When Morons Attack!

I would post the meme in question if Blogspot's server would allow it but, alas it won't so... The meme shows a person shrugging and a cigarette smoldering. The text (top to bottom) reads:

"THE CDC CLAIMS THAT SMOKING IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR 480,000 DEATHS YEARLY, INCLUDING 25,000 FROM JUST SECOND HAND SMOKE

YET THE GOVERNMENT HAS NEVER FORCED ANYONE TO STOP SMOKING TO SAVE A LIFE.

SO THEN, WHY ARE YOU BEING FORCED TO WEAR A MASK?

STILL THINK THIS IS ABOUT 'SAVING LIVES'?"

    This imbecilic piece of crap was posted (with appropriate sarcastic comments) by a friend whose former childhood friend, and now Trump supporting village idiot (redundant?), posted it because he believes it is reasonable and makes sense. Snopes and most thinking humans have done fact checks on this, but many stopped short of the “Full Monty” so here goes.

The meme is right, only in the sense that “the government” has never forced anyone to “stop smoking.” However, it is illegal and prosecutable, as of February 2020, to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21. So yes, while not mandating “stopping” there are restrictions in place aimed at preventing “starting.” Additionally, 27 states ban any and all smoking in public buildings, actions aimed directly at second-hand smoke.

Of course, there are parents who routinely subject their kids to second-hand smoke on a regular basis. These are, more than likely, the same folks to whom seatbelts are just an annoyance. In fact, there seems to be a direct congruence between intelligence and compliance in these areas.

The other aspect that makes this meme so terribly wrong is that the mask mandate is pretty much aimed at the same circumstances as the smoking bans, i.e. in public places where others are exposed to the smoke. No one has even suggested the necessity of masking at home or when alone. (unless contagious and quarantined),

There is, however, a key difference here. If you are smoking, in my vicinity, I can ask politely (only once) that you not do it, Failing any rapprochement, I can leave, calling you an inconsiderate prick as I do. The key difference here is that I will always be aware of your smoking and, if I so choose, leave the area. In any case, the fact that you smoke is visible. Additionally, any smoke you personally inhale stays with you. You don’t enter my space and them exhale it. The damage it does is limited to you, unless of course you b!ow it in my face, in which case it's gonna get western!

Contrariwise, you may be contagious with COVID and be asymptomatic. This doesn’t mean that you aren’t contagious. In fact, you can spread the disease to those with whom you come in contact and neither you nor they will be aware of it until, perhaps, grandma sickens and dies! Masks aren’t to protect you, moron, they are to protect others from you. If you are contagious, you can leave the remnants of a sneeze as a present for others. While visible “spray” droplets generally fall out of the air rapidly within seconds to minutes while close to the source, they can remain infective for up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. Smaller droplets and particles formed when small droplets dry very quickly in the airstream can remain suspended for many minutes to hours and travel some distance from the source.

Here’s the authority for a nationwide mandate if necessary: “Under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S. Code § 264), the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to take measures to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states.” So why no nationwide mandate? Ask your lame duck President, whose failure to do just that is responsible for our outrageous death toll! Some state governors acted because of the Trump failure to lead. And as to your smoking analogy; as incredibly stupid as it is, smoking is not “communicable.”

So, it isn’t about you. It’s about those who you may infect because you are simply too selfish to take reasonable precautions. Now, since you seem to think mask rules are a gross violation of your right to do as you damn well please, here are some other government rules which you probably don’t think are unfair but are just as restrictive.

Speed limits. Having to buy car insurance. Driver’s license. Hunting and Fishing licensure. Marriage license. Seat belt requirements. Legal age to purchase alcohol or drink.

None the above, except legal age to buy alcohol are actually federally mandated but are under state authority. So, when a Governor, doing what POTUS hasn’t the sense to do, mandates masks in public, they are on the side of the angels. You, when you whine, gripe and moan about a temporary inconvenience are, simply put, a self-centered dick! In your defense, your President has set you that example for some time.