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ON THE TYRANNY OF WEARING FACE MASKS IN PUBLIC
THE CONFRONTATION
The other day I was walking my dog "Kirke" on the "Strand" in Oceanside. The sidewalk is 6 1/2 feet wide and on the West side, 50 yards of sandy beach and the Pacific. Maybe 50 percent of those on the sidewalk wore masks; the rest, like me, and everyone on the sand, .... were scofflaws! Everywhere, even on portable flashing billboards, were proclamations: 'Masks required.'
So this "gentleman" is walking towards me. He is wearing a mask. As he approaches, he ostentatiously walks far into the sand to go around.... and mutters, "asshole."
I'd known dirty looks before, but never such malice. So I responded with prepared words: "And thank you.... for your virtuous caring!" He instantly came back towards me mouthing obscenities. I confess my own response was not admirable - my adrenaline kicked in - and I too closed the distance between us. It was exactly like two teenage boys posturing, 'So, big shot, what are you going to do? ' My only credit - little as I deserve - is, I did not use those fight words....or profanity....though I wanted to!
MAN IS A VALUE CREATING ANIMAL: THE SACRED & THE PROFANE
This "gentleman" wanted to hurt/punish me for not wearing a mask. Episodes of violence, threatened or otherwise, are now common.
A Black man at a small demonstration in San Francisco had his front teeth knocked out....for wearing a MAGA hat Guys like me when we see videos of aggressive BLM demonstrators have visions of "punching out". Leftwing judges sentence reporters to long prison terms for recording 'baby-parts' conversations.... without telling Planned Parenthood first that they are being recorded. Or the judge who sentenced Dinesh D'Souza to jail, for an overly big political contribution to a college friend.... when Democrats get only warnings.. Animal rights activists throw acid "milkshakes" on women wearing furs. It goes on infinitum, just in the America ....of today!
Nevermind Kristallnacht, or St. Bartholomew's Day, or Ronda 1936, or St Petersburg's lynching of innocent police in February 1917.
Man - each of us individually- create metaphysical values from antipodes: the sacred and profane. Practices like cannibalism , or widow burning (Sati), or body tattoos, are only profane because unfamiliar....says Montaigne.
The Catholic cathedral with stained glass window and saint's images are beautiful to most of us today - but were an abomination to our Puritan ancestors with their simple whitewashed 'meeting houses'. At times in the European past, men fought and died over such issues ("Iconoclasm"). Or Muslims today, who see them as "graven images."
Chinese mothers and grandmothers bound the feet of little girls.....because it was "good"!
Values change.
Marines died to raise a piece of cloth on a pole on a "Jap" hilltop. Roman soldiers died to save/recover their graven image: the Legion's "Eagle." "Believers" say they would die to save the planet from climate change. What would you do to "win" an election? And so on.
THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE - METAPHYSICALLY - ARE HARSH MASTERS...RITUALS MUST BE RIGIDLY FOLLOWED.... BUT REWARDS FLOW TO ALL BELIEVERS....SO IT'S SAID
Most people don't know it but the Spanish Inquisition lacked jurisdiction over practicing Jews and Muslims (i.e., "Moors"). It's jurisdiction was only to "purify" the faith of practicing Christians. So it used torture to probe into the inner mind of the individual who professed Christianity... to detect heresy and backsliders..... (They might possess a hidden menorah or crescent...or practice ancient and profane rituals in the secrecy of their homes. Abominable.
Islam does the same today. Yes, It's OK to be a Jew or Christian privately but the Qur'an prescribes the death penalty for any Muslim ....who now changes his/her mind....even that mind formed as a child.
HAVEL'S "GREEN GROCER" , MANCHU "QUEUES," SEINFELD'S KRAMER....THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY
The Manchus, a people from the Mongolian steppes, controlled China for a couple hundred years...until 1911. They required their Han Chinese male subjects to wear a particular "pigtail" hairstyle....on pain of death. You see the Queue in pictures of Chinese coolies from the 19th century. There was a religious element to this ritual but it's real purpose was coercive. Like the Romans who declared their emperor a god .....and required all to kowtow to his statute. The Romans couldn't have cared less if you actually believed (they didn't themselves), they just wanted obeisance. Samurai required of their peasants a nod of the head when passing.... failing which the peasant could lose his head! Just another imposed tyranny. Samurai protect society so they deserve respect. Right?
In one episode of Seinfeld, "Kramer" refused to carry a sign ("Women's' Rights" or something) not because he didn't support that cause but because he didn't like to be compelled. This "contrariness" is found in every individual. No?
Vaclav Havel was a jailed dissident in Communist Czechoslovakia. He later became president of the Czech Republic, but before that he wrote a famous essay on a "green grocer" who didn't want to put up a sing in his little shop with language to the effect "Workers of the World unite." The grocer objected not to the insipid message but to the coercion. Shouldn't free individual be able to think for themselves?
Those who know Spanish history know that Castilians used the Inquisition, in part, to impose their "will to power" on dissident parts of Spain.....such as in an independence minded Aragon. Coercionists can always give you - what they hope you will accept -as a good reason.
Coercionists always want to break independent spirits. It's necessary in creating effective soldiers. But in citizens?
Speaking of such tyrannies, Lord Acton wrote:
"Individuals....were so much material that the sovereign power consumed for its own purposes. What the slave was in the hands of his master, the citizen was in the hands of the community....The passengers existed for the sake of the ship."
Is that what free Americans exist for? The state?
MY OWN POSITION ON THE WEARING OF FACE MASKS
Simply this: I do not oppose face masks per se. For instance, when entering a rest home. But outdoors, the chance of catching the Virus is ridiculously unlikely....as it is ....in prudently arranged..... indoor dining. And I agree with Leftwing Virus "experts": the individuals right to demonstrate for his causes ..... trumps Coronavirus safety concerns!
I feel I am as familiar with the "science" as any, and like Luther, I, now, post these theses for debate.
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