Dehumanizing and Demonizing Skeptics Who Don’t Wear Face Masks

By Dennis Behreandt, NEW AMERICAN

You might not think of yourself as an axe murderer. But, according to today’s liberal-progressive propaganda, if you don’t wear a face mask in public you’re definitely, probably akin to an axe murderer.

The purveyors of fear propaganda don’t use that language. Instead, they say this: People who won’t wear a mask possess “so-called ‘Dark Triad’ traits — narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.” And they are “less likely to comply with restrictions and engage in preventative measures against the pandemic.” So says Newsweek reporting on “two recent studies” that “looked at the relationship between personality traits and reactions to restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.”

In other words, if you don’t wear a mask you’re not a rational, logical human; nope, you’re an indiscriminate axe-murderer causing the blood of little old ladies and the immunocompromised to run in the streets.

This despite the fact that “the science” demonstrates that masks are not going to stop the spread of a virus like SARS-CoV-2. Here’s how two researchers, both credentialed experts on respiratory protection and infectious diseases, put it in a report published by CIDRAP, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota:

“We continue to conclude that cloth masks and face coverings are likely to have limited impact on lowering COVID-19 transmission, because they have minimal ability to prevent the emission of small particles, offer limited personal protection with respect to small particle inhalation, and should not be recommended as a replacement for physical distancing or reducing time in enclosed spaces with many potentially infectious people.”

This bit from Drs. Lisa M. Brousseau and Margaret Sietsema was added on July 16 to their earlier report, published in April. They’ve also added disclaimers indicating that they support public mask wearing, but given their actual conclusions regarding the effectiveness of masks (or the lack thereof), their disclaimers seem to be attempts to “vaccinate” themselves against being “cancelled” for daring to report facts that conflict with the mainstream mask propaganda.

Mask wearing is not about stopping the transmission of a virus. It is, instead, about much more. Masking is about control and coercion, it is about psychological manipulation and conditioning, and it has a religious component, something that has been addressed by The New American already and that will be the subject of additional scrutiny in the future. But masks are also about identifying, classifying, and separating people: specifically those who are now controlled or willing to be controlled, and those independent and freedom-loving Americans hold fast to the Jeffersonian ideals of 1776 who cannot be controlled. For the latter, those now identified by the researchers cited by Newsweek as having the “Dark Triad” traits, it is about dehumanization and demonization.

By separating the mask wearers from the mask doubters, the fear propagandists have created a population that they are now smearing as psychologically defective, and prone, therefore, to social violence. They are thus, at the very least, defective humans. Worse, they are subhuman, not worthy of inclusion in the mask-wearers’ future “new normal.”

This creates conditions where it is dangerous to be someone who refuses to wear a mask. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, a radical leftist, is explicit on this point. If you don’t wear a mask, he says, “You’re endangering everyone around you. The enemy is you.”

That kind of irresponsible talk is dangerous, and it puts people at risk. In fact, already people have been attacked by authorities for not wearing masks. In May, a mother was violently attacked by police in a New York subway for not “properly” wearing a mask. Other examples abound. In Miami, the city has gone so far as to create a special police team dedicated to cracking down on people not wearing masks.

This is tyranny, of course. Hopefully it will not lead to violence. But that is not a foregone conclusion. Historically, the prelude to genocide has always been a campaign of dehumanization.

Dehumanization efforts preceded the Rwandan genocide, the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the slaughter of babies in the womb, and others. Examples abound. Currently, in addition to dehumanizing those who will not wear masks, conservatives in general and Trump supporters in particular are being aggressively dehumanized. Comparison of historical trends to current events points directly to the bloody destination we are now traveling to as a nation.

It is not too late to stop the descent into hate, madness, and bloodlust. We can start by recognizing that those who doubt mask mandates have a reasonable basis for their skepticism and that their opinions, freedoms, and human dignity should be respected.

Failure will move the nation closer still to despair, devastation, and despotism.

Dennis Behreandt is a research professional and writer, frequently covering subjects in history, theology, and science and technology. He has worked as an editor and publisher, and is a former managing editor of The New American.