Thursday afternoon I was in San Francisco's financial district. Because of the lockdowns, the streets are pretty empty.
As usual, I was walking the streets without a mask on. The compliance here is 99.9% Coming toward me on Montgomery Street was a big guy with his face covered in a mask.
As he got closer, he stepped off the sidewalk and walked onto the street and stood with both his hands up and said, "Hey."
Of course, I knew what his problem was but I decided to have some fun.
I replied while trying to look as dumb and confused as Nancy Plelosi. "What?"
He pointed to his mask and said, "Put a mask on."
My reply, which is one I also used last weekend, was "Why?"
He replied, "Because it is the law."
My reply, "It is actually not law. It is a public health code and it is much more complex than 'everyone wear a mask.'"
His response, "It's the law."
Me: "It is not. It is just part of the health code with many exemptions. I have a copy of the health code with me. Would you like to see it?"
(I carry a copy of the relevant page of the health code with me with key parts highlighted.)
His response: "Yeah right, sure you do."
My response, as I pulled it out of my sports jacket, "Here it is. Take a look at it."
His response: "This is ridiculous."
Me: "Are you an emotional person or a logical person? I am very happy to discuss this with you logically."
He walked away.
Knowledge over nonsense. Pretty much the same thing happened to me on Saturday.
When you ask these crazies facts, they don't have anything. It's all about an emotional brew stirring inside them. When you ask the right questions that expose their lack of knowledge, they never want to discuss the topic, they just throw nonsense at you and walk away. Most of those who are just at the madness of crowds level can't debate the facts because they don't know any facts.
These are very shallow thinkers and don't have much in terms of facts at their disposal. Expose their shallowness of knowledge with questions and they run as though you were pointing a super-weapon at them.
Whether in sales, management, teaching, writing or fighting for liberty spend a lot of time thinking about the combination of words that you can say that will enable you to achieve your goals.
"Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs." -Pearl Strachan Hurd
-RW
My reply has been, "Why don't you try and put a mask on me?" Gets the same response.
ReplyDeleteNearly all but the truly enlightened exist in a constructed reality (disclaimer: I am not enlightened). It is the psyche's interpretation of reality, which is more comforting than actual reality. The stronger the psyche's control, the more well constructed will be this false reality. When challenged, the tendency is to reinforce the walls with more thoughts. The psyche shores up its constructed reality with more construction.
ReplyDeleteWhat this means is that very few masked individuals will respond psychologically in a way towards liberty by having their constructed reality challenged. This man is very likely to simply reinforce his walls of thought with more thoughts, such as how annoying it is that this isn't a real law so hopefully mayor supreme ruler will fix that so that you can be put in your rightful place (jail) next time.
I don't know the secret to shaking people out of their jackboot licking stupor. But it doesn't appear that there is any psychological benefit to confronting them. I know that sounds defeatist.
I think we are going to need a new approach. We need a movement that focuses on psychological wellness, to help people understand that worry and fear are their true enemies. To help them overcome their worries and fears, and in doing so, maybe that can help them overcome the constant barrage of negativity and panic mongering that enables the State to control them.
It's not going to be easy. But to those who want easy answers, I encourage them to go play for the government's team. They're full of easy answers. Real human progress is difficult and it should be. That which is worth having in life is always difficult. If it wasn't, everyone would have it.
David B.
Your first paragraph is an excellent alternative explanation of cognitive dissonance.
DeleteWe definitely need to figure out how to deal with those that are more inclined to be emotional than logical. But it is more than simply helping them to overcome fear. Because the fear is largely generated by miss information that leads to ignorance. Theirs and our true enemy is the information coming from the political class.
That's a great discussion. Like Mencken said (I paraphrase of course), the seasick passenger hates to see the experienced sailor strutting around the boat without a problem. Put differently, the coward hates to see the person who doesn't appear to be a coward. Misery demands company.
Delete“I am not sick” has become my response to maskolini’s.
ReplyDelete“I am not sick. Studies specifically for C-19 show that asymptomatic people do not transmit the disease. So I do not need a mask. Are you sick? If you are not than you should not be wearing a mask. Studies show that wearing a mask is unhealthy and unless you follow the protocols used by medical professionals, which nobody does, masks likely lead to more disease.”
I may then go on to say, “As a healthy individual, by not masking and following the new abnormal I am helping us to get over this pandemic by exposing myself to it, building immunity to it which is the only way to stop the pandemic.”
"It's the law" is also nonsensical. He has no intellectual curiosity to ask if a law makes sense or is moral?
ReplyDeleteIf "the law" said to wear a red shirt every Wednesday, then would he comply?
Moreover, it's not hard to go back in history to find laws that were heinous which no one in their right mind should have complied with.
More of this content!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Contractor makes some excellent observations. You can't argue with someone who is visibly hysterical. Frequently you can't even have a conversation. The Contractor is correct when he writes: "Its not going to be easy." In terms of a new psychological approach, Prof. Gigerenzer suggests: "...that the Dread Risk Fear is so strong, sometimes the only way to combat it is with other powerful emotions. He says: “If reason conflicts with a strong emotion, don’t try to argue. Enlist a conflicting and stronger emotion.” RW is aware of this and disagrees. He continues to try to educate when possible. I'm not sure what "strong emotion" could shake the public from its unwarranted fear of covid-19 but this seems a risky tactic. Another option is suggested by Zachary Yost in an essay at mises.org titled Politics Won't Fix The American Decline. Its a tactic I use and have often recommended. Stay focused on yourself and those you love and care for. Take care of the health, psychological and physical of yourself and those closest to you. Yost even suggests getting involved in local organizations like town hall meetings, school boards, homeowner associations, local church, etc. But I have found even local organizations can be crowded with unreasonable people. Again, its not easy. But the long term trend toward centralization, hysteria, and tyranny will not change until there are more reasonable people. This can only be accomplished one person at a time.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.outkick.com/stanford-study-questions-benefits-of-lockdowns-and-stay-at-home-orders/
ReplyDeleteStarting around 2009, I always told Keynesians and non-Austrians online that no non-Austrian in the galaxy had the slightest familiarity with even the most basic Austrian School concepts. No one EVER disputed this or came back with an attempted demonstration of understanding. EVER.
ReplyDeleteSince March, I have been similarly challenging lockdowners on local Detroit TV news Facebook posts with 1,234 comments. I always say that I have yet to find a single lockdowner who could read or understand a medical study. I inform them that there are no studies which support the efficacy of lockdowns or masks and I usually attached a graph of, for example, Covid-19 deaths in California vs. Florida which indicate the date of mask mandates, lockdowns or their termination. NO ONE ever claims to have a supporting study and no one tries to produce one. EVER. The comment might get 2 thumbs up and a laughing emoji (which is the favorite debating point of the lockdowners and Democrats in general).
Also, I like to post the conclusions of studies from physicians such as David Brownstein and/or Pierre Kory who claim that their protocols have been almost 100% effective in preventing or curing Covid-19 illness, including those suffering from the deadly clogged lung stage. I provide the link to the paper or the study and paste in the conclusion section. NO ONE EVER RESPONDS to such a comment. Even in libertarian social media groups.
As is the norm, no one responds to a doctor claiming to have a simple and inexpensive cure. Dr. Brownstein, who suspected in February that Covid-19 patients would respond to his therapies the same way people sick with deadly flu strains had in prior years, explains:
ReplyDelete"5. Conclusion In summary, we treated 107 COVID-19 patients, solely with biological therapies, who all recovered. Only three were hospitalized. Of the three hospitalizations, two were hospitalized before beginning our treatment and sought our care post hospitalization. One was hospitalized while solely taking the oral regimen of Vitamins A, C, D, and iodine, and not the oxidative therapies. All recovered uneventfully. There were no deaths. In the state of Michigan, as of 6/21/20, the case fatality rate was 9.0% (6,067 deaths and 67,097 positive cases of SARS-CoV-2). [92] Therefore, out of our 107 COVID-19 patients, 10 deaths could be predicted. At the very least, with 25 patients testing positive for the virus, we should have expected two deaths, but in reality, we should have seen significantly more morbidity considering we only had 33 tests performed on the 107 patients (all symptomatic), a median age of 56, and comorbid conditions. Of the 107 patients total, we should have experienced at least eight hospitalizations considering the median age, according to a published analysis."
https://tinyurl.com/yxftom86
Pete Quinones thinks that people LIKE living with total irrational fear because it fills up the void in their otherwise empty lives.