A reader writes that a video of mine was helpful to her, but not as helpful as I hoped.
Dear Allan,
I am using this valuable info to access my town library services. I’m not permitted to enter the library unmasked but I can place orders for books online and am working with staff on ways to pickup the books. I’ll keep you posted on their methods.
Amy
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Thank you for your note.
The most important thing I have to say to you is this: Get their policy. Send it to me. I bet it says you can enter unmasked.
If we are to live in a country of laws, we need to subject the government to those laws.
If we are to live in a literate society, we need to subject the government to the wisdom contained within the written word.
If we are going to live in a country that honors human liberty, we are going to have to subject the dishonorable to the insistence that they honor that liberty.
Each step we take through the day communicates to others what we will allow.
I don’t want you to jump through hoops to live a normal life. I want those who would deny you normalcy to be the one jumping through hoops.
Some people say the founding fathers gave us a republic, others say they gave us democracy. There are good arguments made about those, but what I definitely know without a question is that the founding fathers gave us a bureaucracy. Some of them thought that they could bind the hands of government with other hands of government. It works sometimes, really well. The governmental systems in each of the states and at the federal level is meant to work against those who would impose hasty decisions — if we use those tools. It can be a real pain if you are controlled by such bureaucracy or a true bulwark in defense of liberty if you know how to put it to use.
The same people who love the government bureaucracy fear the government bureaucracy like it is their god. Don’t be conquered by such a phony god; tower over it. Use the bureaucracy as your servant against the government and those who adore the government, those to whom intimate knowledge of official government pieces of paper mean a great deal. If you quote a policy to these strange people and you do it right, they step aside.
I’d much rather speak something wise into their lives, but that’s not where these people are in their faith journeys, so I meet them where they are, which means if I know a sentence or two of the official policy and can speak it confidently, that all is well with them letting me pass. That happens better than 19 out of 20 times.
I’m always unmasked. In ultra-liberal West coast lockdown land recently, I walked into a library unmasked. I told them at the door that I would be doing that. They moved out of my way. It works pretty well if you know the policy of the library better than the guy at the door. “I’m unable to wear a face mask safely,” is a good stock phrase even if you don’t know the policy intimately.
Government bureaucracy has been used to limit other government bureaucracy and for the time being, this policy really works well, if you will invoke it and exercise your freedom muscles some.
Some people also like to have an air of “I am a citizen of this land, a taxpayer, and a voter, with ample means to advance my rights, and if I am harassed someone will pay dearly for the inconvenience levied against me.” You don’t have to ever say such a thing, but it is good to know such a thing confidently inside of yourself. Knowing such a thing and communicating it to others helps all involved to size each other up and to determine if the fight is worth it.
Whatever you do though, STOP JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS!! You are missing the point if you are coming at certain odd times for the unmasked, not allowed to engage in the joy of roaming the stacks, and missing out on chatting with the research librarian face to face, or unable to finger through the VHS collection or whatever dated video medium public libraries now carry.
Don’t wait outside.
Don’t bow like you are second class.
Go inside.
Expect to be treated like a queen, even better than you were before 2020 and you will be treated as such. Walk into your day with expectation.
A little prayer and Bible always helps me set expectations nice and high in my day.
Be really nice to everyone. Be really helpful. Be really friendly. Act like everything is normal. Return the rudeness of the fearful with the love of the courageous. No one’s rude fearfulness can knock you off your game. Be that way and the world will bend to meet you where you are, you lion of faith, courage, and righteousness.
And then take it a step further. Ask them to pull down their mask because you have no idea what they are saying. Let them know you need to read lips, as everyone does, let them know how the masks make it nearly impossible for you to know what they are saying. Almost everyone gladly takes it off, or sends a more comfortable colleague over to help you. If you really need to go there, you can even let them know the state face mask orders say you are supposed to remove the mask when a person with difficulty hearing asks you to.
This can all start by knowing the policy. Now, just because a policy exists does not make that policy just, but knowing the policy makes it a little easier for you to assert your needs without even having to challenge the policy. It also brings you one step closer to being able to challenge an unjust policy.
“Look it says right here in the eighth paragraph…” can really work very well.
Do I like these policies? No. Not really, but I’ve gotten a lot of exercise in reading the law, and using that to have discussions that let me live life relatively normally and unmasked because I’ve taken the few minutes to read a policy.
This is the most basic behavior for anyone who wants to live in a nation governed by laws or even in a free market shaped by contracts. You are beginning the conversation by saying “Okay, thank you for your information, let me understand better exactly what you are really saying to me.”
By reading the policy, you quickly learn “Absolutely no exemptions allowed and that is final, end of story!” really means “on paragraph 7, 8, 9, and 10, there are 17 different exemptions listed, but the person working the door never actually read the policy, and she watches too much Fox and reads too much New York Times, and believes what she learns in those places even more than what takes place in front of her very eyes.” That’s a personal problem. It’s no concern of yours, and usually by obtaining the policy crafted by some painfully sober lawyer, you can really see what the policy is that is being communicated to you through the sign on the door that says “Face Masks Mandatory!” or “No patrons allowed inside without a face mask, please call the circulation desk to schedule a drop off.” The sign is never the policy. It’s only the shorthand, and a lot is lost in the abbreviation.
Stop trusting signs. Stop trusting Fox. Stop trusting The New York Times. Stop trusting those who turn to those places for the ultimate authority. Be sober. Ask to see the policy. If you don’t like what you see, have a human-to/human conversation with a non-brainwashed person with decision making authority. If you don’t like what you see, challenge the policy. If you don’t like what you see, go somewhere else.
BUT DON’T LIE TO ME AND SAY YOU CAN’T ENTER A LIBRARY WITHOUT A FACE MASK. At least not until you’ve familiarized yourself with the policy. That’s almost always enough. And doing so provides you with practice for bigger battles ahead. Those who can’t say “No!” to the face mask, won’t be able to say “No!” to the vaccine.
I’m warning you. They are coming for you. Start your practice now. Reject the mask, and if you can stop wearing the mask every single day, every single time, saying “No!” to the vaccine (or even worse things) will be a walk in the park.
It’s easy for people to say “It’s just a mask, what’s the harm?” It’s harder for people, for now, to say “It’s just a vaccine, what’s the harm?” If you can say “No!” to the potentially less harmful thing, saying “No!” to the potentially more harmful thing is a breeze.
BUT if you are out of practice when they come for you with the Covid shot, you are going to have some uncomfortable remedial work to do with a sword hanging over your head: deadlines, threats, loss of income, threats of expulsion, loss of scholarship, isolation, demotion, inability to travel, removal from athletics are examples I hear from readers. It really feels good to cross those bridges when “it’s just a mask.” The amount of terror that now fills my inbox from people who did not listen to my advice to exercise those freedom muscles on the face mask is daily, constant, and palpable. I feel bad for them, because I can see how hard it is to catch up with that sword hanging over your head.
Drawing a line at the face mask is the very best way to make sure you never take the shot.
Starting out, procedurally this can be boring for some. It really works though. Send a letter like this to the library.
Dear —-,
I noticed that the library has a face mask policy. Would you please send me a PDF copy of the library’s current face mask policy, complete with the policy on exemptions.
Respectfully,
Allan Stevo
You don’t want an email from the trainee librarian explaining the policy. You don’t want the poster that the 19-year-old marketing intern made. You want the PDF that the library hired a lawyer to make. You want the primary source. That’s the policy the poster is based on. If you put your obedient trust in the poster instead of getting to the source, you are letting the 19-year-old, and who knows how many other layers of people, prevent you from your right to read and interpret the source yourself.
I think you’ll find that this first step works so very well in having a confident understanding of what the rules of a place are.
I don’t wear a face mask for any reason. I receive white glove service almost everywhere I go. I am treated as a welcome visitor. You can be, too. I beg of you to make it that way. One person at a time, that is how the tyranny stops.
If you need help saying “No!” to the face mask, read “Face Masks in One Lesson,” read these LewRockwell.com pieces, and sign up at RealStevo.com to receive videos and email methods for how to stop this nonsense.
