Re:Yes, experts will lie to you sometimes
by kazinator on Monday March 29, 2021 @01:31PM
(#26625293)
I wrote the following tidbit early last April. I didn't post it anywhere, but e-mailed it privately to a few people.
If masks were seatbelts, this is what authorities would be telling us:
Seat belts by themselves are not effective at saving lives. Safe driving, like keeping your distance and staying within the speed limit, or staying home and not driving at all prevents accidents. Seat belts may encourage a false sense of security leading to dangerous habits like tailgating and speeding. Thus, there is no reason for drivers to wear seat belts and doing so could in fact reduce traffic safety. However, if you're a passenger, you may wear one if you feel that it is beneficial. People still die while wearing seat belts; we are currently evaluating whether they are effective at all for the driving public, even though we have had motor vehicles with seat belts for the better part of a century. There aren't enough seat belts; please save them for professional drivers like long-distance truckers on whom we rely to deliver toilet paper and flour. If you feel you need a seat belt, you can make a slightly effective one at home out of duct tape or knitted yarn. But please don't go out and buy large quantities of duct tape or yarn, either; in this crisis, your leaders need these materials to hold their rhetoric together.
If masks were seatbelts, this is what authorities would be telling us:
Seat belts by themselves are not effective at saving lives. Safe driving, like keeping your distance and staying within the speed limit, or staying home and not driving at all prevents accidents. Seat belts may encourage a false sense of security leading to dangerous habits like tailgating and speeding. Thus, there is no reason for drivers to wear seat belts and doing so could in fact reduce traffic safety. However, if you're a passenger, you may wear one if you feel that it is beneficial. People still die while wearing seat belts; we are currently evaluating whether they are effective at all for the driving public, even though we have had motor vehicles with seat belts for the better part of a century. There aren't enough seat belts; please save them for professional drivers like long-distance truckers on whom we rely to deliver toilet paper and flour. If you feel you need a seat belt, you can make a slightly effective one at home out of duct tape or knitted yarn. But please don't go out and buy large quantities of duct tape or yarn, either; in this crisis, your leaders need these materials to hold their rhetoric together.