The pro-mask crowd, the faction that dictates you must wear a mask, always, always, always, wherever, wherever, wherever you go, is rude, crude, impolite, ill-mannered, disrespectful, arrogant, pompous, condescending, offensive, insulting, and derogatory.

I make no apology for that assessment because it’s true.

I’ve witnessed it firsthand. So has my wife. So have a number of our friends.

To borrow a phrase from my youth, “Who died and left them boss?”

Maskless people, wanna get hit with dirty looks? Head to the grocery store.

On a recent trip to my local Sendik’s in Franklin I had just walked in the entrance sliding doors when out of nowhere from behind came a diminutive octogenarian about the size of a feather in full mask. When she got side by side with my elbow (not at all practicing social distancing) she began lecturing how I “needed to have a mask.”

I know you’ll be shocked when I tell you I was in no mood for her crap so I immediately cut the old bag off, telling her in no uncertain terms that the mask she had on wasn’t going to do any good (And I could link to a gazillion reliable sources to prove my point). As she scampered away I said rather loudly ”Why do you mask people have to be so rude?!”

Couldn’t help but grin at that point as three, count ‘em three very young Sendik’s employees in the entrance where the carts are stored could easily be seen and heard laughing through their employee-required face gear.

It’s getting worse as the call for mask mandates seems to be the rallying call du jour.

Chris von Csefalvay, an epidemiologist specializing in bat-borne viruses, is currently VP of Special Projects at Starschema. He says:

“As an epidemiologist, all too aware of the microbial multitudes that we all contain, I’ve been carrying a pair of gloves and an N95 respirator in my backpack for years and agree with the general approach of using whatever preventive measures are appropriate as states open up.

“Yet the evidence is hardly strong enough to elevate mask-wearing into the epitome of moral behavior. Doing so reflects a greater preoccupation with the psychological effect of masks than with their scientific reality. Americans should demand evidence-based decision-making and policies driven by soundly attested facts, not assumptions or psychological palliatives.”

In other words, they may not admit it, but the mask people are wearing masks because in addition to believing they’ll somehow save the world it makes them feel better. How sad so many have been hoodwinked.