Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson opened his program questioning the of masks and the reactions from some to those that question the science justifying masks as a means to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Carlson pointed to how dissent from the conventional wisdom on masks is shut down in some cases, including by public officials and on social media.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: If someone had asked you a year ago what you thought of people who wear masks after Halloween, the chances are your reaction would have been negative. Masks? What kind of person covers his face in public?
Let’s see. Armed robbers do that. So do Klansmen and radical wahhabists.
The rest of us don’t do that. In fact, until recently, wearing a mask in public was illegal in many places. The assumption was if you’re hiding who you are, you’re up to something bad. It made people nervous.
By our nature, we want to see each other. We need to see each other. Looking at another person’s face is the beginning of connection. Eliminating that connection dehumanizes us. That used to be obvious.
A century ago, during the Spanish flu pandemic, authorities in many cities in this country passed mandatory mask ordinances just like the ones we have now. Many Americans accepted them, but many others did not accept them.
In California, citizens rebelled. In January 1919, five thousand members of the newly formed Anti-Mask League of San Francisco gathered to call for the mayor’s resignation if he didn’t repeal his mask order. Five days later, the mayor complied. Science vindicated that decision in the end.
A year later, a study found that compulsory mask use likely had no effect on curbing the Spanish flu.
We live in a very different time. American society, of course, is far less cohesive than it was a hundred years ago and Americans seemed far more passive than they did. Those who disagree with the prevailing orthodoxy have less power than they’ve ever had.
Mass communications are now controlled by a tiny number of people, all of whom have identical agendas. There is no modern Anti-Mask League, there couldn’t be a modern Anti-Mask League. Facebook and Google would shut it down the first day. The governors of Michigan and New Jersey would indict its leaders.
Dissent used to be a defining feature of American life, but no more. Now, we have mandatory consensus. Masks are good. Anyone who questions the utter goodness of masks is bad.
What they’re really telling you is that masks are magic. What appears to be a flimsy cut face covering is in fact a holy amulet that protects us from disease more reliably than any modern medicine.
Listen to the Director of the CDC, Robert Redfield explain that actually, masks are better than vaccines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: This face mask is more guaranteed to protect me than a vaccine. Following? More guaranteed. There are now degrees of guarantee apparently. That’s quite an endorsement from a leading man of science.
So go long on masks. There’s nothing more important, the CDC said so.
But of course our politicians didn’t need to hear that, they already believed it. Earlier this month, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom sent out a tweet from his office with this command, quote, “Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend? Don’t forget to keep your mask on in between bites. Do your part to keep those around you healthy.” Understand.
You are eating with people you live with every day, but be certain to shield your faces as you eat for safety. That tweet is still up by the way. They weren’t kidding.
Watch Newsom’s fellow governor, Andrew Cuomo, the man who probably killed more Americans from coronavirus than anyone apart from the Chinese government explain that if you don’t wear a mask, you’re a murderer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I think it’s disrespectful of people not to wear masks. I mean, think about it.
Do I think local government should be enforcing it and should there be sanctions? Yes. Yes.
Because it is a public health emergency and I think there should be a penalty because you can literally kill someone. You could literally kill someone because you didn’t want to wear a mask.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: You could literally kill someone. Literally, he said it twice. You selfishly wanted to breathe fresh air and conduct a human conversation. You are John Wayne Gacy.
In Nashville, one city councilwoman suggested that citizens who don’t wear masks could be charged with attempted murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN HURT, NASHVILLE COUNCILWOMAN: You know, I work for an organization that if they pass a virus, then they are tried for murder or attempted murder if they are not told.
Maybe there needs to be stronger legislation to say that if you do not wear a mask and you subject exposure of this virus to someone else, then there will be some stronger penalty, as it is in other viruses that are exposed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So you thought you were smiling at someone you love. In fact, you are pulling the trigger. See you at jail, miscreant.
Harsh words, but then science itself is harsh. Science has no regard for sentiment or public opinion. Science doesn’t care about your feelings. Science is about facts, data, truth, measurable outcomes.
So what is the science on masks? Well, as it happened, we have the latest for you tonight. And the science comes interestingly from the CDC whose Director has told you that masks were magic, more effective than vaccines.
But the numbers from the CDC suggests otherwise. A new study conducted by 11 medical institutions analyzed a group of people who tested positive for COVID during the month of July. Here’s the interesting part.
Among those who were infected, more than 70% reported they had quote, “always worn a mask” for the preceding 14 days. Another 14.4% said they had quote, “often worn a mask.” In other words, almost everyone, 85% who got the coronavirus in July was wearing a mask and they were infected anyway.
So clearly this doesn’t work the way they tell us it works. Clearly, someone has been lying to us, many people actually. How did this happen? Well, the short answer is we’re not sure how so many people got the coronavirus were wearing masks, but there are clues, clues that our leaders appear to be ignoring.
Here’s one. According to a study published in April by researchers at several medical institutions including Cleveland Clinic, surgical masks are actually ineffective at stopping the inhalation of small airborne particles. Instead, the researchers found that surgical masks which almost everyone is using to protect themselves from the coronavirus and not murder other people are actually only useful from protecting users from quote “large droplets and sprays.” That’s not how the coronavirus spreads.
According to a letter signed by several researchers earlier this month in “Science” Magazine, the biggest threat from the coronavirus, quote “by far” is when it’s contained in small particles that can easily bypass facemask in aerosol form. Droplets quickly fall to the ground, but aerosol lingers.
The researchers wrote that the tiny particles can remain in the air quote, “for many seconds to hours like smoke and be inhaled.” The particles are, quote, “highly concentrated near an infected person, but aerosols containing infectious viruses can also travel more than six feet and accumulate in poorly ventilated indoor air leading to super spreading events.”
So if you’ve been wearing a mask at the table in between bites, this might come as a surprise to you. It’s not what they told you. You should also know the consensus changes. They never admit it, but it does. Science changes as we learn more.
It was only a few weeks ago that the same people yelling at you now for not wearing a mask were scolding you for considering buying a mask.
On February 29, Jerome Adams, he is the U.S. Surgeon General tweeted this quote, “Seriously, people, stop buying masks. They are not effective in preventing the general public from catching the coronavirus.”
Now at one point, we mocked him for saying that because that seemed absurd to us. If masks aren’t effective, then why do surgeons wear them? But it turns out maybe he was onto something.
On March 8, Anthony Fauci told us, once again, masks are pointless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.
QUESTION: You’re sure of it? Because people are listening really closely to this.
FAUCI: Now, right now, people should not be worried. There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.
When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: These people are so awful. All of us are learning about this on the fly. It was a new disease. There are a lot of things we didn’t know.
But to pretend that you are speaking God’s word and rearrange our society on the basis of that and never acknowledge that you were completely wrong, that your assumptions were false, that’s the definition of dishonesty. And it’s also the hallmark of the people who lead us. They know nothing.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor