Masking the truth

Following last week’s announcement by Kentucky’s Governor attempting to enforce mandatory mask wearing, social media erupted with an onslaught of impassioned opinions from all vantage points.

Playwright Anton Chekhov said, “The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles.”

I think the same could be said of a young nation.

While we squabble over what are rights and what are acts of compassion, we are focusing on trivialities and losing sight of greater things.

I think it is time for everyone to take a deep breath, step back, and examine the big picture.

We know these three things for certain:

1. COVID-19 has effected some portion of people worldwide.
2. People are scared and confused.
3. Governments are willing to use the misfortune and fears of humankind to help execute political agendas.

If you have any inherent doubts about number three, find a US citizen who escaped life in a tyrannical government system like that of Venezuela’s, the Soviet Union’s or Cuba’s, for life in a free nation.

Someone recently commented to me that they wished people would “just keep politics out of the pandemic”.

It would be nice to live in such a world, but such a world does not exist. People and problems that affect people fill the world and governments, for better or worse, exist to govern the people and the problems of the people.

In essence, you cannot separate the two, and while people and America perish, people behind closed doors are trying to decide the fate of many for the interests of the few.

To echo the words of my 7th-grade history teacher, “If you are not asking questions, you are not paying attention.”

I am in no way implying that COVID-19 is not real; I am simply saying that as a nation we need to be aware of several vague factors including its origin, the timing, and the things that have taken place since it began.

Ultimately, whether you’re wearing the mask or defying the order, keep an eye on the ever-changing landscape of our nation. Political division, divisive tactics, and a hostile climate are brewing during an election year.

Our nation’s history is being systematically erased from the history books, the streets, and the museums under the pressure of angry mobs and the organizations that influence them.

Philosopher George Santayana noted generations back, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

In the wake of the pandemic, claims of a “coin shortage” are circulating the nation when there is no real evidence of any such.

Once reliable national news sources are reporting drastically differing versions of circumstances and each of them have big money backers with their own interests who essentially own the news.

If you’ve ever watched “The Truman Show” you likely remember the climactic scene where Truman discovered that the world he was living in was staged, and when he at last poked through the backdrop of the set where he lived his life, discovering much of it was not real.

I suspect in hindsight lots of people will feel that very way about this time in America’s history and the history of the world when they reflect and realize that what we are calling news in actually propaganda.

I will leave you with this:

Anytime in history when great political shifts were underway, the people were lead to believe that things happening around them were for their wellbeing. Jews were lead to believe that wearing the Star of David was for their protection. Cubans were encouraged not to question the political agenda of Castro. More recently, before Chavez was elected Venezuelans were persuaded to believe that life would be better for them under his lead.

Real misfortune can be manipulated for unsavory interests, especially in a climate of fear.