Masks For Thee But Not For Me

Also open thread.

Pictured is the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, violating the Infection Protection Act, which requires masks in all local and long-distance trains. He pleads that he only took his mask off for a few seconds for the purposes of a short video message and some publicity photographs. Alas, the law provides for no such exception, and why should it? The official position of the German government is that unmasked people are a danger to themselves and others, particularly when they are on trains.

Now this is merely the latest in a string of similar incidents, including these barefaced mask mandate-happy Greens at Oktoberfest and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unmasked government flight to Canada. It’s long become clear that nobody—not even the politicians most in favour of mandates—believes that masking is worth the trouble. And when you think about it, that’s depressing indeed, because how can we ever get rid of these rules if they are this discredited, and yet they persist?

I’m travelling right now, and working on a few longer pieces, so more tomorrow.