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“How Far Will You Lower Yourself?” Yesterday’s reckoning about mask-wearing drew a heavy — and spirited — reader response. The bulk of it denounced us viciously. We are with the devil, readers insisted. For we are dispensing falsehoods — and possibly condemning the witless dupes who heed our evil counsel to early, needless graves. And if not condemning our witless dupes to early, needless graves… possibly condemning their elder and compromised relations to early, needless graves. Reader Greg D., for example, catalogues our trespasses in grim detail.
“Entirely Bogus” Reader Jas. M believes we are perpetuating fraudulent science. It is “entirely bogus,” he claims:
Just so. And perhaps Jas is correct. Yet we would add that scientific fact is not written in stone. It is rather etched in water. That is, today’s reigning scientific fact is often tomorrow’s junked scientific fiction. And those who initiate the junking are routinely denounced by the scientific establishment of the day. They are labelled frauds. Quacks. Charlatans. Zanies. Yet time validates their heresies. Do we have a Galileo on our hands in Dr. Rancourt? We do not claim to. We merely raise a point. “How Far Will You Lower Yourself to Promote a False Premise?” Another reader — Len A. — says we debase ourself by hawking a false premise:
In response to Len’s question, we are pleased to report: We rather enjoy life down here in the gutter. It gives us a fresh — if somewhat foul — perspective on events. Yet the good Dr. Rancourt disagrees with Len:
What About Medical Masks? But “if wearing masks are worthless,” asks Jim H., “then why do medical professionals all wear them when treating Covid patients?” Rancourt allows that masks limit the spread of virus-soaked droplets. Yet he argues that these droplets are not the primary means of transmission. Transmission results primarily from the aerosol particles that pass through masks… as minnows pass through shark nets. But what about those custom N95 masks? Do they not seal the netting? Not especially, argues our heretic. They may even damage the wearer:
Not All Feedback Was NegativeAgain, we claim no medical expertise. And the consensus view may be the correct view. Mask-wearing may indeed meet its advertising. Yet we are given to jabbing holes in consensus views… and probing for weaknesses within the citadel walls. Perhaps we have located one. Perhaps not. Not all reader mail was critical, we must note. Take, for example, Grant A.:
Sometimes Right, Sometimes Wrong, Always in DoubtSome days we are haunted by the fear that we are sending people to sleep… rather than waking them up. And we claim no special enlightenment to do the waking. As writes our co-founder Bill Bonner:
As we wrote last December: For 20 years The Daily Reckoning has stood athwart, watching the scenery roll by. From Y2K to bitcoin… From the 2000–2001 dot-com derangement to the 2008 near-nightmare to the 2020 nightmare… From United States presidents 42–45… From Federal Reserve chairmen 13–16… The Daily Reckoning has suffered through them all. Yet it has endured them with a wry, smirking detachment — even a tinge of sympathy for the cads, rogues, grifters, chiselers, scoundrels and rascals who hagride and afflict us. Who Will Cast the First Stone? This world may be hopelessly and incurably botched. It may be sinful that it is this way. It may be against God that it is this way. Yet it is this way. And let the sinless one heave the first stone. This publication holds out no solutions to the sorrows of this world. As H.L. Mencken styled it, we are entirely devoid of messianic passion. We hear no voice from the burning bush. And what we write one day is dead the next. We simply attempt to make sense of it all. If we can help you profit along the way, so much the better. That is our central mission, in fact. Do we often fail? Yes, we do. We often chase phantoms… and barrel down alleyways leading to ends that are dead. A Man Enthroned But what spectacle it all provides, what theater, what circus — what comedy. And we have the best kind of time looking on from the front row. Well and truly, a man in our seat is a man enthroned. Sometimes right, sometimes wrong, always in doubt… We would not climb out of it for all the teas of China… or all the perfumes of Arabia… Regards, Brian Maher
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