Face Masks Make You Stupid

[Fat Cat]

Face masks make you stupid: Why face masks are a form of dehumanisation
By
Patrick Fagan
28 July, 2020

In Joost Meerloo’s analysis of false confessions and totalitarian regimes, The Rape of the Mind, he coins a phrase for the ‘dumbing down’ of critical resistance – menticide. “In the totalitarian regime,” he wrote, “the doubting, inquisitive, and imaginative mind has to be suppressed. The totalitarian slave is only allowed to memorise, to salivate when the bell rings.”

Face masks make you suggestible; they make you more likely to follow someone else’s direction and do things you wouldn’t otherwise do

Neolithic man had a similar problem dealing with his livestock. Homo sapiens’ success has relied not insignificantly on cattle – their dairy, meat, leather and manure. Yet the cow’s ancestor, the auroch, was quite a different beast. It was fast, aggressive and dangerous – hardly conducive to be corralled into predictable channels of behaviour. So, about 10,500 years ago, man started to deliberately breed the most docile aurochs for domestication.

The key word here is docile, which comes from the Latin docere, meaning “to teach” (as does, say, ‘doctorate’ and ‘document’). Being docile means being compliant and following commands, which means submitting to a system of thought.

Whereas animals, however, typically need to be bred to have a higher level of reasoning to be taught commands, human beings, already being quite smart, need to be dumbed down. You won’t disobey an order if you lack the cognitive ability to question it. This is particularly pertinent to the smooth running of a modern world system which relies on millions of individual souls, each with their own nuanced life history and perspective, thinking and acting in the same way.

The empirical literature has shown that compliance and suggestibility are negatively related to intelligence (e.g., Gudjonsson, 1991). In consumer psychology, there is even a technique called ‘disrupt-then-reframe’: bamboozle people first and they’ll be more likely to buy what you’re selling (Davis & Knowles, 1999). Ultimately, the common denominator for increasing suggestibility is switching off executive function in the prefrontal cortex – disabling the superego, the conscience, the internal monologue. Without Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder, Pinocchio would never have become a real boy – he would have always remained a puppet. Modern society is shot through with things that make us similarly dumb (literally, unable to speak).

The effect of television, for example, as Meerloo wrote, is to “catch the mind directly, giving people no time for calm, dialectical conversation with their own minds.” The mind-numbing, irrational effect of visual communication has been recognised throughout history. Not for nothing did religions talk about the word of God and forbid graven images. Unsurprisingly, empirical studies showing that watching television makes you stupid in both the short- and long-term (Hoang et al., 2016; Lillard & Peterson, 2011). This is to say nothing of pornography, which is now consumed by 98% of men but known to inhibit the part of the brain dealing with conscience and consciousness, the prefrontal cortex (Kuhn & Gallinat, 2014).

Moving from circuses to bread, alcohol, of course, reduces cognitive function in the short-term (Hindmarch & Sherwood, 1991). Even at moderate levels of consumption, it accelerates cognitive decline in older age (Topiwala et al., 2017). Junk food, likewise, makes it harder to think in the short-term (Barnes & Joyner, 2012) and harms cognitive ability in the long-term (Reichelt & Rank, 2017).

Fluoride has become something of a cliché of conspiracy theorists; being added to the public water supply in multiple countries around the world, ostensibly to reduce tooth decay. However, the evidence supporting the dental benefits of fluoridated water is poor, while many studies have shown it can damage tooth aesthetics via fluorosis (McDonagh et al., 2000). Many more studies have found that fluoridated water lowers the population’s intelligence (e.g., Borman & Fyfe, 2013; Green et al., 2019; Lu et al., 2000; Rocha-Amador et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2008).

Which brings us to face masks.

Face masks can now be added to the list of mandates that make you stupid. As if Piers Morgan feverishly promoting them weren’t evidence enough, here are the facts on why you absolutely, categorically should not wear a face mask. They make you suggestible; they make you more likely to follow someone else’s direction and do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. In short, they switch off your executive function – your conscience.

A great example comes from a study by Mathes and Guest (1976), who asked participants how willing they would be, and how much they would have to be paid, to carry a sign around the university cafeteria reading “masturbation is fun” (this being 1976, doing such a thing would be considered embarrassing; these days it will probably earn you a course credit!). The results showed that when people wore a mask, they were more likely to carry the sign and required less money to do so ($30 compared to $48, on average).

Meanwhile, Miller and Rowold (1979) presented Halloween trick-or-treaters with a bowl of chocolates and told them they were allowed to take only two each. When the children thought they weren’t being watched, they helped themselves. Children without a mask broke the rule, taking more chocolates, 37% of the time, compared to 62% for masked children. The authors concluded that masks “lead to lower restraints on behaviour”.

The effect has similarly been found online: the online disinhibition effect refers to the tendency for people to act antisocially when anonymous online (Suler, 2004). There is even an infamous trolling movement calling itself Anonymous and using a mask as its symbol.

The disinhibiting effects of wearing a mask are described by psychologists in terms of a suspension of the superego’s control mechanisms, allowing subconscious impulses to take over. Saigre (1989) wrote that masks ‘short-cut’ conscious defence systems and encourage “massive regression” to a more primitive state; Castle (1986) wrote that eighteenth century masquerades allowed mask-wearers to release their repressed hedonistic and sexual impulses; and Caillois (1962) similarly wrote about European masked carnivals involving libidinal activities including “indecencies, jostling, provocative laughter, exposed breasts, mimicking buffoonery, a permanent incitement to riot, feasting and excessive talk, noise and movement”. In the 12th Century, Pope Innocent III banned masks as part of his fight against immorality; and in 1845, New York State made it illegal for more than two people to wear masks in public, after farmers wore masks to attack their landlords.

From a neuroimaging perspective, masks are known to inhibit identity and impulse control – both associated with executive function in the prefrontal cortex (e.g., Glannon, 2005; Tacikowski, Berger & Ehrsson, 2017). In other words, masks silence the Jiminy Cricket in the brain.

It is little wonder that covering our mouths would ‘shut us up’ psychologically. Studies have shown that clothing has a powerful effect on how we think (or not), via a principal known as enclothed cognition: wearing a lab coat enhances cognitive function (Adam & Galinsky, 2012), wearing a nurse’s scrubs increases empathy (López-Pérez et al., 2016), and wearing counterfeit brands increases the likelihood of cheating in a test (Gino, Norton & Ariely, 2010). Similarly, in the world of body language, someone putting their hand over their mouth is a sign that they are listening intently: they are ready to receive information, not to question it.

While no studies have looked at the effect of masks on verbal reasoning, it is fairly safe to assume that priming a ‘shutting up’ would have a cognitive effect. For example, extraverts are less compliant than introverts (Cohen et al., 2004; Gudjonsson et al., 2004); the development of conscience in humans is heavily linked to that of language (e.g., Arbib, 2006); and inner speech is highly related to cognitive functions (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015). Crucially, verbal reasoning is strongly correlated with moral reasoning (e.g., Hayes, Gifford & Hayes, 1998): being unable to ‘speak’ makes one less able to deduce what is moral and immoral behaviour.

There is also a more basic reason masks might make you stupid: decreasing oxygen flow to the brain. Face veils reduce ventilatory function in the long-term (Alghadir, Aly & Zafar, 2012), and surgical masks may reduce blood oxygenation among surgeons (Beder et al., 2008): believe it or not, covering your mouth makes it harder to breathe. Reviewing the N95 face mask, a 2010 study (Roberge et al.) concluded that “carbon dioxide and oxygen levels were significantly above and below, respectively, the ambient workplace standards” inside the mask. A post-COVID study found that 81% of 128 previously-fit healthcare workers developed headaches as a result of wearing personal protective equipment (Ong et al., 2020).

Not only do face masks make it hard to breathe, but the evidence that they even work to stop the spread of coronavirus is limited at best. A popular brand of mask even carries a warning on its packaging that it “will not provide any protection against COVID-19”; as for preventing carriers from spreading the disease, a meta-analysis found, for example, that of eight randomised control trial studies, six found no difference in transmission rates between control and intervention groups (while one found that a combination of masks and handwashing is more effective than education alone, and the other found that N95 masks are more effective than standard surgical masks; bin-Reza et al., 2012). Non-surgical masks, such as scarfs and cloths, are almost useless (Rengasamy et al., 2010). Masks may even be unhealthy, causing a build-up of bacteria around the face (Zhiqing et al., 2018).

The fact that masks likely don’t even work brings us to the final reason that wearing one inculcates stupidity and compliance: through a bombardment of lies, contradictions, and confusion, the state overwhelms your ability to reason clearly.

As Theodore Dalrymple wrote, “In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.”

The point of face masks is not to protect humans, but to diminish humanity – to rob people of their ego, their identity, and their autonomy. Masks are worn by disposable horror movie villains and ignorable background dancers; they make people less-than-human.

Dehumanisation is rarely followed by anything good. Face masks are another worrying portent of what’s to come, alongside a seismic shift in mainstream discourse. In an analysis of the Rwandan genocide, one of the first linguistic predictors was the tendency to look backwards, to blame, and to focus on past wrongs and injustices (Donohue, 2012), which will sound familiar to anyone unfortunate enough to have read The BBC or The Guardian recently. Similarly, where the Tutsis were referred to as cockroaches by the Hutus, and the Nazis depicted the Jews as rats, Nancy Pelosi recently promised to “fumigate” President Trump out of the White House.

It is hard to predict how the wheel of life will revolve in the coming years, but all signs point to trouble. During the crisis years of a generational cycle, only one thing can be guaranteed: the importance of a clear mind. To that end, allow yourself the dignity, identity and Logos of being human – and never, ever wear a mask.

https://thecritic.co.uk/face-masks-make-you-stupid/

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

Yeah....as long as I have to work in close proximity to people I can't trust not to do stupid shit and bring COVID into my space, I'll be masked up.

[Turdacious]

Everybody masking means you will be shelling out fewer shekels to pay for emergency room care for those on the dole.

[baffled]

I live north of Sacramento a ways now, and hardly anyone here actually wears their masks in the "approved" manner. Most either just let is hang from under their chin, or don't wear it at all.

Our ICU capacity has never approached a "danger zone", and in general, our numbers have been great compared to areas with extremely strict lockdown and mask mandates like, say the LA area which was the epicenter for a while there.

Our sheriff and local PD have put out multiple statements to not call them for mask enforcement, gatherings or any other shit related to this. Basically, they said that if you want to wear a mask then go ahead, but if you do and see someone who doesn't, you should shut the fuck up and find a way to cope or otherwise take care of yourself.

[Fat Cat]

Our ICU capacity has never approached a "danger zone", and in general, our numbers have been great compared to areas with extremely strict lockdown and mask mandates like, say the LA area which was the epicenter for a while there.

The high numbers in urban LA has absolutely nothing to do with not wearing your mask at Whole Foods and everything to do with illegals living 50 to a home. If only we could build a wall...

[Fat Cat]

Yeah....as long as I have to work in close proximity to people I can't trust not to do stupid shit and bring COVID into my space, I'll be masked up.

For the sake of discussion, and not to pick on you personally:

of eight randomised control trial studies, six found no difference in transmission rates between control and intervention groups (while one found that a combination of masks and handwashing is more effective than education alone, and the other found that N95 masks are more effective than standard surgical masks; bin-Reza et al., 2012). Non-surgical masks, such as scarfs and cloths, are almost useless (Rengasamy et al., 2010). Masks may even be unhealthy, causing a build-up of bacteria around the face (Zhiqing et al., 2018).

Science that I am aware of does not support that wearing a mask will protect you from COVID-19, but it does support the fact that wearing masks is neither psychologically or physiologically healthy. In fact, they have literally measured the hypoxia of surgeons wearing masks during prolonged procedures. Of course, you should do what you want to do and what you think is right, but at the very least don't imagine that it is strongly supported by available information.

[baffled]

My point was that la is about as strict as it gets and they still had cases skyrocket.

Aren't there studies indicating masks are ineffective against respiratory illness going back to like 1957 or something?

[Turdacious]

All masks not being equal isn’t news.

[baffled]

What's your point?

[nafod]

If the people spreading it were also the people dying from it, there’d be a lot less whining about masks.

The virus is transmitted through the air, from piehole to piehole. ANYTHING that decreases the probability that your spittle droplets and aerosols make it to someone else lowers the transmission rate.

If everyone wore N95 masks when around anyone else, work, home, and bars, the virus would be gone from the US in 3 weeks.

[baffled]

Where do you get numbers like that?

[nafod]

Where do you get numbers like that?

N95s basically block all transmission from you outward (especially when thrown in with a bit of distancing).

The virus takes 10 days to hit someone and clear to the point they are no longer contagious. My swag. Figure two cycles of clearings = 20 days = 3 weeks.

The same thing would happen if everyone got 3 weeks of Powerbars and porn and lived in a closet for the duration. No person-to-person transmission and the virus is G O N E. Until some knucklehead flies into the country with it, of course.

It's a thought experiment, but it sets the bound.

[Turdacious]

You’re kind of making fattys point nafod.

[Fat Cat]

The same thing would happen if everyone got 3 weeks of Powerbars and porn and lived in a closet for the duration. No person-to-person transmission and the virus is G O N E. Until some knucklehead flies into the country with it, of course.

It's a thought experiment, but it sets the bound.

It's a pointless thought experiment because even if the virus was eradicated domestically, unless you plan to keep the borders sealed indefinitely, the first person from abroad with it starts the whole epidemiological process again.

[Fat Cat]

You’re kind of making fattys point nafod.

Be nice to him, he's been wearing a mask for a long time.

[nafod]

The same thing would happen if everyone got 3 weeks of Powerbars and porn and lived in a closet for the duration. No person-to-person transmission and the virus is G O N E. Until some knucklehead flies into the country with it, of course.

It's a thought experiment, but it sets the bound.

It's a pointless thought experiment because even if the virus was eradicated domestically, unless you plan to keep the borders sealed indefinitely, the first person from abroad with it starts the whole epidemiological process again.

No, because then you can contact trace and quarantine it. Like the winning countries have done.

Even people in North & South Dakota eventually started to wear masks, it just took a bunch of their neighbors dying for them to do it.

[Fat Cat]

No, because then you can contact trace and quarantine it. Like the winning countries have done.

No, you can't, dumbass. How many millions of people are in this country illegally? Pull your head out. Also, please name the "winning countries" for me.

[nafod]

No, because then you can contact trace and quarantine it. Like the winning countries have done.

No, you can't, dumbass. How many millions of people are in this country illegally? Pull your head out. Also, please name the "winning countries" for me.

stop hiding behind your illegal alien argument, dipshit. North and South Dakota have 10 between them, yet they were cesspools of Covid.

Winning countries? All of these are at least twice as good as we are. And we're the richest, most advanced country in the history of the Universe.

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus- ... erSort=asc

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[Turdacious]

Are you really suggesting there aren’t large illegal alien populations in two farm states?

[Fat Cat]

There's no need to hide behind illegal immigrants, the same thing would happen the first time you have a single traveler from abroad with COVID-19, your total lockdown would be obviated. Never mind that it's completely impossible and therefore moot.

Also, liar liar: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

[nafod]

Are you really suggesting there aren’t large illegal alien populations in two farm states?

They don't like the cold weather

the same thing would happen the first time you have a single traveler from abroad with COVID-19

All of the countries in that graphic still have travelers coming in. They just deal with them smartly.

[Fat Cat]

LMAO Czech Republic, Belgium, UK, and Italy? Hahaha you don't know how to read basic statistics.

BTW have you taken Trump's "warp speed" vaccine yet?

[baffled]

nafod makes an impressive argument in favor of taking down the universities and seizing the endowments, I'll give him that.

[nafod]

Problem is Trump supporters are wearing them wrong.

[baffled]

Great point