blessed are the sick

I haven’t bitched about a news article for a little bit. Time for one of those now.

A yoga studio in Vancouver has a ‘no mask’ policy despite face masks being encouraged virtually everywhere right now. A client of the studio wanted to wear a mask there to protect herself because of some prior respiratory issues she has had. The studio said, “nope, sorry, go somewhere else. No masks allowed.” Now it’s a news article.

Just like usual, I think both sides are being stupid here. Why would a yoga studio refuse masks when the top doctor of our province has recommended people wearing masks, specifically in situations like yoga classes? Do they think they know better than a world class doctor? And even if they do think masks are dumb or whatever, is this the hill they want to die on? Do they want their business to be remembered as “those assholes who refuse to let clients wear masks despite all recommendations to the contrary”?

The client is a ninny too, because only air-tight masks give the wearer any sort of protection from inhaling the virus. Loose-fitting, cloth, and surgical masks only prevent the wearer from spreading their germs to other people through droplets. Maybe my assumption is wrong here, maybe the client has some kind of air-tight mask, but considering I’ve seen precisely zero of those out in the general public and even frontline medical workers have been scrambling to get their hands on this kind of stock, I doubt very much that this person has their own, so whatever cute homemade mask they have isn’t going to protect the wearer from shit.

Man, people are annoying and disappointing.

Now this person is protected. That’s the way to do it.

a pandemic doesn’t excuse or justify any actions that are normally unacceptable, in my book

As mentioned in previous posts, I’m not too troubled about the novel coronavirus because I don’t value human life very much. I think the planet would be far better off if, oohhhhh, 60% of humans were wiped out. 70%, 80%, whatever. The sky is the limit really because no matter how many of us disappear, the remaining will breed like rats in short order. We are a species that is never in short supply, never in danger of becoming extinct, so I don’t worry what is going to happen to us. And even if we were to go extinct, so what? If anything on this planet deserves it, it’s us, full stop. No other organism is so cruel, thoughtless, greedy, selfish, wasteful, entitled, destructive, hateful. I could go on. We’re pretty darn special that way.

That being said, I have been bothered by a few things related to covid-19 lately. The first is the incredible amount of waste this pandemic is creating. Everyone is obsessed with wearing ‘disposable’ (cripes, I hate that term — we use it as if ‘disposable’ is a good thing when we should actually be alarmed and repulsed by the idea of throwing out more shit) PPE, ie personal protective equipment, like gloves, masks, and face shields — pretty much the entire planet is going through mountains of those items every day now, which means they’re ending up in landfills and the ocean. Fantastic. Hoo-ray, you didn’t have to touch a gas pump, now sea creatures are starving to death with bellies full of plastic. Never mind the studies that show plastic and its carcinogenic effects are making their way back up the food chain to us already. Good grief, we are shockingly selfish and short-sighted.  It’s dizzying.

Another aspect of this coronavirus that is bothering me is the thought that most PPE is probably made in developing countries by slave labourers who are probably treated terribly to start with, and now those same people are likely being forced to work around the clock, non-stop, in an effort to keep up with global demand. Imagine the criminal shit going on those places normally, and how much worse it must be right now. I feel like that is a story worth investigating, but you know virtually no one would give a shit about it. We’re only concerned with our well-being here, and don’t give a shit if it comes at the expense of poor people elsewhere. When you think about our governments buying mass quantities of this shit despite knowing full well what is going on to manufacture it, it really drives home the idea that racism and colonialism are deeply institutionalized. And it’s not just here in North America, it’s in all societies — no one gives a rat’s ass about people they deem below them.

Those are my biggest concerns about covid-19: increased waste, and increased abuse of other people. As if a pandemic is any reason to let us indulge some of our worst habits. Whatever, this is nothing new. It’s not like I didn’t already hate the human race.

drool