Social Isolation, Public Solitary Confinement, Facemasks and Breaking the Human Spirit

People keep asking what the big deal is with face masks. Those who want you to wear them don't understand why you resist. Those who don't want to wear them can't see what the big deal is either way. From the beginning, I have perceived something about the face masks, social distancing and other new social norms that I want to share for consideration and discussion.

I firmly believe that the end goal of the whole social distancing and face mask movement is the breaking down of the human spirit, the end being to make us all less than what we are.

We are human. We need each other. It means something to see another human face; a smile, a frown, a look of frustration, of bewilderment. This is connection, it's knowing that other people are there, are alive, are thinking, feeling. We communicate with our faces sometimes more than with words. You may not realize it, but when you're in public, you are (or, at least, should be) constantly interacting with people through facial gestures.

Human touch is critical to our well-being; a handshake, a hug, even accidentally bumping into someone in a grocery store. You hand someone your money at the cash register and your hands touch. You pat someone on the back in a friendly manner.

Just being in close proximity to another human being means something. Again, we are alive and we know that others are alive. Granted, I'm saying all of this anecdotally; there are probably studies that would support it, but I'm speaking from life experience. Perhaps your life experience is different, but mine hasn't, and I would warrant that the majority of people reading this have experienced the same as me.

So, now we're expected to adhere to this damned new normal. I observe it in public. A few nights ago I was at a convenience store. Went to purchase an ice cream (yeah, I know, non-essential). There was a woman at the till right in front of me, paying her phone bill or something. They were taking an interminably long time. This woman was decked out with face filter and an actual plastic face shield, clearly buying 100% into the fear mongering. I was standing a couple of feet from her, as you normally would in a line like this; nothing creepy or too close, just waiting my turn. She turned and looked at me and said, fearfully albeit politely, "Your proximity is making me nervous. I don't want to catch the virus. Can you move?" (or something to that effect).

I moved. I was not offended, didn't argue. If she wanted that space, it's her space to have, didn't cost me anything; but I am certain that a month ago it never would have occurred to her to do that.

We are being driven apart. We are being conditioned to bear an inherent distrust for all other human beings. We are being divided no only as a society, but as a race, as a species. This will weaken us, will weaken our cohesiveness, our collective will and social health. This is what is needed for further agendas to be carried out.

They criminalize and demonize even the most basic and normal of human activities. Everything you do is now suspect. It's already been claimed that, with excessive and draconian laws and regulations on the books, no American can make it through a day without committing several felonies. It's getting worse. Anything that we as a society consider normal, healthy, good is now a threat to the children and the old people.

You want to work to feed your family? You're acting out of selfishness! You're a criminal and a danger to society!

You want to pursue a hobby. You're acting out of selfishness! You're a criminal and a danger to society!

You want to go outside and exercise? You're acting out of selfishness! You're a criminal and a danger to society!

You live in the streets, sleep in cardboard boxes on the sidewalk, defecate and have sex in public spaces and get your booze, drugs and drug paraphernalia from public handouts? That's perfectly acceptable.

We - humankind - are being re-engineered in the vision of a nihilistic philosophy. Nietzsche is having his day. The inmates are running the asylum. It's The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether in real life.

A wise man once said, "“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand." (Matthew 12:25) We are being groomed to be a kingdom fraught with division, a house divided against itself, and if we allow it, we will fall. Some of the most basic characteristics of our humanity are being groomed out of us and we will suffer for it. Can you imagine being isolated in a crowd, living in a kind of public solitary confinement? This is what we are being driven to. If I wear a mask, any one who does not is my enemy. If I don't, I know that anyone who does will berate me, maybe report me. Every one is a potential enemy. We must not trust. We must not look. We must not touch. We must not connect. Beware!

The human spirit is the enemy of the people driving this agenda and it must be obliterated. The question is, will we let the win? It's happened before on a national scale, never globally. The very essence of our humanity is at stake.
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I don't understand the term social distancing. It's physical distancing. Social distancing would be like not calling or texting your friends.

Also, I agree. There is a certain level of humanity that needs to be there and this stuff is killing it.

I like to call it "anti-social distancing." That's what this really is.

I completely agree. It's going too far.

a reply to: incoserv

It makes sense. Could be why they are releasing prisoners and attempting to lock up those who would buck the new system. The prisoners are already used to lock down and believe it or not may be being used as "role models".

I think we have been heading in this direction for a very long time. The younger generations rarely socialize in person any longer and most live vicariously through on-line personas anyway. A large amount of the populous are on powerful psychoactive drugs and are easily steered into submission with social media and mainstream media shaming as the control measure of the day. Now let's make everyone wear masks so we don't see each other as actual people any more.

In all the dystopian books and movies from the not-so-far past the people for the main part are mono-tone and emotionless. Isolation has that effect on people over time, and when we lose our passions we don't really care what happens any longer- we become as robots.

In fairness, they call it "social media" too and it's basically designed from the ground up to encourage continuous scrolling from one superficial image or meme to another until a trance-like-state is achieved.

They called the piece of legislation used to spy on Americans in their own home and through their own correspondence "the Patriot Act" for the love of God.

There has been a coordinated attack on the English language for decades and our "way of life" is responsible for most of it.

Whenever I am in public I wear a mask. Where I’m at, it’s about half who wear masks and half who do not. I’m not judge mental. I’m not going to judge you or anyone else for not wearing a mask. It’s none of my business. I try to social distance the best I can. I would never stare at or berate someome for not wearing one.

I went to the grocery store today to pick up beer. The young man bagging my stuff was sneezing. He was wearing a mask. Another person immediately replaced him and told him to go take a break. I felt bad for the young man. He may have just had allergies. There is so much fear in just doing routine things. That is what I do not like about all of this.

a reply to: incoserv

I've touched on this before.
The more human traits and actions we allow them to take, the less human we become as a result.

Yeah, I pretty much agree.

I haven't had any intimacy in close to three years I think.

Pretty sure that's why I'm prone to irritation. It's not good for ya. I'm serious. Beyond the rare handshake I haven't had so much as a hug from someone for longer than I can remember.

Hugs, smiles, even the littlest things affect our psyche in larger ways than a casual observation would elude to.

There may indeed be a new normal, and the wedge that has grown between people as a result of technology will be driven even deeper as many people find greater comfort staying home and connecting over social media than connecting in person.

Those of us who would rather be social in person may very well find ourselves feeling isolated.

I hope that this passes. I'm sure it will, but with how things are trending it may become permanent.

How long have we observed that children no longer play outside like they used to? Teens don't hang out at chill spots anymore. They just sit in front of their phones and computers streaming and groupchatting. The people entering into adulthood haven't socialized much "IRL" and aren't good at relationships.

They connect online and only meet in person to have sex.

Even the sex is become isolated as young adults would rather watching each other engage sexually with each other through their screens.

It's becoming very "Demolition Man" around here.

And I know it's a given, but please no three seashells jokes lol

The title of your op mentions breaking the human spirit. Concentration camps in the past haven’t been able to break the human spirit. The human race has endeavoured to percevere through a lot worse than anything we are currently seeing.I can’t see how wearing a mask will break the human spirit, or social distancing in the short term either. Living in a war zone, or a place like a war zone (perhaps a neighbourhood nearby) is more taxing than having to wear a mask. This is a small taste of the privledged having to take a hit, and they don’t like it. Put yourself in the shoes of those in more precarious places and you’ll find that it’s not so big a deal. Unfortunately today’s biggest currency is drama. Wear the mask for fun, immerse yourself and become faceless for a limited amount of time.

a reply to: incoserv

Excellent and well thought OP! Thank you. This sh1t and it’s affects on the human spirit are frightening and disgusting. I need a hug now....

I think there's some areas of the country where that would eventually work, but mine isn't one of them (MI) Many people, everyone in my house included, doesn't wear a mask out & about. Period.

I've also noticed that many employees mandated to wear masks are very subconsciously eager to yoink 'em down to the chin and speak to you fully face to face. Keyword here being Subconscious, because I don't think anyone really realizes they're doing it regardless of how much they do or don't want to actually wear the stupid things.
I guess you can say if that's still somewhat pervasive, Michiganders are at least still human & yearning to continue to act & communicate like one.

originally posted by: 0zzymand0s
In fairness, they call it "social media" too and it's basically designed from the ground up to encourage continuous scrolling from one superficial image or meme to another until a trance-like-state is achieved.

They called the piece of legislation used to spy on Americans in their own home and through their own correspondence "the Patriot Act" for the love of God.

There has been a coordinated attack on the English language for decades and our "way of life" is responsible for most of it.

This is called "newspeak." George Orwell warned us about it 70 years ago. Big Brother is alive and well.

I've added a couple of lines to the party slogan:

War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
Fear is safety
Technocratic fascism is love

originally posted by: kingparrot
The title of your op mentions breaking the human spirit. Concentration camps in the past haven’t been able to break the human spirit. The human race has endeavoured to percevere through a lot worse than anything we are currently seeing.I can’t see how wearing a mask will break the human spirit, or social distancing in the short term either. Living in a war zone, or a place like a war zone (perhaps a neighbourhood nearby) is more taxing than having to wear a mask. This is a small taste of the privledged having to take a hit, and they don’t like it. Put yourself in the shoes of those in more precarious places and you’ll find that it’s not so big a deal. Unfortunately today’s biggest currency is drama. Wear the mask for fun, immerse yourself and become faceless for a limited amount of time.

You missed the entire point by light years. I'm not talking about face masks per se. It's not about "privilege" (a nice, virtue signalling progressive buzz word if there ever was one).

The human mind recoils from concentration camps and war zones. We inherently know that those are wrong, unhealthy, evil and destructive. We fight against them.

This is different. People are embracing this in a way that they'd never embrace a concentration camp or a war zone. They even argue in favor of it (as you are doing). You have been duped into taking the poison because they promise you that it'll save you from death.

Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under the omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ~C.S. Lewis

I stand by what I've said.

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a reply to: Nyiah

I see this, too. Had a dear friend over this morning for the first time in weeks. We worked on his bicycle (we're in a off-road cycling team). He's given to be fearful and his wife more so. It was so good to see him, and I am certain he felt the same.

Yes, humans have overcome more overtly adverse situations in the past (as someone has so kindly pointed out here). The problem with this is that it's so much subtler than concentration camps and war zones. Concentrations and war zones the human mind recoils from. This, many are embracing.

Time will tell. I know that we can resist and win. I hope we do.

I wasn’t talking about face masks either. I was referring to the strength of the human spirit, and how a lot of people in the present day don’t realise how rigourise it is, because they haven’t been exposed to true hardship. And that stands true even in this current climate. a reply to: incoserv

originally posted by: incoserv
a reply to: Nyiah

I see this, too. Had a dear friend over this morning for the first time in weeks. We worked on his bicycle (we're in a off-road cycling team). He's given to be fearful and his wife more so. It was so good to see him, and I am certain he felt the same.

Yes, humans have overcome more overtly adverse situations in the past (as someone has so kindly pointed out here). The problem with this is that it's so much subtler than concentration camps and war zones. Concentrations and war zones the human mind recoils from. This, many are embracing.

Time will tell. I know that we can resist and win. I hope we do.

Well, then it's time to play dirty. I can be refused service at a store, and if so, whatever, but people, especially the bossy do-as-I-demand types, cannot stand being ignored or otherwise looked through as if they're not there at all. So we need to work on using that to our advantage -- the Silent Treatment is old school as hell, but it works wonders. Humans, even the bossy bastards, don't like feeling snubbed, shunned or excluded. If that side of the fence thinks they can sling it in the form of service/business refusals, we can sling it back just as hard in the "You do not exist to me" manner.


Edit: That sounds antagonistic, and I didn't mean it to come off like that. I mean it in a "Don't Bite The Bait" manner, and especially in the "Don't Feed The Trolls On or Offline" manner.

originally posted by: kingparrot
I wasn’t talking about face masks either. I was referring to the strength of the human spirit, and how a lot of people in the present day don’t realise how rigourise it is, because they haven’t been exposed to true hardship. And that stands true even in this current climate. a reply to: incoserv

Then by all means, move your behind to some war-torn Third Word hole to feel like you elevated yourself and have "perspective". This is neither of those two criteria (yet) and I don't particularly give two hoots about that Third World strife. Because I don't live in it, I live somewhere a bit better where living a little higher up on the ladder with all the First World complaints at my disposal to freely whine about.

Their "best" being better than our worst isn't a valid argument here. If people want a better life, a better country, they generally work to achieve it and work to keep it. Not go "Oh boo hoo, First Worlder, Malians starve much more often." Well no kidding Sherlock, it's not the same country and their problems are their own to combat, overcome and surpass. You know, it's kind of the goal of most societies to not be the bottom of the barrel.

That’s the difference I guess, I’ve been in the military and dealt with this stuff before. My perspective isn’t elevated, quite the opposite. a reply to: Nyiah

And the fact that you say people generally work to achieve a better life if they want to tells me you haven’t traveled much. a reply to: Nyiah

Scary part, for me, is that this level of fear is going to take a long time to wane away, if it ever does. The fear is already entrenched and unlike an Osama bin-Laden or even a whole country, we can't destroy this boogey-man and feel better and safe.

We can come up with a vaccine - but now are fully aware that a new virus can pop up anytime and we better be ready. And the enemy here is carried by anyone and everyone around us. Loved ones or enemies alike.

I wear masks when I go into a store for the sole reason of setting other people's minds at ease (for those scared). It's cheap and easy to do, so why not? And it's respectful of others' choices. I know it doesn't protect me any and I'm not worried of getting it or suffering it. Bring it on! But it's a shared public space and there's no reason I can't take an easy step to respect others.

I still have close, physical, contact with family and friends close to me. Even where guidelines say no. Everyone in this small group of mine knows any possible risks and we are all ok with it. So I have close personal contact with people. I don't feel overly restricted in this. My main problem/fear in social gatherings is losing live music as I am accustomed to experiencing it.

Best I can hope for out of this a serious rethink of our country and it's consumerism. I hope we all see what it was really necessary and learn more to keep things simple and manageable.