The Real Mask Issue

By Bill Chisholm

I’m not a dualist in my thinking. I am a tri-spherical thinker, meaning I believe there are not just two sides to every story, every issue, but many different and many valid perspectives. I also tend to not follow the crowd. In fact I have an innate sense to run in the opposite direction. If I see two crowds, I head for higher ground to gain perspective.

My long-time experience as an activist and political candidate tells me that many times we mis-define the issues, confuse the symptoms with the dis-ease and pit one group against another resulting in a divided people. This, my experience says, is by design. The profiteers of problems don’t want solutions, they would lose their sugar daddy, which is us, as in We the People. They want to confuse the issue; they are often the ones who define the issues in the first place.

Regarding Covid masking, I am not pro or anti mask, in fact I am mask neutral, I wear a mask in those places that require it and I live a social distanced life style by intention. Though there is a lot of controversy about wearing mask or the notion of being required to, I don’t believe that is the real issue. The real issue is our whole health care system and its lack of focus on our health and its control by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, not to mention the medical associations that work to prevent a holistic approach to wellness.

During this time of Covid, we have lacked leadership. There are numerous perspectives on what Covid is, what its source is and how to treat it. A true leader would bring together those diverse positions for discussion, not for debate and argument, but for a back and forth and a search for solution. I for instance want to see a discussion between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Thomas S. Cowan, MD the co-author of The Contagion Myth. They are both medical doctors with very different assessments of what Covid 19 is and where it came from.

As an activist, I have been at numerous round-tables, where various interests on an issue are gathered to supposedly work out some solution to a problem. There are those at the table from most positions who genuinely want to find common ground and work for an acceptable solution, and there are those who are not in the least bit interested in working for the common good. It is time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

It has always been my approach on issues to not only identify a problem, but to bring ideas to the table for resolution. Early on Covid 19 was deemed a hoax by the President of the United States. While there is certainly a lot of argument about how many Covid related deaths there are, but there is little to no doubt that people have been getting sick, some very sick and some actually dying from it.

Those opposed to wearing a mask under the banner of “taking my rights” probably drive to their protests or attempts at intimidation on the right hand side of the road, but don’t feel doing so an infringement on their “rights”. While there is a wide range of opinion on the need to wear a mask, if one is to acknowledge that there is at least something out there that has all the symptoms of Covid 19, then as responsible citizens, they ought to be pushing for a full, honest and open discussion about the issue, offering alternatives and not alienating people by their tactics.

I find it ironic that “masks” have become such a controversial issue, because in my opinion most of our critical issues are being masked over. There is a hardly an aspect of our societal institutions that don’t need to be seriously scrutinized. Along with masks, election fraud is a big topic, but what really needs a look at is the whole electoral process and that certainly includes campaign financing, gerrymandering and attempts to disenfranchise voters.

Adoration of the flag masks the reality that many Americans seem to have abandoned the principles and purposes as enunciated in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, which is what the flag supposedly stands for. Outspoken support of veterans and the troops masks the reality that we don’t hold accountable those who send those troops into harms way needlessly, often illegally, and often for the profit of a few. “Family values” is another mask that hides the reality that we wantonly pollute the air and water, push non-nutritional food while claiming to care about our children and future generations, and adopt technology without both social and environmental assessment as to measure true public benefit.

We need to find some common ground and a great place to start is with the “purposes” as outlined in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. “We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of America.” You will note first off that it starts with “We, the People”, it does not say “We, the Corporations of the United States”. Now there is a real mask issue; corporations with their profit-only purpose and limited liability to the owners, their control of government and their “rights as persons”, without the responsibilities that go with it.

The Preamble’s purposes should be the yardstick by which we measure ourselves. There can be many ways to move towards those ends and those ideas need to be presented and discussed. Enough of this masking over the whole range of issues that need our scrutiny and attention. High on the list of needs is the Preamble’s first purpose, “to form a more perfect union”. A country divided cannot stand, and purposeful divisiveness is masked under the guise of “my right not to wear a mask” and other fear and hate-based agendas that are masking the real issues.