Tucker Carlson: Mask mandates are a debate about power, not about science

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Tucker: Are the voters or unelected bureaucrats running this country?

‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ host argues leaders are using mask mandates to ‘manipulate’ people for power.

You may remember that Glenn Youngkin became governor of Virginia last month. Youngkin was elected in part because he promised to let parents decide whether or not their kids wear masks in school. Voters wanted that. So true to his word, almost immediately after he was sworn in, Youngkin banned mask mandates in school. No one was surprised by this, obviously. Again, he ran on it. That's how democracy is supposed to work. Voters want something, they asked for it, then they elect someone to do it, and then that person does it. 

So in Virginia, our system functioned perfectly, our democratic system. But there are still people in the state of Virginia who don't believe in democracy, and they're not QAnon people, by the way, they're members of the Democratic Party. They have no interest in what voters think, they have contempt for election results. They do what they want. And it turns out a lot of these people are now running the public schools in Virginia. And, because they don't care about the law or election outcomes, they've refused to lift the mask mandates for children. So Gov. Youngkin pushed back against this, of course, and the standoff wound up in court. 

Yesterday, the judge in that case, Louise diMatteo, made a highly revealing statement: "I'm not going to decide who's right and who's wrong on masking," she said. "This is really about the hierarchy of authority." Well, exactly. That really is what it's about. After more than two years of COVID restrictions, there's not a huge amount of scientific debate over masks on children. Masks don't appear to work. They don't appear to protect children. We do know they hurt children profoundly. 

VA CIRCUIT JUDGE ON SCHOOLS MASK MANDATE: ‘IT’S ABOUT THE HIERARCHY OF AUTHORITY' 

So at this point, the only debate left, as the judge pointed out, is not to debate over science. It's a debate about power. And here are the parameters: Who's in charge of your children? Is it you, the parent, or is it the teachers' unions? Who runs your country? Is it you, the voters, or is it unelected bureaucrats? Are they really in charge? So, to be clear, this isn't really about masks. Those are the questions we're debating at this point. 

A student boards a school bus in Arlington County, a district which sued to stop the mask-optional order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. REUTERS 

Janet Davidson has already made up her mind about these questions. Davidson is an assistant principal at an elementary school in Loudoun County, Virginia. Here, she threatens to have children arrested if they dare to show up to class without a mask.

DAVIDSON:  Until you arrive your children will be held in an in-school restriction situation here at school. It is important that I point out to you it is stated in the letter that you'll receive -- but, it's important that I point out to you that they are not allowed on campus or on Loudoun County Public School property. Starting tomorrow, it will be considered trespassing. So it's important that I make that statement to you. But we'll look forward to hearing from you via phone so you can let us know so you can let us know when you'll be able to pick them up.

So you have to ask, how could someone like that wind up running an elementary school? Wouldn't that be the last person you'd want to hand your kids over to every morning? Well, sure. And to be clear, trespassing, the crime that she cites, is in Virginia Class 1 misdemeanor. If you trespass, you can get a year in prison and a $2,500 fine. And that's exactly what she is threatening kids with if they show up without masks at school. So in Loudoun County, you can sexually assault someone in a bathroom, the school will cover for you. But if you show up without a mask, you face a year in jail. 

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And it's not just Virginia, by the way, this is happening all over the country, according to a service that tracks mask policies and school districts across America. More than 60% of the 500 districts it monitors still require masks. 

VIRGINIA FACES NEW LEGAL BATTLES OVER MASKING IN SCHOOLS

In West Islip, New York, for example, the Oquenock Elementary School sent letters to parents recently explaining their children will be considered truant if they dare to show up to school without a mask. Now in the state of New York, the parents of truant students can receive fines and prison terms. This show obtained a letter from Oquenock, the elementary school, to the parents of a very young child enrolled there. "For the last week, your child has arrived at school but refused to wear a mask, and therefore has not been permitted to attend class or participate in other school activities," reads the letter. "Your child will no longer be able to attend school unless they wear a mask...If your child does not return to school, they will be considered truant." 

Oh, so the child is punished either way. What you notice is that nowhere in the letter is there any scientific justification for these rules because, of course, there isn't one, it doesn't exist. There is a consensus now among serious people that mask mandates for children do not protect children or adults. And to be clear, that's not a right-wing opinion. The Atlantic Magazine, whose default setting for two full years has been screaming COVID hysteria, just published a piece entitled "The Case Against Masks at School." The piece notes mask "provide little discernible benefit," and it's not just the Atlantic. Today, a team of scientists and virologists published an op-ed in USA Today. Their conclusion? "With vaccines available mask mandates are not necessary in school," period. They went on to explain, "even in unvaccinated children, rates of serious disease from COVID-19 are similar to that of the seasonal flu, and we do not normally take exceptional precautions in schools for the flu, for which we do not normally implement school mask mandates." 

NY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SPENT HOURS OUT IN THE COLD AFTER SHE REFUSED TO WEAR A MASK

You knew that, but they're finally admitting it. Now they reviewed the data on school and masking and "find that well-controlled real-world studies consistently failed to find a convincing benefit, while studies cited to support masking have serious flaws." Once again, we've been telling you this for a year and a half. And now it's completely confirmed. There doesn't seem to be a debate about it. 

Masks don't benefit children. They actively harm children. Child development experts are weighing in and saying, oh yes, long-term use of masks on children can inflict profound cognitive damage. Again, you could have guessed this. Now it's confirmed. One therapist, for example, in Palm Beach, Florida, says her clinic has seen a 364% increase in referrals of babies and toddlers. Why? Masks. 

Everything about this is shocking. But what's most shocking of all is that we are virtually alone in doing this. In other countries in the civilized world, the UK, Norway, many others, kids are not required to wear masks in school because they don't work, and they hurt kids. This is not a mystery. It's not a secret. School officials know this, there's no logic or data to support their position. So when you don't have evidence or a legitimate justification, you move very quickly to indoctrination. You lie because you have no choice. Here's an assistant superintendent for Wake County Public Schools, that would be in North Carolina, areep called Paul Koh. He explains on video his plan to reprogram children so they obey him without question. 

Coronavirus prevention face mask protection N95 masks and medical surgical masks at home . (iStock)

KOH: It's like if you're a two-year-old, you're trying to help them practice for age three and then four when they're going into pre-K classrooms. And then from there, you're trying to help them get into a normalized situation wearing masks, potentially, in a kindergarten classroom and so forth. So that's what we're trying to do.

Okay, so there's no reason to have a country in which our children are, "educated by people like that," in which you're required by law to hand your kids over to people like that. People who are clearly psychologically damaged, who have agendas that have nothing to do with education, and are, in fact, sinister. Why are they doing this? Well, of course, because long term, this is how you maintain power. If you've got nothing to convince people with, you manipulate them. You weaken the young people, you degrade their mental health. That's how you maintain control. Take a look at these pictures from Oxford Middle School in the state of Connecticut. You can see students in a band playing instruments with masks over their faces. But even more ridiculous, the instruments themselves have masks. Now, it's easy to laugh at this, but it's also horrifying. Think about the brainwashing required to do this with a straight face. 

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By the way, the lunacy extends to adults. In Broward County, Florida, a free state most of the time, anyone who wants to check out a book from the library must have a mask on. So, comply or you're not allowed to read. Now, some people have medical exemptions where they don't have to wear a mask, they have COPD, for example. If you have a medical exemption, you don't get to read as many books. You have to make do with a much smaller selection of reading material. 

LIBRARY GUEST: Do we have any idea when they're going to start honoring these exemptions because this is ridiculous?

LIBRARY WORKER: We don't know anything about that, we just follow what they tell us to do and I do apologize. 

Yeah, let's put kids on Zoom class for two years and prevent adults from reading books unless they obey. Pretty hard to justify any of this in terms a logical person would understand. So they're not even bothering, the people enforcing these rules aren't arguing on their behalf. They're just laughing at you and making you do it. Here's an example from Los Angeles; the mayor of that city, the second-biggest city in this country, Eric Garcetti, explains that he wasn't wearing a mask when he took an indoor photograph with Magic Johnson, someone who's technically immunocompromised, but whatever. Here's his his explanation.

LA'S GARCETTI MOCKED FOR RESPONSE TO MASKLESS PICTURE

GARCETTI: When people ask for a photograph, I hold my breath … There's a zero percent chance of infection from that … I won't pull it down for two seconds anymore, that's easy. But to me, it is crystal clear that nobody has been endangered by that. 

I held my breath. I did not inhale. Notice he doesn't blush when he says that, he just says it and expects you to believe it. That's a totally adequate explanation. Can I get away with it? I didn't breathe. Therefore, it's fine. Try that on a commercial airline flight. Gavin Newsom did the same. He also took a maskless photograph with Magic Johnson. By the way, for the record, that's fine. But these are the people who are telling you it's a crime. So when they're caught doing it, what's their excuse? Well, in the case of the governor of California, he says he had the mask in his hand, so he was safe.

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NEWSOM: You're correct, I was very judicious yesterday, very judicious, and you'll see the photo that I did take where Magic was kind enough, generous enough, to ask me for a photograph. And in my left hand is the mask and I took a photo. The rest of the time I wore it, as we all should, not when I had a glass of water or anything and encourage everybody else to do so. And that's it. 

Not actually encouraging everyone else to do this. More like requiring everyone else to do so. That and a whole lot of other things that have no scientific justification. But as long as you have a mask in your left hand, and you happen to be the governor of California and you make the rules, you don't have to obey the rules. That's how it works. So again, these explanations are getting more transparent, more absurd. And that should make you a little worried because when people stop explaining things, or trying to justify them, or try to win you over their position, what do they have left to make you comply? Force. That's it. They just have force. 

This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the February 3, 2022, edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."