Just a brief missive from south-western France. We have been in-country since Monday, and in that time we have traversed the entire length of it, from just south of Belgium to just north of Spain.
We stopped at the beach in Dunkirk, at the racetrack in Le Mans, and in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Bordeaux. And now we are on the coast, in a pleasant and prosperous seaside holiday town.
I have been coming to France my whole life, but this visit their stunningly high quality of life is really very apparent to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been living too long in the wilds of wind-swept, rainy and wild, Celtic-and-Puritan tinged Ireland, that the elegant, urbane sophistication of the French is so striking.
One big difference — and not in a good way — is just how thoroughly the French are adhering to COVID rules that I find very oppressive. I know that in the US mask-wearing is more than the norm (it is now a hugely significant political act, for some) but where I live very few people care whether you wear one or not. And that, for me, is great. Because, while the mask is not a symbol of my political beliefs, it is to me a deeply transgressive infringement of my bodily autonomy. For the simple reason that I find wearing one deeply physically uncomfortable. I might as well have a plastic bag over my head. Perhaps I have a touch of claustrophobia, but covering my mouth and nose for anything other than a few brief minutes is intolerable to me. Some people fear disease. I do not and never have. I fear asphyxiation far more.
And while I have not been following any news, my phone keeps pinging me with headlines that seem ever-more panicked, even as people across Europe go about their pleasant summer business. It seems utterly extraordinary to me that governments are actually about to mandate that entire populations submit to a brand-new and very uncertain medical intervention. There is no way I could ever accept such a dystopian edict, and yet everyone is walking around enjoying their prosperity and relaxation.
It’s an odd contrast. I look forward to reaching Italy, my spiritual home in terms of rule-following, where my mother tells me most people have gone back to a more or less normal way of life. We’ll see what normal life even is anymore.
The mask is not only a symbol but also a tool of authoritarianism. Submitting to it is submitting to incipient totalitarianism. It harms human health and communication. We must fight it wherever feasible, and when nosy bodies chastise us for not wearing it, or not properly, we must politely tell them what we think, and ask them if they realise they are acting like police agents of an incipient fascist state.
I've been watching the Tour de France on tv for the past three weeks, with huge crowds of spectators along the roads and around the start and finish lines, and have been encouraged to see that most people are not wearing masks. The riders are required to wear them when they're not racing, but that's most likely mandated by their big corporate sponsors and the sport's governing body, who feel they must signal they're on the Progressive side of history. Here where I live in southern California more and more people are not wearing them anymore, but the science-ignorant and the die-hard virtue signalers continue to sport their beloved face diapers.
I'm glad you're able to enjoy France even though people wear masks. I have such a different perspective on masks that it's hard for me to understand the resistance. I live where masks are no longer required except on transit, and I'm happy to be free of them. I didn't enjoy them. They were uncomfortable, especially after a long stretch with them on. They inhibited conversation. I couldn't read expressions as well. Lots of reasons not to love them.
That said, I'm older and I have enough medical appointments that I've days when I have a cough and have to wear a mask, my doctors wear masks if they have a cough. It seems to me that masks provide some protection. Why else would they be mandatory in operating rooms? So during a pandemic, wearing masks seems reasonable to me. I expect my government to issue guidance to protect public health! Yes, I believe in public health measures! In my state, the mask requirements were not enforced by putting people in prison or even giving them tickets. Except businesses that flaunted regulations were fined.
So, I hope you give me more insight into your thoughts on public health measures. Quarantines are the most onerous, but used only in quite extreme cases. Lots of public health work is education and guidance. Are you opposed to vaccination requirements for kids in school? I support vaccines because they protect not just me, but vulnerable people I meet. What are your thoughts on that? The freedom thing comes across to me as selfish unless you're taking lots of precautions to protect others.
I think masks in medical settings make sense, but wearing them all day every day seems to me to be the opposite of a health-boosting tactic. Not only do they impinge on breathing, which I find genuinely intolerable and I'm not being dramatic, they are also breeding grounds for the bacteria that lives in our mouths and noses and then must surely replicate at a fast rate in the warm, moist, dark environments of our masks. Especially as we continually touch them, pull up and down, put them in our bags, after touching doors, railings, countertops, etc etc. It's truly a disgusting thought to me. A mask should be discarded every time the wearer touches anything, they should then disinfect their hands and put a new pristine mask on. This is basic medical hygiene practice as I understand it. I personally don't have thoughts worth sharing in any kind of big way on public health measures -- I have thoughts on my own health practices and how I wish to maintain both my health and my bodily sovereignty. Wearing a mask is not among those practices and common sense is enough of a reason. I never came down that hard on one side or another in the childhood vaccine debate, I definitely leaned toward the mainstream vaccination arguments and didn't have a problem with them being mandated for schools. I had my son fully vaccinated on the schedule that the doctor recommended. But this one is different. Both because COVID just does not ravage children the way the terrible childhood diseases once did, and also because it is not a vaccine in the way I understood safe vaccines to be. There are deeply alarming stories coming out about it -- anecdotal, sure, but that's enough. I'm not presenting to a federal jury. Add to that the creepy lies and obvious propaganda, hysteria and cover-ups that are coming from the same government officials now pushing to vaccinate, and it's a hard, HARD pass from me. But many, if not most of the people I love have taken the COVID vaccine, and I understand why. I sincerely hope the vaccine skeptics are wrong. But this idea that I need to "protect" others is just something I fundamentally disagree with you on. It's so vague and amorphous. What happens if I do everything the government tells me, but people still die? Does that make it my fault? I need to protect myself, and those in my care, and in so doing I'm saving society the burden of taking care of us. I cannot do more than that. I cannot live others' lives, and to me it's a deeply unhealthy -- dare I say even say presumptuous and co-dependent -- way of thinking. Doing no harm to others, certainly. (And I know I have not done any harm because I know I have not spread COVID to anyone because I don't know anyone in my circle who has had it.) Doing things that I find dangerous and untrustworthy, to protect some idea of "the vulnerable"? No. Absolutely not.
Thank you for this comment though, because it was a genuine and respectful airing of disagreement and an attempt at finding out more. I hope I responded in kind! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
It's changing pretty fast in parts of the US. I live in Northern Virginia, and in supermarkets it's down to maybe 1/5 of people wearing masks. Although there may be another wave of cases coming, in which case masks might come back.
It’s bizarre right now. I don’t understand why people trust their governments as quickly as they do…. I also can’t stand wearing a mask, psychologically it’s unhealthy for people, it breeds submission. There’s still people in the States who drive around masked inside their cars…. But my rose bushes are blooming so that’s a welcome distraction.
Rose bushes are always welcome! The mask is so much worse than just a psychological transgression, though it is definitely that. It is something that should be used in limited medical settings and not as people go about their daily business. Apart from the whole stopping-you-breathing-freely thing, it is also surely a breeding ground for bacteria from our mouths and nose? I can't believe that it is so widely accepted as a "health" measure.
The mask is not only a symbol but also a tool of authoritarianism. Submitting to it is submitting to incipient totalitarianism. It harms human health and communication. We must fight it wherever feasible, and when nosy bodies chastise us for not wearing it, or not properly, we must politely tell them what we think, and ask them if they realise they are acting like police agents of an incipient fascist state.
I've been watching the Tour de France on tv for the past three weeks, with huge crowds of spectators along the roads and around the start and finish lines, and have been encouraged to see that most people are not wearing masks. The riders are required to wear them when they're not racing, but that's most likely mandated by their big corporate sponsors and the sport's governing body, who feel they must signal they're on the Progressive side of history. Here where I live in southern California more and more people are not wearing them anymore, but the science-ignorant and the die-hard virtue signalers continue to sport their beloved face diapers.
I'm glad you're able to enjoy France even though people wear masks. I have such a different perspective on masks that it's hard for me to understand the resistance. I live where masks are no longer required except on transit, and I'm happy to be free of them. I didn't enjoy them. They were uncomfortable, especially after a long stretch with them on. They inhibited conversation. I couldn't read expressions as well. Lots of reasons not to love them.
That said, I'm older and I have enough medical appointments that I've days when I have a cough and have to wear a mask, my doctors wear masks if they have a cough. It seems to me that masks provide some protection. Why else would they be mandatory in operating rooms? So during a pandemic, wearing masks seems reasonable to me. I expect my government to issue guidance to protect public health! Yes, I believe in public health measures! In my state, the mask requirements were not enforced by putting people in prison or even giving them tickets. Except businesses that flaunted regulations were fined.
So, I hope you give me more insight into your thoughts on public health measures. Quarantines are the most onerous, but used only in quite extreme cases. Lots of public health work is education and guidance. Are you opposed to vaccination requirements for kids in school? I support vaccines because they protect not just me, but vulnerable people I meet. What are your thoughts on that? The freedom thing comes across to me as selfish unless you're taking lots of precautions to protect others.
More conversation on this, please.
I think masks in medical settings make sense, but wearing them all day every day seems to me to be the opposite of a health-boosting tactic. Not only do they impinge on breathing, which I find genuinely intolerable and I'm not being dramatic, they are also breeding grounds for the bacteria that lives in our mouths and noses and then must surely replicate at a fast rate in the warm, moist, dark environments of our masks. Especially as we continually touch them, pull up and down, put them in our bags, after touching doors, railings, countertops, etc etc. It's truly a disgusting thought to me. A mask should be discarded every time the wearer touches anything, they should then disinfect their hands and put a new pristine mask on. This is basic medical hygiene practice as I understand it. I personally don't have thoughts worth sharing in any kind of big way on public health measures -- I have thoughts on my own health practices and how I wish to maintain both my health and my bodily sovereignty. Wearing a mask is not among those practices and common sense is enough of a reason. I never came down that hard on one side or another in the childhood vaccine debate, I definitely leaned toward the mainstream vaccination arguments and didn't have a problem with them being mandated for schools. I had my son fully vaccinated on the schedule that the doctor recommended. But this one is different. Both because COVID just does not ravage children the way the terrible childhood diseases once did, and also because it is not a vaccine in the way I understood safe vaccines to be. There are deeply alarming stories coming out about it -- anecdotal, sure, but that's enough. I'm not presenting to a federal jury. Add to that the creepy lies and obvious propaganda, hysteria and cover-ups that are coming from the same government officials now pushing to vaccinate, and it's a hard, HARD pass from me. But many, if not most of the people I love have taken the COVID vaccine, and I understand why. I sincerely hope the vaccine skeptics are wrong. But this idea that I need to "protect" others is just something I fundamentally disagree with you on. It's so vague and amorphous. What happens if I do everything the government tells me, but people still die? Does that make it my fault? I need to protect myself, and those in my care, and in so doing I'm saving society the burden of taking care of us. I cannot do more than that. I cannot live others' lives, and to me it's a deeply unhealthy -- dare I say even say presumptuous and co-dependent -- way of thinking. Doing no harm to others, certainly. (And I know I have not done any harm because I know I have not spread COVID to anyone because I don't know anyone in my circle who has had it.) Doing things that I find dangerous and untrustworthy, to protect some idea of "the vulnerable"? No. Absolutely not.
Thank you for this comment though, because it was a genuine and respectful airing of disagreement and an attempt at finding out more. I hope I responded in kind! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
It's changing pretty fast in parts of the US. I live in Northern Virginia, and in supermarkets it's down to maybe 1/5 of people wearing masks. Although there may be another wave of cases coming, in which case masks might come back.
It’s bizarre right now. I don’t understand why people trust their governments as quickly as they do…. I also can’t stand wearing a mask, psychologically it’s unhealthy for people, it breeds submission. There’s still people in the States who drive around masked inside their cars…. But my rose bushes are blooming so that’s a welcome distraction.
Rose bushes are always welcome! The mask is so much worse than just a psychological transgression, though it is definitely that. It is something that should be used in limited medical settings and not as people go about their daily business. Apart from the whole stopping-you-breathing-freely thing, it is also surely a breeding ground for bacteria from our mouths and nose? I can't believe that it is so widely accepted as a "health" measure.
Thank you, Jenny! Your essays always resonate with me in the most positive way. ...such great spirit. Keep it up and have a great trip!
Thank you very much! I am having a great trip so far!