As some will no doubt attribute irresponsibility and carelessness to my refusal to wear a mask in certain situations when virtually all other adults are, for posterity’s sake I’d like to make something clear: I refuse to wear a mask anywhere when my children are present, because I believe that it’s vitally important that I set an example for them. They need to see that I don’t live in fear, and by extension that they don’t have to either. Not merely fear of a virus, but fear stemming from the social pressure to conform. My children need to see that we have the power to reject the mindlessness behind mask-wearing. They need to see adults who meet mask-wearing with the mockery and ridicule it so richly deserves, as all fundamentalist religions deserve when they encroach on my life and my kids’ lives in such a mindless and vulgar way. Mask-wearing deserves ridicule and derision because it has become so militant and fact-free. To see other adults wearing them everywhere, straight-faced, is an abomination. They don’t believe they work, but they continue to wear them. Why? This complacence is dangerous, because it prolongs a charade that should have died over a year ago. Kids need to see adults who reject it, even if those adults invite scorn from the philistine acolytes of this new counterfeit cult. Scorn from those whom I view as utterly wrong-headed is something that I welcome. Derision from the mob lets me know I’m doing something right. More than ever, children need to see calm, yet firm, disobedience from the adult world. They need to witness adults who refuse to bend the knee or lower their eyes, who refuse to engage in the obsequious pantomime that virtually the entire adult world has embraced, either through sincere belief, peer pressure, or apathy. This is said as someone who identifies with no political party or creed. I’m on my own side. My worldview is my own. My views may at times closely align with those of other political or philosophical movements, but I develop my own views independent of the prevailing political climate. And amid the civilizational crisis that we’ve been plunged into, it’s more important than ever to set an example for the rising generation.
