Chey’s Lounge

I have some theories about things. Everyone has their own theories, and everyone thinks theirs is right, right? I don’t think it’s always that way, but generally speaking, yeah, right. More than likely, someone isn’t going to subscribe to a theory they find entirely outlandish; it’s going to be something they believe is plausible. Everything can be read into, probably to a nearly infinite extent. Can you believe they gave us crazy conspiracy theorists (human beings) the Internet to spread these theories further, wider, and more rapidly than ever? 

One thing I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the past few years is masks. The way the narrative regarding masks was portrayed to the public was both careless and done haphazardly. I remember the beginning of the pandemic when people started to buy PPE in bulk. I remember government officials claiming the virus wasn’t airborne, so it wasn’t really needed. In reality, they were just underprepared to provide PPE to healthcare workers, and they wanted to have it distributed where it is needed most rather than just sold to the highest public bidder. 

Eventually, masks were not only encouraged but enforced. People hate being told what to do, so they thought being asked to wear masks in public places was oppressive. I don’t blame people for not trusting the government at all, but at the same time, I really feel like masks weren’t that horrendous. I understand people upset about having to wear masks at work or young kids having to in school, but I don’t think it was actually that insane. Here is where my theory comes in… I think “the government” used soft power to add onto and encourage the anti-mask sentiment. It just doesn’t make enough sense for people to be naturally outraged by it, in my opinion. I think that we are constantly under surveillance. I think facial recognition technology and using AI to track people was taking off around that time, and people wearing masks ruined everything. They couldn’t have that, so they need people showing their face freely, openly, shamelessly. 

So, what made me think about this enough to want to talk about it today? I’m actually not sure why today was different than most other days lately, because it’s not something exclusive to today. Law enforcement wearing masks covering their faces has me a bit perturbed. Seeing members of ICE wearing masks reinforces this skepticism in me that there’s a nefarious reason an anti-mask sentiment took off on social media. They know how valuable an individual’s biometrics can be to identifying them. It just makes me wonder, you know?