Exit stage left. One of the strangest quirks of California culture these past few months was the expectation healthy young people should vaccinate while vaccinations for healthy young people were not legal. It was a bizarre dance: civic pride in high vaccination rates that technically should not have been possible, with concurrently the impassioned, outspoken affirmation that waiting in line for “those who most need the vaccine” was a non-negotiable, moral imperative. We had to keep our least safe safe, and there I found myself in agreement. But throughout March, Bay Area vaccination appointments were abundant, and by April anyone especially at-risk from Covid-19 had been afforded many months of access to the shot. At that point, any mass delusion that our elderly, sick, and front-line workers required the general population to “wait their turn” would have been odd enough, as the vaccines were no longer especially scarce. But did any such delusion exist? Generally, it seemed, we all understood “sacrifice” in waiting was not only unnecessary but dangerous. Reasonable people therefore circumvented the rule and encouraged their friends and family members to do the same. This drove the population toward herd immunity, which was and remains the only conceivably “moral” public health action. The public knew the government was wrong, as evidenced by the public’s actions, and the government knew we knew the government was wrong, as evidenced by the government’s public approval of the vaccination rates. Yet what the public performed, mostly on social media, was agreement with government policy that, if followed to the letter, would have resulted in considerable and entirely unnecessary death — which we in part avoided by breaking the rules. Welcome to the world of safety porn, supported by “science,” mainlined by our censorious social media, and taken seriously by no one. It’s the performance of public health, untethered from reason or coherent strategy, and the dynamic is multi-faceted.

There has never been evidence supporting the notion we should mask outside, and policy last summer that led to the shutdown of beaches and parks was almost certainly unhealthy. There is no evidence supporting the notion outdoor dining presents a meaningful public health risk, though I should note there’s quite a bit of evidence concerning the economic impact of shutting down an entire stratum of small business — which has been disastrous. In Portland, masks are about to become indefinitely the law of the land, vaccinations be damned. And up in Canada? Camping is canceled. We all know these policies are unhelpful at best, but on the topic of Masks Forever we find perhaps the worst incarnation of safety porn to date, as it threatens real recovery. Once fully-vaccinated by a double-shot of Pfizer or Moderna, are you at meaningful risk of contracting Covid-19? No, of course not, you’re vaccinated. Once fully-vaccinated by a double-shot of Pfizer or Moderna, are you at meaningful risk of passing Covid-19 on to other people? Also no, of course not, you’re vaccinated. Nonetheless, the Discourse persists:

From The New York Times: “Plan to ditch the mask after vaccination? Not so fast.” From The Washington Post: “Congrats on the vaccination. You still need to keep your mask up.” From CNN: “After you’re vaccinated, it’s critical to keep masking up in some places (for now).” In a recent MSNBC interview with Dr. Fauci, Joy Reid (who herself double masks after vaccination) hysterically implored her audience of millions to keep their masks on after getting their shots, at the risk of mortal peril. Essentially, what we’re looking at here is an anti-vax position from the “believe science” crowd, and what amounts to dangerous misinformation about the virus.

Joy Reid’s anti-vax position is a common genre of Covid-19 misinformation, which Twitter has unsurprisingly opted not to ban. This is probably because, for all of their faults, even the worst actors in media are not really the worst actors on this issue. Twitter executives love an “expert,” is the problem, and the incredible lie that vaccinations may not work is presently being driven by none other than the CDC. From their official site, behold, the food pyramid of public health:

The insanity of this position from the CDC can really not be understated, not simply because all available data indicates the position is wrong, but because the CDC has itself provided data indicating the position is wrong. And did anyone expect the data to read differently? From fantastic results in trials to a decline in Covid-19 cases corresponding with a rise in vaccinations, all available evidence indicates the vaccines work (which is to say nothing, however, of long-term impact (but YOLO I guess)). Representatives for the CDC have even gone to some of the more perniciously anti-vax media, like MSNBC, to argue on behalf of efficacy. So what could possibly justify the incoherence of the CDC’s message? On the topic of Masks Forever, for our own personal protection, they’re clearly not telling the truth.

Why?

And why is all of this feeling so oddly familiar?

Oh right:

Last March, health officials made the calculated decision to disinform the public for a greater good, where “greater good” was defined ambiguously by a small group of unelected “experts,” presumably behind closed doors, in what I think technically amounted to conspiracy. We were told masking wouldn’t protect us, and there was therefore no reason to wear one — nine months before vaccines were first available. The purpose of the lie was to free up masks and other PPE for front-line workers. Masks absolutely did work, and we didn’t have enough of them to go around. I often wonder what would have happened had public officials simply asked Americans to do their part to help our doctors and nurses, and my sense is there is almost no way we wouldn’t have flooded our hospitals with support (Americans were already doing this, to a certain extent, and begging to do more). Alas, we were lied to, which predictably catalyzed a backlash against authority in a country already distrustful of the concept.

Now, it should be noted a small handful of influential figures really do tend to earnestly believe the bullshit. For example, from the man who used to lead Joy Reid’s hallowed halls of misinformation, the “not wearing masks while vaccinated is literal fascism” position:

But most people in media are not this crazy, as evidenced, I think, by the dearth of support furious wind-up dolls like Olbermann tend to receive from other media figures on the issue. In fact, I’m starting to notice a good amount of honesty about the dishonesty. From the New York Times’ David Leonhardt, who correctly explained the vaccines worked only to follow on with this beautiful nugget:

From Roxane Gay, the Bluecheck Media Girl Gang’s favorite feminist essay person:

And from the neoliberal “outsider,” our soft and thoughtful Substack bunny Noah:

Lying is good, actually. The porn is the point, actually. We’re helping.

Okay, you filthy perverts, let’s get into it.

The charitably-presented case for lying goes something like this: the average American can’t be reasoned with or trusted. We are stupid and stubborn and if some people stop masking, everyone will stop masking. If we (the Good People) don’t lie to the groundlings, the pandemic will never end. Cool. Let’s set aside the fact that Americans seem to be opting into vaccination on their own, and rapidly. Let’s also, just for a moment, table the fact that the lie we’re telling, ostensibly to convince people to get the vaccine, involves spreading fear about the vaccine’s efficacy. If the question is simply what makes sense for the “greater good,” it has to be acknowledged that the very existence of vaccines has confused the topic. Even were Americans not vaccinating at record pace, what would be the justification for coercion in a world where risk can now mostly be assumed on a personal basis?

In the fall of 2020, when no single person could protect themselves, there was at least some utilitarian argument in favor of the Forever Lockdown (which is not to say it was a good argument, or a moral argument, or that the tradeoff ultimately made sense — just that there was some argument). But in a world of abundant, accessible, free vaccines it’s much more difficult to link the assumption of individual risk to the assumption of risk on behalf of the greater public. We all have the choice, now, to vaccinate or not. If you want the Bill Gates microchip flex, that’s on you. If you’d rather risk permanent lung damage, that’s also on you! For my part, I went with the Borg implant. But I’m also not here to do a Pfizer commercial. This is America, baby, choose your own adventure. What I’m more interested in is the point at which the steelman case for misinformation ceases to concern the particulars, and breaks down fundamentally: what could possibly be the utility in “experts” lying to the public if everyone knows the “experts” are lying?

When Twitter puts the CDC’s vaccination caveat on blast, effectively forwarding an anti-vax position in the middle of a pandemic, the simple read is the company values authority over honesty, and even over public health. This is all just “truth” in the Chinese government’s sense of the word, which is to say “objective reality” is what government leaders find most advantageous. But for whom is persuading people out of vaccinations even advantageous? A good friend of mine likens the lying more to the Soviet Union, where propaganda was obviously propaganda, but that was the point — not an expression of what was meant to be believed, but implicitly an expression of power, as no one would ever challenge even the most absurd government arguments for “truth.” But I don’t believe our government is yet authoritarian, or at least not by comparison to our enemies, either present or historical. Our government is just sclerotic and nihilistically bureaucratic, nearly to the point of uselessness, and when a government can’t really do anything, the value of performance is high, both among leadership and our leadership’s allies in the press. With Big Tech on the Congressional chopping block, our CEOs toe the clown car policies as well.

A masked America is a dramatic, visual reminder that we’re in the middle of a crisis. It relaxes the small, docile subset of our population presently afraid to go outside, and it reaffirms the old Trump Resistance narrative, the responsible “do our part” group prayer that felt so important in the last election. We “believe the facts.” Well, folks, in a world of abundant, highly-efficacious vaccines the facts have changed, and it’s time to let go of the thing I think we all are mostly clinging to: some semblance of control at a time many of us feel out of control. The virus came abruptly, unthinkably, and the entire world changed. This can happen again, at any moment. There will probably be some terrifying new mutations of the virus. Maybe there will be another leak in a Chinese lab, and something even worse than coronavirus. But you could also go outside and get hit by a bus. In fact, around 100 Americans will die today in car accidents. Roughly 0 will die from Covid while vaccinated.

It’s time to live again, at least until we can’t. I understand that Masks Forever is a comforting symbol to people afraid of dying. But I try my best to be a science guy, not a “science” guy, and masks off in a world of vaccinations is a symbol of progress.

Who knows, maybe it’s all theater. But, for me at least, triumph is the better story.

-SOLANA