masking and Vaxing: Part One.

 The big topic for the last several months has been the "rights" of individuals during a health crisis. The basic issues do not depend on how real or how novelized said health crisis is. 

Masking. 

A public health measure, and one with a tradition of effectiveness. It is a step towards normality after a period of quarantine, and it is simple.

Cover your nose and mouth. 

Yes, it gets hard to breathe, and yes, it can fog up your eyeglasses, or mess up  a fancy haircut. 

Well, when you are dead, you are NOT breathing, and your glasses may fog, but you will not be affected by this. 

Your fancy hairdo, however, may enhance your final appearance in this life and those losing you can remember how beautiful you were the last time they saw you. Before the worms or the warmth take you away forever.

One hopes they will use that  memory to forget the one of choking, gasping, crying in pain, or with an exhaust pipe stuck into your chest through your mouth.

That is, of course, if what kills you is the Terrible Disease. Which it most likely will not be. You may never ever even get a symptom of it. (Which does not mean you habe never had it; many peopel don't have synptoms.)

Still, why take a chance when there's such a basic, simple, non-invasive precaution that can be taken?

There are solutions to the problems, for most people. 

Have you ever wondered why the plague masks of doctors have long bird beaks? Or have you blindly believed the so-called experts who say it was to put herbs and concoctions in so that they wouldn't get sick? (And why is this mocked, when so many of our modern medicines began as herbal remedies?)

No.

The plague masks with the bird beaks, even without herbs and concoctions, allow the air room to circulate. You do not immediately breathe in what you just breathed out. 

Many people who dressed as plague doctors last Halloween kept and used their masks, and developers, retailers, inventors, and marketers all took notice.

They created other forms of masks, that had pouches for air circulation. 

They made something called a turtle which looks ridiculously like a dog muzzle, but has the same effect as the pouch or beak. It holds the mask away from the nose and mouth but they remain covered. It gives the air room to move.

Some say that mask mandates are a violation of their civil rights. There are a lot of arguments to this claim, including one man busting a hole in his one cabin so the very full (of passengers) boat fills with seawater. It was his room, he said, and he paid for it, and therefore it is his right to do whatever he wants in his PRIVATE SPACE. 

Remind me never to rent a property to this guy, if he survives this exercise of his personal rights.

PUBLIC HEALTH.

The purpose of public health officials and the reason for their existence is to protect the general public when it comes to health matters. 

It is their job.

If they were not doing their job, these same rights proponents would be complaining just as loudly and be twice as upset if they were not doing their job. 

That is, if they arent too dead or sick to be concerned about their rights while they are saying their good-byes -- long distance and through a cold hard screen. No hugs, although many tears. no one last touch, no stroke of the fingers along the arm, no last brush of lips and breath of breath.

No hand to hold on as the Great Mystery is about to unfold itself.

We mostly know that we go alone, but we've thought there would be a friendly hand holding ours as we move beyond, or a familiar voice lingering in our ears as sounds from here-and-now fade. 

Wear your masks. Get fancy, get plain, put a muzzle on underneath or wear a bird beak. 

Yes, it's awkward.

Yes, it looks stupid.

Yes, it's inconvenient.

But it doesn't hurt. 

It really isn't expensive. 

In most cases, it doesn't make you sick. 

And you may never know how many people it may keep alive and well.

Your friend has a civil right to live in minimal safety.

It is the job of government and public health to offer everyone -- you included -- that chance.