In completely unsurprising, yet absolutely ridiculous news singer and definitely not a medical professional Ziggy Alberts has spewed some anti-mask nonsense on his Instagram.
We’ve already covered how being asked to wear a mask to protect people against the deadly virus we’re currently battling is absolutely not a political thing, nor is it a sign that we’re living under a communist dictatorship. But it looks like we need to reiterate it.
It’s actually pretty insensitive to liken the fact that Dan Andrews is urging us to wear masks to save lives to, you know, the actual atrocities committed by dictators like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong. Let’s be real here, even under the Stage 3 lockdown, we’re still wildly more privileged than anyone who has actually had their basic human rights violated.
But Ziggy Alberts seemingly disagrees and has taken to Instagram to express how he won’t support mask-wearing because “all it does is strips Australians of their basic human rights in what is supposed to be a free society.”
https://twitter.com/forghandi/status/1284812386793172992
At this point, if you think *ALL* mask-wearing does is strip you of your basic human rights, please stop getting your health advice from a musician and consult an actual medical professional.
Yes, wearing masks is uncomfortable and we’d all like to be sinking beers at the pub instead of sitting inside our houses befriending the pot plant in the corner. But have we lost our basic human rights? No.
Even when comparing our situation right now to the people living in our own offshore detention centres, we’ve still got it pretty bloody good. So if you want to talk about human rights violations, Ziggy, look at how we treat asylum seekers, not the fact that you’re being asked to wear a mask for the greater good of humanity.
Despite the stage 3 restrictions (which have been put in place because we collectively chose to not follow social distancing protocol before it was legally enforced), you can still freely walk to the shops, go to work and live a semi-normal life. Sure, we’re all making some sacrifices, but to treat this as a breach of your basic human rights is frankly false.
Towards the end of his post, he asserted that there are “so many ways to protect a minority of immunocompromised citizens without mandating face masks or lockdowns,” and in saying that, he is correct.
But unfortunately, we chose to visit our friends, go on unnecessary trips to the shops and otherwise ignore the social distancing guidelines before the government decided to legally enforce them. We had a chance to do the right thing on our own accord but we ultimately didn’t, and now we’re facing the repercussions of our own poor choices.
If you’re going to complain about wearing a mask right now I strongly urge you to pick up a damn history book or talk to anybody who’s actually had their basic human rights taken away. Because, I assure you, they’re not even remotely comparable.
There is no space for the spread of misguided and misinformed rhetoric suggesting that wearing a mask is a breach of your freedoms as a human being. That messaging is dangerous, has no basis in science or medicine and will not solve anything
— Alex Lahey (@AlexLahey) July 19, 2020
Dear people who think having to wear a mask is robbing you of your “basic rights”.
You have clearly never experienced an actual infringement of your basic rights.
Just wear a mask. Don’t worry, you can still whisper your free-speech from beneath it.
— Gordi (@GordiMusic) July 19, 2020
If you’re going to listen to any musician tonight, please let it be the one who is also a doctor. https://t.co/qcTXAVFNsu
— Bridget Hustwaite (@BHustwaite) July 19, 2020
