No masks for vaccinated.

[Still Alive]

7 hours ago, just_abc said:

 

um.. actually many countries in asia either had ..or currently have.. mandatory mask regulations..

A couple of examples of countries.

Thailand

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2106951/face-mask-rules-curfews-expanded

Singapore

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-singapore-masks-going-out-law-12643120

 

Please note that these are just two examples.  There are other countries in asia which had or have mask rules too..

Just a small fyi that's all.

Thanks.

 

*ps   Please note second link article (about singapore) is originally from last year.. but mask wearing (except for very young children etc) is still going on..  Thanks.

Thanks. I did not know it was mandatory even before Rona. For many years I used to see asians wearing masks in public and would think, "What a horrible way to live." That attitude carried forward to my response to mask mandates from day one. i.e. "Now someone is trying to MAKE US DO IT HERE!" 

As an american steeped in my country's heritage and constitution, I literally value freedom over life.  And it shows in my attitude from day one about the lockdown in general. I bought into the "flatten the curve" explanation, but that one ran its course in the first couple of weeks. 

 

6 hours ago, just_abc said:

Just a small note.

In my country (which I am guessing possibly has a younger population demographic than tbe Usa?).. from data between march last year and april this year.. possibly almost a third of all those who died as a result Covid in my country were between 50-64 years old..  In addition there were also younger people especially those in their 30's and 40's  who also died.. but a lesser number than the 50-64 year group.

Also while many of those who died may have had underlying health conditions such as asthma or diabetes or high blood pressure etc.. that does not automatically mean they were 'dying'..  (well unless you are refering to all humans dying? )

Many conditions such as asthma etc can often be controlled with medication.. and many people can live long lives even with those very common conditions.. 

Covid is killing them now ..as well as some people (smaller number).. who possibly don't even have those underlying conditions..

Sorry just wanted to mention this.

Thanks.

This profile seems to more generally fit the other ones, e.g. swine and bird flu's, that become a thing in other places (like Asia) but never really make it here in significant numbers.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Still Alive

[Still Alive]

This is a nice bookend for this whole topic, with a nice Forrest Gump-ism:

And Just Like That, Masks Are No Longer Necessary

[just_abc]

2 hours ago, Still Alive said:

Thanks. I did not know it was mandatory even before Rona. 

Sorry I think perhaps my post was not very clear.  I think masks were generally not mandatory in public before Covid ?  (Well ..um.. actually I am not sure whether or not it was mandatory in certain specific places such as schools.. during the SARS outbreak years ago?  Or not?  Sorry not sure about that.   .... But as far as I know I *think* it was not generally mandatory for most public places in asian countries.. until Covid last year /this year.... )

The news links I posted in my earlier post.. were refering to Covid times..  

 

2 hours ago, Still Alive said:

For many years I used to see asians wearing masks in public and would think, "What a horrible way to live." 

Wow.. why would you think that?  

Wanting to keep oneself safe /healthy.... Or wanting others to be safe /healthy..  that is not a bad thing..  It is a good thing..

I can't speak for entire continents..  but as someone who lives where I live.. one thing which was (and still is) really hard for me to try to understand.. is why so many folk in some countries such as america.. including fellow Christians.. would be so against something simple like wearing masks?    To me that is something that is really really hard to try to wrap my head around.. because it is so soooooo different in my part of the world..  Over here in this part of the world..wearing masks is usually not a big deal at all.. (as long as there is enough supply and the price is not a burden etc).. 

So sometimes some of the comments etc about wearing masks.. even from Christians on sites such as worthy..  that is something which is really really hard to understand..?  It is just sooooo different than how most Christians in this part of the world would view wearing masks....  

Just some thoughts.

Thanks.

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by just_abc

[Still Alive]

1 minute ago, just_abc said:

Sorry I think perhaps my post was not very clear.  I think masks were generally not mandatory in public before Covid ?  (Well ..um.. actually I am not sure whether or not it was mandatory in certain specific places such as schools.. during the SARS outbreak years ago?  Or not?  Sorry not sure about that.   .... But as far as I know I *think* it was not generally mandatory for most public places in asian countries.. until Covid last year /this year.... )

The news links I posted in my earlier post.. were refering to Covid times..  

No prob. I got that when I read them. My response didn't necessarily reflect that because I didn't want to "start an argument" based on what you said.  I've not seen your posts before so I didn't know if you might "go off" on my like a lot of folks have all over the forums I'm on since this thing started.  

[Still Alive]

3 minutes ago, just_abc said:

Wow.. why would you think that?  

Wanting to keep oneself safe /healthy.... Or wanting others to be safe /healthy..  that is not a bad thing..  It is a good thing..

I can't speak for entire continents..  but as someone who lives where I live.. one thing which was (and still is) really hard for me to try to understand.. is why so many folk in some countries such as america.. including fellow Christians.. would be so against something simple like wearing masks?    To me that is something that is really really hard to try to wrap my head around.. because it is so soooooo different in my part of the world..  Over here in this part of the world..wearing masks is usually not a big deal at all.. (as long as there is enough supply and the price is not a burden etc).. 

So sometimes some of the comments etc about wearing masks.. even from Christians on sites such as worthy..  that is something which um I dont know how to understand..?  It is sooooo different than how most Christians in this part of the world would view wearing masks..  

Just some thoughts.

Thanks.

It's not that I'm against wearing masks. Frankly, my problems with the whole thing are way too deep and complex to handle in a few posts and, frankly, would be a boring read. As a Christian I believe that faith is the opposite of fear, and fear is the opposite of faith. I see wearing a mask as a sign of one of two things: Fear and obeying rules. I'm fine with the "obeying rules part when in a store. If they ask me to leave, I'll leave. I'm not fine with the government mandates. For them to require such a thing in the US would need martial law, which they never instigated.

The fear reason is the one that saddens me. And I understand that it is because people are victims of their information sources - which gets to the core problem for me: I see this whole thing as an experiment in total control of the masses. If true, that is a very big deal. 

Bottom line is that every culture values different things. In the US, we have the heritage of our constitution, which is built on the foundational principle of protecting the God given rights of the individual person. To this end, it is not wearing masks that bothers us. It is the government, without proper authority, REQUIRING us to wear masks. 

It's really that simple. 

 

[teddyv]

2 hours ago, Still Alive said:

 

The fear reason is the one that saddens me. And I understand that it is because people are victims of their information sources - which gets to the core problem for me: I see this whole thing as an experiment in total control of the masses. If true, that is a very big deal. 

What I don't understand is why this is the go-to reason. That would be somewhere down my list, but for whatever reason, it's your top concern.

2 hours ago, Still Alive said:

Bottom line is that every culture values different things. In the US, we have the heritage of our constitution, which is built on the foundational principle of protecting the God given rights of the individual person. To this end, it is not wearing masks that bothers us. It is the government, without proper authority, REQUIRING us to wear masks. 

It's really that simple. 

 

I've yet to see well demonstrated that the rights conferred by the constitution are in fact God-given. They are not wrong, or bad, or whatever, but I don't really buy into the God-given part (I know the language uses the word Creator, but that's a pretty vague term and not unusual for the period of the Enlightenment).

[Still Alive]

13 minutes ago, teddyv said:

What I don't understand is why this is the go-to reason. That would be somewhere down my list, but for whatever reason, it's your top concern.

I've been away from broadcast television now for almost a quarter of a century. You've heard the analogy of how to boil a frog alive? Well, I'm the frog outside the water and when I stick my toe in I tell the other frogs that the water is really hot. I can see it clearly "from the outside". 

But to be fair, that is not my "only" explanation for the nonsense we get from the main news sources. Another, and less "evil" one is that they are simply trying to sensationalize news to get more viewers. 

But, for me, all this started with Walter Cronkite's coverage of the Tet Offensive. It was a huge victory for the US but presented as our ultimate defeat/failure by the press and led to our losing ultimately. It was probably going on before that, but that is when it showed up on my radar. 

And ultimately, I just see it as "never let a crisis go to waste". 

[Still Alive]

17 minutes ago, teddyv said:

I've yet to see well demonstrated that the rights conferred by the constitution are in fact God-given. They are not wrong, or bad, or whatever, but I don't really buy into the God-given part (I know the language uses the word Creator, but that's a pretty vague term and not unusual for the period of the Enlightenment).

You can call them "god given", "nature given" or any other "given". Think of them as the "god given" right of dogs to bark. That's all they are really saying. The constitution just lays out that, of all the things individual humans are able to do, by virtue of their being human, specific things will not be interfered with by the government. That's why I doesn't protect your ability to murder or rob. 

But the key is that the constitution does not grant rights. Rather, it protects them.

Regarding that "particular period of enlightenment", it goes deeper than that. It was a particular period of time in a particular place where men steeped in historical knowledge, an understanding of human nature and experience with a despot trying to control everyone's life. And they created what is arguably the greatest foundation for a government ever created. Frankly, it's pretty obvious that they had a lot more wisdom than most of our leaders today, regardless of party or country.

I'm delving into politics so I'll back off and give you the last word, if you choose to take it.

[Ozarkbound]

3 hours ago, just_abc said:

 

I can't speak for entire continents..  but as someone who lives where I live.. one thing which was (and still is) really hard for me to try to understand.. is why so many folk in some countries such as america.. including fellow Christians.. would be so against something simple like wearing masks?    To me that is something that is really really hard to try to wrap my head around.. because it is so soooooo different in my part of the world..  Over here in this part of the world..wearing masks is usually not a big deal at all.. (as long as there is enough supply and the price is not a burden etc).. 

 

Because we are Americans. We are a FREE country and a lot of us do not like things dictated to us.

We value being able to make our own choices. Especially when the "science" changes every day.

We realize that giving the government too much control will cause us to lose our freedoms. Governments tend to take all the power they can.  Americans are on the lookout for this. At least those of us who aren't woke are.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Ozarkbound

[one.opinion]

7 hours ago, Still Alive said:

This is a nice bookend for this whole topic, with a nice Forrest Gump-ism:

And Just Like That, Masks Are No Longer Necessary

The CDC tried to make it clear that this update was for vaccinated people. The vaccines are working even better than scientists expected. Virtually everyone that has a COVID infection requiring hospitalization is unvaccinated. Please look at the whole context of the statement and not pretend that important caveat didn’t exist, as the article author tried to imply.