 So, lately on this channel, unfortunately, we have been covering the anti-mask hysteria, which is a little soul-crushing, to be honest, because it seems like this is a phenomenon that is unique to the United States. I mean, I'm sure that there are other instances in other countries where every once in a while, there'll occasionally be someone who throws a fit about wearing a mask, but I mean, we're not seeing many viral videos come out of France or the UK of people refusing to wear masks. It's something that is happening almost exclusively in the United States, right? But this mask story, it really is just the tip of the iceberg because, collectively, as a society, we've just chosen to not take this seriously. And that includes elected officials like Ted Cruz, who was spotted in an airport and subsequently on an airplane not wearing a mask, which is horrible, not just because he's endangering everyone who's around him. But I mean, think of the message that this sends to his supporters. They are mostly evangelical, likely conspiracy theorist people who support him and they take what he says seriously. So if they see him not wearing a mask, they're going to do the same exact thing. But I mean, on top of that, there's a story in Florida of an immuno-compromised 17-year-old teenager who died from COVID-19 because her mother was irresponsible enough and knee-deep in QAnon conspiracy theories to take her to a COVID party at their church where there were more than 100 people not wearing masks. And then surprise, surprise, she ended up contracting COVID-19 and she died. The mother tried to treat her with hydroxychloroquine, which is the drug that Donald Trump was promoting. And that just made matters worse. And the story is tragic. Like I don't blame the 17-year-old. You blame the mom for doing this. Now this young lady was a survivor of cancer. So she was vulnerable. She was immuno-compromised. And this is what happens. This is what the mother did. I mean, this is what's happening in the United States. People aren't taking it seriously and they're celebrating the fact that they're not taking it seriously by going to COVID parties and whatnot. And on top of that, while we're on the subject of Florida, on Sunday, they passed 15,000 new cases in one day with a positivity rate almost 20%. And rather than actually taking precautions and trying to get this under control, Devon and Ron DeSantis is taking cues from Donald Trump and he is pressuring schools to open. As they surpass 15,000 cases in a single day, that's more than countries, right? Most countries don't have cases this high. This is a record for any state in the country. And he's saying, I'm not going to worry about that, but we're going to open them schools though in fall. I mean, it's shocking, but it's not just elected leaders and individuals who aren't taking this serious. It's the business world because when there's money to be made, they don't care about human lives, profit over people, because Disney World is also reopening. Now, obviously, this is a bad idea because this will lead to people dying. But hey, at least they're outside. At least they're going to be requiring people to wear masks. But in places like Windermere, Florida, it gets even dumber, believe it or not. Windermere, Florida is a current COVID-19 hotspot and there's a restaurant, a grilled cheese bar, who is not just choosing to remain open. I get that because, you know, you need money. You need economic relief when she should be shutting down. But nonetheless, she's choosing to remain open. But not just that, she's not mandating any customers wear masks. This is an indoor restaurant and she's saying, hey, you can come into my business and not wear a mask, expose me, expose all the customers. That's perfectly fine. But the story, believe it or not, gets even dumber because anti-mask activists in Windermere, Florida heard about this restaurant owner choosing to, you know, disobey CDC guidelines and they chose to encourage people to go there and not wear masks. They literally said for the first 100 patrons that walk in the door, not wearing a mask of this particular restaurant, they're going to buy their meal. They are literally encouraging people to not wear masks. This is unbelievable. And the video from this protest or event, whatever you want to call it, really shows how insane these people are. Police officers just stand down. We want them to stand out right now. To stand down, stand down, stand down, stand down, stand down, stand down. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong. Three lately. Are you taking this woman's alcohol license from her today? It's wrong. It's wrong. What you're doing? It's wrong. America. This is America. This is America. You're not a communist. This is not communist China. You do not believe. Wow. And you know what? I want to second that right up here. Listen to this crappy neighbor. And what about my right? If somebody's staying in your house, you have a right to stay in your house. Shut up. It's not me. Shut down with no money. Shut up with no money. You have a right to stay in your house, stay in your house, Karen. Stay in your house. See, this is what this is. This is the kind of thing we're up against. We're up against a person in her own home. She's allowed to shut the window, dear. This is a single woman who is running this grilled cheese business. This is her dream. And all she is doing is standing up for the rights of people to make their own medical decisions. OK? And you know what? You want to call me selfish for not wearing a mask? I want to say to you, all the people calling me selfish. You're the one who's trying to force me a medical procedure so you can feel more safe. The risks are very, very low. This is a virus that has a 99.6 percent recovery rate. This is a virus that is very well contained. This is a virus that the CDC is removing epidemic status from. How I view it is everyone's health care decisions are their own. And everyone is responsible for their own health care decisions. As Chris said, if you are afraid, if you are at higher risk, feel free to stay home, feel free to wear a mask, feel free to social distance. That is your choice and we respect it. We want our choices respected as well. I have no problem if anybody wants to wear a mask, feels comfortable wearing a mask. We fully support that. Do it. If it makes you feel better, if it makes you feel safe and healthy, you do it. But for the rest of us, we shouldn't be required to. We do enough for our health to support our immune system. There are studies that show, oh, thank you, sweetie. There are studies that show the detriment on the other side of things to wearing the mask as well. So I think the bottom line is that the government is there to protect their rights. They're not there to tell us how to live our life and how to be healthy. Basically, I say a prayer for Kerry right now. Father God, I pray for Kerry right now. Yeah, I mean, the video speaks for itself. These people are absolutely shameless and they are proud. To be stupid. I mean, that's that's what it is. I mean, TJ Kirk, the amazing atheist, made a phenomenal point. In a video where he says that basically, if Americans today existed during the Black Plague, they would be licking rats all under the guise of like disobeying government and, you know, not standing up to tyranny, something like that. Because this is what we're seeing. Like this is literally what they're basing their whole argument on. This is about freedom. This is about liberty. And they said to a lady who was yelling at them from her window, you have a right to stay in your house. How merciful. So stay in your house while we go spread COVID-19 to everyone. And what they say here is honestly, it speaks to how stupid they are. They say that the restaurant owner, according to the two ringleaders, this individual Miss Lady, that the restaurant owner was standing up for the rights of people to make their own medical decisions, except that's not the way that this works during a contagious pandemic. You're not standing up for the rights of people to make their own medical decisions. You are unilaterally choosing to make medical decisions for everyone else by not wearing a mask because you're endangering them. Right? If a patient was terminally ill and shows to, you know, a stop treatment of something, that would be an individual making their own medical decisions. If somebody wanted to have an abortion, I know they probably wouldn't want to hear that. That would be an individual making their own medical decision. But choosing to not wear a mask. That's not something that just affects one person. You affect everyone around you if you choose to go in public because by not wearing a mask, you're spreading your germs to everyone else. This isn't about liberty. This is a pandemic and you're stupid. And when I call these people stupid, I'm not just being an asshole. It's science, literally, because as raw story reports, lower cognitive ability linked to non-compliance with social distancing guidelines. And as Psypost reports, new research provides evidence that working memory and fluid intelligence are associated with engaging in social distancing in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The new study has been published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 11th, 2020. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to be a global pandemic. Governments around the world urged people to follow preventative health measures such as frequent hand washing and physical distancing. But not everyone abided by the safety guidelines. In two studies, the researchers surveyed 850 U.S. residents between March 13th and March 25th, 2020. The first two weeks following the U.S. presidential declaration of a national emergency about the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to collecting demographic information and assessing social distancing compliance, the surveys included assessments of working memory, personality, mood and fluid intelligence. Zhang, the author of this study and his colleagues found that those with better working memory capacity were more likely to indicate that they had followed social distancing guidelines such as not shaking hands and avoiding social gatherings. Our findings reveal a novel cognitive route of social distancing compliance during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhang said the researchers also found that higher levels of fluid intelligence and agreeableness were associated with greater social distancing compliance, but the link between working memory and social distancing held even after controlling for these factors and others. So again, when I tell you that these people are stupid, I'm not just being an asshole. It's science. They're literally stupid. They're stupid because I mean, it doesn't take science. It doesn't take a study. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if during a global pandemic you are running around, not just not wearing a vest, but encouraging people to not wear masks, you are fucking stupid. There's no other way to put it. You're a dipshit. If you choose to do this, you are fucking stupid. I don't know what else to say about that. And I try to, you know, give people the benefit of the doubt. I try to take into account factors that might make them think this way. But I'm sorry. There's no time. There's no room for that during a pandemic. Cases in Florida are at a record high and you're doing this. You're encouraging people to not wear masks and you're going to buy them their meals if they don't wear a mask. I mean, I don't know what to say about this. Things that happen in America as of late are so shocking that I think that like a hundred years from now, if we're able to survive, humanity will look back at this moment and think this had to be like a joke, it had to be satire. And you know, what is happening now is indistinguishable from what we saw in the movie Idiocracy, right? That wasn't supposed to be nonfiction. It was supposed to be satirical. But I mean, we've reached that level of stupidity in the United States where, you know, it's not just that we're choosing to not wear masks, but we're encouraging other people to not wear masks. And in some instances, shaming people who choose to wear masks. So it's it's deeply, deeply depressing to see this. But this is done in Kruger, right? They are super confident and proud of the fact that they are prolonging this virus and, you know, they're not going to take it seriously until they get it themselves or know someone who's affected by it. But I mean, at the same time, we can't wait for you all to personally experience COVID-19. We need you to realize that this is a pandemic that has very specific measures that mitigate its spread. And if you don't do that, then we're going to be dealing with this. We're going to be dealing with the mask mandate, which you all hate and, you know, prolonged closures. So I mean, it's it is what it is. This isn't surprising. But I mean, what people are choosing to make a political issue, what people are choosing, you know, this hill to die on about masks and basing it off of some vague notion of liberty and freedom. It's just it's so embarrassing. Everyone in the world is laughing at us and they should be.