In our last segment, we attempted to give masks an objective look, on their own, and as musicians who ultimately may be mandated to wear them as part of our future performances. The QRD is essentially this: masks look and seem to be reasonable as a way to stop virus transmission. However, there is very little data, study or research in this area to support that thesis; in fact, there is quite a bit of data that suggests otherwise. I would simply point the wearer to the warning label on the box that specifically states, “….will not provide protection against covid or any other viruses…” as the likely reality of wearing a mask. Moreover, the beneficial health effects of wearing a mask as a “healthy” person are unsupported and more likely to be adverse to the wearer. While we argue back and forth about the details of masks, a very important concept gets lost in the shuffle: what are the ethics surrounding the idea of mandating masks and/or mandating decisions about your own healthcare?

There are a few concepts to unpack here. First, shouldn’t I (or you) have full control over our own healthcare decisions? I mean, these are decisions that affect us each subjectively–ultimately the question of whether we live or die (on a long term basis). There is no magic pill for health, nor is there a one-size fits all cure for everyone. In short, health decisions can and do affect everyone differently–this is due in large part to our diverse population. Not everyone is born as healthy as their peers; not everyone is pro-active about doing things to benefit their own healthcare.

Looking at obesity for example; this is a condition that affects over 40% of Americans and yet, almost every one of those 40% have the ability to do something about it. Whether through exercise, eating less, or better diet, our obese population is primarily in control of their own weight. If this is the case, why are so many people obese then? There’s another condition that affects our population en masse as well–it’s called laziness. What it demonstrates is that there are plenty of people out there who have no interest in their own health when it comes to brass tax. These are likely the same people yelling at you to wear a mask. Their BMI is their decision, no?

It would stand to reason that health precautions that were preventative for obese people may not have to be taken by people with more healthy BMI’s. Think about this in terms of covid now; how many of the 140,000 deaths were exacerbated by being obese? The current consensus is that obesity, as an underlying comorbidity, contributed to the deaths of as many as 80% of the covid fatality count. It’s mind blowing to think that we might not have had as many deaths if there were less obese people in our country. Further, less fatalities may have reduced the likelihood that we were even locked down for any extended period of time.

No one criticized the obese. It is understood that as a free adult, in control of our own health decisions, you or I have the right to eat, exercise and diet as much or little as we want. Some folks are more lucky in the weight category; some folks really have to work at it. In either case though, it is clear that obesity contributed negatively to covid fatalities and yet there is no accountability given to those who don’t take care of their own bodies. Getting back to the mask debate, why aren’t obese folks (who are obviously seriously at risk to covid) mandated to lose weight? They sure feel entitled to tell us all about wearing a mask!

Why is it that the rest of us healthy folks all have to don a mask for the obese? Or the elderly for that matter? Why is it that we, as people who consistently labor for the benefit of our own health, have to wear something that provides little or no health benefits to US at all? The mask is even a negative health issue for some people–it can increase their risk of contracting any number of illnesses. Why should I have to create a potential detriment to my own health, so that YOU feel more comfortable? Why should anyone have to be governed by a health decision that they themselves did not make? It’s ridiculous to think and yet there is really no honest ethical answer available. However, one thing that is very clear is that ceding one’s own health decisions to someone else is a bad idea. At that point, YOUR health can become the subject of issues not related to you, or your health. If/When there is a limited pool of medical resources in the future, YOUR health will come down to cost, regardless of who’s paying. Remember homey the clown telling us all that “…Grandma maybe shouldn’t get that expensive treatment for her ailment and instead be given the pain pill and left to die…” This is YOUR future if you don’t understand the issue.

Another obvious slippery slope here is being mandated to act for the benefit of someone else’s health. Again, no one is going around to the obese and forcing them into gyms, but all of us healthy folk are forced into restrictions, social distancing, masks etc. specifically on the basis that it helps someone else to not get covid. Well, what else can we all do for the benefit of some else? It never ends. Don’t get me wrong–it is important as a society, a country, a humanity to look after those who are weak. However, shouldn’t they all have some responsibility as well?

The issue isn’t the “one” thing that you are forced to do now, rather it is the litany of mandatory and compelled actions that await us down the road: more lock downs, forced loss of employment, wearing of specific items, vaccines and “preventative” medications, to name a few. If we create a standard of “health” as how you can help someone else to be healthy, we are leaving out the most important person affected by those decisions–YOU! Shouldn’t we all individually be doing things at our own discretion for our own health? Once we start accepting forced mandates, what else can be compelled on us as a “public?” Butt plugs to reduce fecal transmission?!

A flu shot is a great example to look at. I’m not getting into the efficacy of the flu shot (hint: it’s pretty weak, 20-40%, if that), I’m looking at the trade off–to get the shot or not. As a healthy adult, you have less than a 0.04% chance of dying from the flu; however, a flu shot can come with complications that are harmful to the recipient. As measured by lawsuits and claims of liability surrounding flu shot fatalities and medical complications, that same flu shot actually portends a potential greater harm to the patient. The negative side effects and/or adverse conditions are as much as 10x higher, as great as 0.4%. Guillain-Barre comes to mind as a terrible byproduct of an adverse flu shot reaction. If you are healthy and never get the flu, or are able to pass it without issue, why should you get the flu shot? The obvious answer is that you shouldn’t–but what if this decision is taken out of your hands? Is the decision to mandate a flu shot really healthier for YOU?

I don’t want to digress into the vaccination argument, but it’s important to understand that anything injected directly into the bloodstream has a greater chance of affect to the recipient than something that goes into the body naturally. If people have a healthy immune system already, they really don’t need a flu shot, do they? In fact, studies have shown that the long term effect of vaccinations and flu shots is negative to the health of the person. When you are vaccinated too often, your body’s own immune system actually becomes weaker and/or learns to only take action from the introduction of the various adjuvants (designed to stimulate an immune response) in a vaccine or flu shot. Thus, this isn’t a natural process and can actually lessen the body’s natural immune response in total over the long term. Shouldn’t we have the choice to do or not do something based on how it may affect OUR body over our lifetime? Of course!

Will we have a choice in the future regarding this issue is another question. Vaccines are being pushed heavily by big pharma, and we are likely to see a full court press with a covid vaccine, even though there is no where near enough time spent testing the product. What happens if the potential covid cure becomes mandatory? We are looking at a similar issue to the flu; if 99.9% of folks survive covid, why on earth would we try (or be forced) to take a thoroughly untested vaccine that could potentially harm us? I don’t trust these people at all after what I’ve seen in the last six months–do you? What really happens if/when they make vaccines mandatory? Is this ok with you?

All too often, when people talk about masks and/or the debate against wearing them, people will say that you are being selfish to not wear your mask–it’s so easy, just do it, right? Lost in the shuffle is the idea of being forced out of work due to an arbitrary decision of who works and who doesn’t. All of us musicians are in this category right now; horn players and woodwinds are in an even worse position–they are not allowed to perform at all! Since when is it ever moral or ethical to force someone out of work to save the health of someone else?

Let me help the virtue signaling crowd–when you are struggling to feed your family, pay your bills, find income; when your life is upside down from being forcefully unemployed by government decree, you don’t have time to virtue signal about the health and lives of others. At that very moment, YOUR own health and livelihood of your family supersedes the health and lives of OTHERS. People in these terrible circumstances don’t have the ability to worry about others’ conditional live or die situations. People in these terrible circumstances come first to themselves, as it should be. It’s nice and altruistic to think about the good of society, but what good is that society really when it is bankrupt and broken? Whom exactly does this serfdom society really benefit? No one except those in charge.

Keep that thought in mind as we progress further into the future. Are the collective decisions being made for the good of society really beneficial to YOU? Who’s making these decisions–YOU or someone else? How can someone else really make a better decision about YOU than YOU could? This is the crux of the entire ethical debate. Only YOU should be responsible for YOUR own health and all decisions related to it.

It is completely unethical to force people into decisions that could be adverse to their own health, regardless of the health outcome of “society”. It is a slippery slope with regard to what and how many things could/should be mandated to assist society at large, especially if they are a detriment to YOU. It is clear from the past six months that almost 400 people have lost their jobs for every covid death. This is not an acceptable outcome for any society and neither is it for YOU. Start taking back decisions that have the power to affect YOU. It is a dangerous path to be taken when these decisions are handed over to others.