I think that was what I recognized also in all this, intellectual laziness. I understand it because I am guilty of it. The sad thing about intellectual laziness is the amount of brain power it takes to maintain it. Masks ARE easy and it is precisely because they are easy they should be suspect. Doubly suspect if any mask will suffice.

If masks worked, wouldn’t it matter which ones were best? And so the rationalizations begin. Certain masks were not pushed because that would mean doctors and healthcare workers would not have access to them,

So wait doctors and healthcare need N95’s more than regular civilians? So why when I was at the hospital did I rarely see N95’s worn at all? I saw some staff in double surgical masks, but most only wore one.

The answer could have been because most healthcare workers are young, the risk of getting Covid was negligible, but that would bump into the narrative that it could affect anyone at anytime. This would affect the bottom line that this was a dangerous virus that could kill any of us.

Intellectual laziness requires a lot of work on the back end, and s lot of tactics to maintain it. Like labeling pesky information that is true as misinformation and once the truth is common knowledge, that by that time they simply deny the falsehood ever existed to begin with.

The real kick in the head is that now that masking is obviously ineffective it leaves behind the unintended consequences (or intended) and that is true believers because for them nothing has changed. There are still cases, there are still vulnerable, and people will still die from viruses.