Bret Weinstein Struggles with Masks

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[Bret Weinstein’s DarkHorse Podcast – The Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying]

BRET: I’m struggling between two instincts on the mask thing. I increasingly think the mask thing is, ah, diabolical, especially as we inflict it on children and pretend that it’s going to be low-cost and that the reason that we’re doing it is about keeping them safe from something that would actually render them perfectly safe indefinitely if they got it, um, but the other thing is – there’s some... I think I must’ve picked it up from fiction somewhere, but there’s some sort of an obligation to – respect – a highly-capable enemy, right? To note what the enemy has done right. And you can imagine being some kind of warrior on a battlefield, and, you know, somebody outfoxes you and you both suffer from it, but also can appreciate the elegance of what they’ve done.

HEATHER: Uh-huh.

BRET: The mask thing is diabolical genius. It is absolutely diabolical genius because of two things: One, the symbolic nature of it, right? The fact that they have gotten us to remind each other of just how dangerous everybody is if you don’t let your guard, your literal guard down, right? Or if you do let your literal guard down. That is a beautiful metaphor, right? Everybody else, they’re your enemy, they’re a hazard to you, right? And the point is...

HEATHER: Unless you’re sitting next to them in a café.

BRET: Well, that’s the thing is, you and I have begun to joke about the ‘Covid Layer.’ The Covid Layer exists up with the wait staff...

HEATHER: Sure.

BRET: ...because they’re standing and, obviously, the Covid is up there...

HEATHER: And it’s also very useful to have them be ‘other-ed.’

BRET: ...wonderful to have them be ‘other-ed’ because of the class implication of it, right? You are being served there at the table, mask down, they are serving, mask up, it’s lovely the way it separates us. Um...

HEATHER: Everything for division.

BRET: Right. Everything to divide us, but then, the most amazing part of it, to me, is at the point that you begin to realize that this mask thing, that the evidence that the mask thing actually works by putting, you know, putting them on healthy people that that protects anybody, it does not, right?

BRET: What’s more, masked vs. not-masked is not the category. Most masks are garbage, right? This is something that I got wrong, ok? Most masks are garbage. For masks to stand any chance of doing any good you have to get a really good one and you have to know how to use it, and that’s not what we’re being mandated to do, right?

BRET: This is a symbolic gesture that has got us constantly in the mindset of Covid, and it is exactly the same God-damned thing as at the beginning of this when they shut down the beaches and the trails and you and I were saying, “Hey, wait a minute, outside is where you want people to go, they are safest out there, it’s mentally good for them, they can interact with each other normally and not be in such terrifying fear all the time!”

HEATHER: No, they should ‘sit inside, eat Doritos, play on social media, and wait for the vaccine.’

BRET: That’s effectively what was being said. And so, the thing is, the masks, um, are the way of getting the constant reminder, out there where it doesn’t belong, right? And it is amazing, and the point is, as soon as you realize this, and you say, “You know what? The masks really are... that’s the way the enemy has intruded into every interaction that we are going to have, and we are obligated to stand up against it,” but now you’re in a bind, right?

BRET: If you don’t wear your mask while others are wearing the mask, you are one of two things: You are either enlightened about the fact that the masks don’t work, and in rebellion; but much more likely you’re just not somebody who cares very much about other people, right? You’re not even willing to put on a mask to protect other people from a disease, right?

BRET: And so the point is, that’s the trap here. Is that we can’t rebel, even those of us who are enlightened and understand the problem, and frankly, even me who was ahead of this more than almost anybody, and championing masks as an obvious remedy at the beginning, before we knew that they didn’t work, right?

HEATHER: Right.

BRET: Even I am in this bind, where I can’t stand up and say, “You know what? I’m not wearing the mask anymore, and it’s not about the rest of you, it’s about the people who are using this mask mandate to separate the rest of us, right?” I can’t make that point because just simply not wearing a mask broadcasts the message that I’m inconsiderate of others’ health, which is not what motivates me at all.

HEATHER: And yet, part of what’s being demonstrated is that even... even we will comply with some things.

BRET: Right.

BRET: So, increasingly I think what we need is a mechanism whereby, if we have to put on a mask, we can indicate that we are not putting it on out of belief, that we are not going to stigmatize anyone who decides that they should not wear a mask, because we know the truth of the thing. So that we are not in the position of being induced to broadcast a false message of indifference to our fellow man in order to rebel against some governmental authority that is abusing its power.

HEATHER: Um hmm.

BRET: Um, and I don’t know exactly how we get there, but we need to... we need to do it, and we need to do it right away, because, because this mask thing is such genius, right? They’re getting us... it’s like they’ve gotten all of us to wear their logo, broadcasting their brand everywhere, right? To put our own spin on it. And it’s enough, right? This is, this is evil.

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