(This blog is a repeat of and modification of one written months ago with a different title)

Even just ten minutes of looking at pictures of the Nazi concentration camps where Jews were imprisoned during the Second World War is incredibly depressing not only because of the experiences that the Jews went through but also seeing and thinking about the cruelty and what people will do to other people.
The Nazi’s had a plan and strategy in mind as they inflicted incomprehensible cruelty on the Jewish people, and that was to get them to feel less than human.

The Roman invention of crucifixion wasn’t just to inflict pain, but to dehumanize a person in their death. Read the words of Jesus on the cross in Psalms 22:6-7,
”But I am a worm and not a man,A reproach of men and despised by the people.All who see me sneer at me;They separate with the lip, they wag the head,”
When I was a kid, I had a dog, and we took her to the vet to get neutered so that she wouldn’t have puppies and be attracting all the male dogs in the area to our farm. To keep her from licking on her wound and taking the stitches out, the Vet put a plastic cone around her neck. When people saw her, they would laugh, and you could immediately see her head go down, her ears droop, her tail go down between her legs, and she would hide under the bed. Even dogs have a sense of dignity and worth that can get damaged.

When I wear one of these darn masks I feel just like my dog, they are dehumanizing. I know many who sincerely believe that masks will help in the spread of COVID, and I honor their belief, but I personally do not believe they do any good at all. There have been many doctors who have come out and stated their views about face masks and have been censored and blocked from Facebook, Twitter, Google, and You Tube. A number of doctors have lost their medical license because they dared express their unbelief in face masks. I get accused of being prideful for the way I feel, and a contributor to the spread of COVID. Some say, “you use a seat belt and a bicycle helmet,” so just wear the mask, but the value of seat belts and helmets is obvious to me, I would practice those precautions even if it wasn’t a law, and wearing a seat belt is not dehumanizing. And again, I am in no way convinced of the value of wearing a face mask. I am pretty sure that if people were asked to walk around with no cloths on because it would prevent the spread of viruses, they would refuse, because it would be very embarrassing and thus dehumanizing, and it would be very hard to convince them that their nakedness was somehow protecting their health.

The media has generated a very high level of fear in the general population of catching COVID. People are afraid of COVID so they wear a mask, it is something to do that might help. Another reason people wear masks is because of peer pressure, if everybody is doing it, I guess I will do it too.

I carry a mask with me and I wear it when I am asked to rather than create a scene, but I don’t like it, not because I am being forced to, but because when I wear the dumb thing I feel like a dog that just got neutered.