Week of 06/22/2020

Safety Is Not Fear
– by David Matthews 2

As a second-generation workplace “safety guy”, I have heard pretty much every possible excuse as to why people do not take the proper precautions when it comes to workplace safety.  I’ve also seen what has happened when people don’t do things safely.

My late father spent a good portion of his time as a safety engineer and as a safety director in various businesses telling people that they need to tie up their hair, take off their rings and chains and necklaces, and put on protective gloves, safety goggles, and other protective gear when needed.  At one workplace where he had just started as the safety and security director, the ambulance was there almost every day and the production lines were shut down frequently because of workplace accidents.  So my father took the full-color investigative photos of all of the accidents, complete with bloody tools, torn scalps, bloody jewelry wrapped around drill bits, and used them as posters to tell people to do the right thing.  The union reps screamed bloody murder over it, and so did the employees and management, but it worked.  The workers started wearing the personal protective gear and they tied up their hair and they took off their necklaces and rings.  Workplace accidents dropped dramatically.  Those grizzly posters did more than a hundred safety lectures ever could.

But you know what?  Nobody ever claimed during that time that not doing it was a matter of “freedom”.  Nobody back then ever said that they weren’t “afraid” when they risked literal life and limb for a paycheck.

That is what disgusts me when it comes to the COVIDiots over 2020’s global pandemic.  Both them and their propagandist media like Fox News and OANN have been peddling the idea that wearing a mask and practicing social distancing is about pandering to fear.  They are spreading a lie that not wearing a mask is a matter of “freedom” and supposedly not “giving in to fear”.

Tell me something... do you also drive around in your car and not wear a seatbelt?  If so, and the cop pulls you over, do you tell the cop that it’s a “freedom” issue and that you’re not “afraid” to get in an accident?  I’d love to see that cop’s reaction when you try to use that line.  Or, better yet, I’d love to hear the reaction from the traffic court judge who hears your case if you use that as your defense.

“Your honor, as I told the officer when he pulled me over, I am exercising my gawd-given freedom to not live in fear of an accident.  My gawd is greater than any bad driver and I know that he will protect me!”

Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?  Admit it.  It does!

Just as stupid and as asinine as thinking that wearing a mask is giving in to “fear” and that not wearing one and not practicing social distancing is a “freedom” issue.

Here’s the truth that the red-hats cannot discount: the coronavirus global pandemic has not stopped as of this column’s post.  It did not go away just because governors and mayors started opening up businesses and telling people to go back to work or else lose their unemployment benefits.  It is sheer delusion and pious arrogance to think that a virus would adhere to some economist’s timetable.  COVID-19 is still here; it is still spreading, and people are still getting infected, still getting sick, still going to the hospital for very expensive treatment, and still dying.

So if we have to go to work, if we still have to go out and get groceries and try to conduct any kind of business while still in the midst of this pandemic, then it is essential that we do it safely.  That is not pandering to “fear” any more than putting on a seatbelt in your car or wearing safety glasses when needed.

And, you know what?  If this virus only affected you and you couldn’t spread it to other people, then I would certainly tell those COVIDiots that they would be “free” to die if they so choose.  Just like they would be “free” to drink bleach or stick their tongues in active light sockets, or to stay at home and drink themselves to death.  Be as “free” as you wish as long as it is just you.

Where I have a problem with these putrid delusional ignorant jackasses is that their “freedom” to get the virus and possibly get sick and die also risks other people that they come in proximity with.  That means children.  That means relatives.  That means friends.  And it also risks people that I know, including my friends and my relatives... and myself.

You can believe all you want that “your god” is somehow “stronger” than the virus that it created just like Egypt’s Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus believed that his gods were greater than the Tenth Plague.  But that delusion doesn’t protect other people any more than it would protect you.  And we have seen way too many people already with that delusion that ended up in the hospital.  You wouldn’t happen to have about a million dollars laying around just in case you’re wrong, would you?  I wouldn’t count on your insurance company picking up the tab, especially if you’re one of those idiots that showed up at a rally or signed a waiver.

Let’s get brutally honest here... dealing with this pandemic is not about “freedom” or “fear”.  It is about safety.  Your safety, yes, but also the safety of those you come in contact with.  It’s no different than when you put your seatbelt on before you start driving, or when you put your hair in a hairnet and wash your hands if you work in a restaurant before you cook food.  You wear work gloves before you cut wood, right?  No different than putting on a mask before going out in public.

Here’s a little history lesson for you: Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who came to America in 1884.  She was known for two things: cooking for wealthy families, and for getting those wealthy people sick and dying from eating her food.  Mary was an asymptomatic carrier of specific strain of Salmonella poisoning and she transmitted the disease to others through the food that she prepared with her bare unwashed hands.  The strain of Salmonella she carried and transmitted is known as Typhoid Fever.  And, yes, Mary Mallon became known as Typhoid Mary.

Guess what?  Even then, she was complaining about her lack of freedom and not being able to make a living as a cook.  But as a consequence of her actions, people started taking food safety seriously.  You wash your hands before cooking food, right?  That started because of Typhoid Mary.

How many of you want to be the next Typhoid Mary?  How many of you want to be the person who kills their family members for your supposed “freedom” and for not being “afraid”?

Dealing with this pandemic is not about “freedom” or of being “afraid”.  It is about safety.  Yours, mine, and everyone else in between.  So shut up, mask up, wash your hands, and keep your distance already so we all can get through this sooner rather than later.