Back in 2014, HuffPost ran an article that discussed 12 words that have been so overused and misused that "they really don't mean anything anymore." Words like "literally," "awesome," "honestly," and "unbelievable" all rightly made the list.
I'd like to submit a 2021 revision, suggesting that we add the word "science" to the archive. Whatever it once meant, over the course of this last year mankind has watched it be sautéed, filleted, and utterly obliterated on the altar of Covid, face masks, and vaccines to the point it has become void of any objective definition.
Just in recent days the butchery of science has become epic. First:
The science about whether vaccines can protect you without the use of indoor face masks evolved in two weeks? Pray tell precisely what did we learn scientifically about vaccines and their efficacy in recent days that we didn't know two weeks ago?
Scientifically there was never a justifiable reason for fully vaccinated people to be continuing to wear masks. But that didn't stop the science gurus from telling us to anyway. And why?
Why did Fauci keep his mask on after vaccination? For the way it looked, not what it actually did. Bingo. That is what "science" has become: a term or discipline to be wielded and utilized not in relation to any actual data, but merely as theater in some vain effort to exert your credibility and provide cover for improperly usurped authority.
Meanwhile, on MSNBC this week, host Mika Brzezinski claimed that vaccinated people still need to wear masks because, well, we need to "follow the science."
"I'm working with a team here, and there is one person on the team who is not vaccinated," Brzezinski said. "I'm wearing a mask around that person. You know, it is, really, if you want to follow the science, then there are times you need to still wear the mask. And that's where I think it gets really confusing as we try and move forward as a country and put this pandemic behind us."
You're following this, right?
- Science says get the vaccine so you'll be safe.
- Science says even with the vaccine you aren't safe.
- Science says the masks are to protect others from you spreading COVID to them.
- Science says vaccinated people aren't spreading COVID.
- Science says wear the mask anyway.
Meanwhile, here's Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey explaining why he's ignoring the CDC's recommendations on masks – you know, the ones that are based on all that new science from recent weeks:
So how does a guy whose own state, under his leadership, racked up one of the worst COVID per-capita death rates in the country, get to issue arbitrary edicts about when he thinks we're safe and ready to come out from our homes and from behind our masks? You know the answer to that question.
In fact, you know exactly why all these folks who stand to lose power and authority the moment life goes back to normal, are ignoring the data that says we're ready to do just that:
Science.
