A reader writes:
The other day while I was walking with my wife, we were discussing your advice (I believe it was your advice (https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/09/allan-stevo/my-wife-has-surgery-im-not-wearing-a-mask-what-do-i-do/)) for a man not to acquiesce to a hospoital's demand that he wear a mask while waiting for his wife's surgery (let's assume that the surgery was required for the wife's sake).
My wife argues that the hospital is a private institution and he has no right to tell them how he will behave on their property.
I don't know if hospitals are private or not, but I could not deny that she had a point--if the woman wanted the surgery and the hospital was not public, then her husband would have to conform to the hospital's wishes. (This is assuming that there are no other hospitals that were available to them for the surgery, etc.)
How would you have responded to her?
A Reader
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Common question. Basically you are asking if those who object to face masks are antagonistic to freedom. I would like to ask you to have a look at the last 1/2 of this recent piece that goes into property rights. It is a piece written about a Trader Joe’s manager telling me what I can and cannot speak about in his store (neither religion nor face masks).
I will paste that portion on property rights below to save you a click:
It’s Not A Property Rights Issue — This Manager Was Out Of Line
I believe many of the problems in life come down to disrespect of property rights. That is not everything, but it is many things. It is good for all when individuals clearly own things and when the owner has the final say over how that property is used. Many problems could be solved by better honoring that simple principle. Some might say that I am being disrespectful about property rights here.
Before anyone attacks me about property rights, Trader Joe’s does not have a corporate customer anti-religion policy. Trader Joe’s does not have a corporate anti-mask conversation policy. Quite the opposite. I suspect several people at Trader Joe’s corporate are very embarrassed about how this manager acted. I gently stood my ground and because of this, the manager will not likely be treating anyone else this way. And who knows, my video may even be added to a training that Trader Joe’s does for managers as an example of how not to treat customers. This is a rogue manager who does not represent the corporate policy of Trader Joe’s.
Property Rights Get Muddied Around Corporate Governance — Necessary Ethical Questions To Ask
Property rights are muddied when it involves a large corporation, because it involves questions of corporate governance.
If you are a shareholder, what role do you have to correct an out of line manager? What obligation do you have?
If you are a customer, what role do you have to correct an out of line manager? What obligation do you have?
If you are a neighbor, what role do you have to correct an out of line manager? What obligation do you have?
If you are an employee, what role do you have to correct an out of line manager? What obligation do you have?
Obedience To Authority Is Not The Same As Property Rights
Obedience to authority is not the same as property rights. Yet many libertarian and conservative thinkers find themselves arguing in favor of mere obedience to authority and inaccurately calling it property rights. Sometimes obedience to authority is a component of property rights. Sometimes it is not. It comes down to a question of the legimtimacy of the authority and the legitimacy of orders. As we all know, “I was just following orders,” or “I was just doing my job,” simply doesn’t cut it.
A Few Reasons Why The Most Important Thinkers Of Our Day Get This Wrong
These questions of corporate governance are not simple questions to answer and are often left out when it comes to conversations on property rights. This happens for three reasons:
1.) many libertarian and conservative thinkers on these topics have very little experience with corporate governance
2.) what experience they do have is strongly aligned with being obedient to a superior,
3.) the overwhelming majority of conservative and libertarian scholarship on this issue is funded by big corporations or organizations aligned with big corporations.
A bias often comes into play and the bias so blurs the lines between corporate governance, property rights, obedience, and authority.
So, dear reader, my answer to your wife would be this: it is not a property rights issue at all, but a corporate governance issue. On top of that, it is very hard to claim that any of these mandates are from private institutions. The mandates are governmental in origin and alternately can be seen as a combination of government and private interest (a far more accurate reading at this point). And additionally, it is very difficult in this era to call a single hospital in this country private.
The fights against face masks and other health mandates are a fight against the monopoly on force that we give to government and which we have allowed the politicians and bureaucrats to extend to their benefactors. This is merely one method for demanding that power be given back to the rightful spot in society it was taken from. Government has no place telling you what health mandates to follow. And that is exactly what is happening.
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To learn how to never wear a mask again, read my bestselling book “Face Masks in One Lesson.” (https://www.amazon.com/Face-Masks-Lesson-Allan-Stevo/dp/1953847005/) To learn why to never wear a mask again read “Face Masks Hurt Kids.”(https://www.amazon.com/Face-Masks-Hurt-Allan-Stevo/dp/1953847153/)
Excellent! 100% agree. I am retired from the medical field, and the "mask" situation over the last nearly 3 years has infuriated me. I am so glad to have read this article! Bravo! Thanks for the links as well.
When the K95 & N95 started showing up in my state (Commifornia) in drug stores, in large wire bins, out of package, in bulk, and for anybody to pillage through the pile and grab one for free, THAT WAS THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMELS BACK!
I went on a social media rampage about how the largest manufacture I know...3M (who has been well greased by the FED's ) of facial coverings, masks and respirators ABSOLUTELY has historically worded their package inserts and all information about N95, K95 ect. to NEVER include use case for "Corona virus protection". The information now found when searching through the 3M website clearly caters to the FED governments and CDC/WHO narratives. However, when one takes a deeper dive into their product information (finer print) I have yet to find the company actually stating that the N95 "particulate respirator" can protect the user from contracting ANY Corona virus strains in circulation in the world. Ask any surgeon what happens when "you touch your mask even ONE time"?! The general public has been totally lied too, by CDC,FDA,FED GOV,WHO and most State and local health authority regarding "Face coverings".
I kept this publication and shared it widely when it was published, March/2020
JAMA: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762694?fbclid=IwAR2RE-c4V-fhUodui0JQRbiHRcgEJuDKG_21N4oL5zAfciQfWCyHAsetJmo
Because all N95 need "fit testing", and only trained medical professionals have always been the intended target population for those respirators, the JAMA article DOES NOT recommend for use, by the "general public".
We must keep sharing the truth. Ask anyone walking around with a N95 or K95 if they can explain how to properly fit and properly test those medical devices... 100% will not be able to explain accurately what the manufacturer requirements are for proper use. In my line of work,(emergency medicine) I only used the N95 (after I was trained how fit and how to test) when I suspected Tuberculosis and measles.
Here is a quote to the JAMA publication I pasted link to above:
"N95 respirators block 95% of airborne particles. They are tight fitting and prevent inhalation of smaller infectious particles that can spread through the air over long distances after an infected person coughs or sneezes. Diseases that require use of an N95 respirator include tuberculosis, chickenpox, and measles. N95 respirators cannot be used by individuals with facial hair or by children because it is difficult to achieve a proper fit. In those cases, a special respirator called a powered air-purifying respirator may be used instead."
Lastly, FUN FACTS: that one can find in the written disclosures about "respirator" DESIGN... this is in finer print on page 3 of this Technical Bulletin (note that it is the 6th revision ;)
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1791500O/comparison-ffp2-kn95-n95-filtering-facepiece-respirator-classes-tb.pdf
".
**Please note: Respirators may be designed to fit people with facial features common in a specific country or region. For
example, KN95 respirators may be designed specifically to fit people with facial features common in China and other
countries in Asia. As a result, some individuals with different facial features may not be able to achieve a satisfactory fit.
This should be considered when selecting and using a respirator approved to other countries’ and region’s standards."
Can you imagine the "racist" feedback I would get if I shared that truth (which can be found of course in 3M publications) about that fact?! lol the WORLD population for the most part has no idea about the truth.
Here is the 3M info doc regarding the REVOCATION ORDER. How many people in the general public know about this??
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/worker-health-safety-us/covid19/airlift/
"On June 30, 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the revocation of the Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for non-NIOSH approved respirators from China and other countries outside the US due to multiple factors including the increase in availability of NIOSH approved respirators. This revocation is effective July 6, 2021, and affects the emergency use authorization of such respirators by healthcare personnel in healthcare settings. Additional information is available on the FDA website at www.FDA.com."
"
As part of 3M’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic from all angles, in early April 2020, 3M reached agreement with the U.S. government on a plan that, enabled FEMA to import more than 228 million respirators into the United States over a 6-month period starting in April 2020, from our plants in Asia."
Ok, Im done... thanks again for this article ! Keep up the great work, Allan Stevo !
Oh I could hear the short curcuits fizzling. I am a VERY well dressed 62 y.o. distinguished gentleman, if I do lie through my teeth😬 Ahahahaha I made sure to mention carcenogenic materials and utter fkn uselessness... 👏 I do so every day. 🙂