Operant Conditioning and the Face Mask Pandemic

The Coronavirus has shaken American life to its core. Not only has this alleged pandemic wrecked a booming economy, putting millions on unemployment and forcing businesses to close; it has left countless millions living a life of perpetual fear. Across the country, an untold number of Americans are fooling themselves into believing that wearing a mask will save them from a pandemic that has proven to be nothing short of an over hyped attempt to gain coercive control of our lives. Despite the over abundance of emerging information proving, for example, that the death numbers were over exaggerated, and hospitals are not as overwhelmed as the media portrayed, the official narrative presenting the Coronavirus as the doomsday threat of our lifetime persists. The consequence is a population with a diminished ability to reason for themselves, not knowing how to discern reality from fantasy while just going along to get along.

To date there has been no official study that has sought the effectiveness of wearing clothe masks, or N-95 respirators as protection from the Coronavirus. This is according Dr. Blaylock M.D. He states that because there have been no conclusive studies, the only comparable illness to compare to Covid-19 is the flu. There is no existing research which indicates that a healthy person wearing a mask is protected from any illness associated with influenza. There is substantial evidence however, according to Blaylock, that wearing a mask can cause serious problems due to low oxygen levels in the blood.  This is referred to as Hypoxia and affects our ability to fight off infections like the flu, or other diseases. Furthermore, there is evidence suggesting that a person who is infected with a respiratory virus could cause further harm to themselves as particles of the virus will get caught in the mask as they exhale, causing them to be re-inhaled. This leads to a build up of the virus in their system, potentially making them seriously ill.

Despite the availability of this information and other studies like the one released by The World Health Organization suggesting that healthy people don’t need to wear a mask, people across the country are masking up as if their lives depend on it. In 2014 the National Institute of Health published a report from the Singapore Journal of Health entitled “The Use of Facemasks to Prevent Respiratory Infection: A Literature Review in the Context of the Health Belief Model.” This study revolved around people’s motivations for wearing face masks. It found the following-

We found that individuals are more likely to wear facemasks due to the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of being afflicted with life-threatening diseases. Although perceived susceptibility appeared to be the most significant factor determining compliance, perceived benefits of mask-wearing was found to have significant effects on mask-wearing compliance as well. Perceived barriers include experience or perception of personal discomfort and sense of embarrassment. Media blitz and public health promotion activities supported by government agencies provide cues to increase the public’s usage of facemasks.

This study suggests they knew what our reaction to Covid-19 would be and, that they knew how easily we could be convinced to follow along. This is the application of social science at its finest. They have been studying human behavior for decades and know exactly how to manipulate us to their ends. B.F. Skinner wrote in his book “Science and Human Behavior” that man’s behavior can largely be determined by the specific conditions to which he is exposed. In other words, he believed that the environment largely predicted the way men would behave.

If we are to use the methods of science in the field of human affairs, we must assume that behavior is lawful and determined. We must expect to discover that what a man does is the result of specifiable conditions and that once these conditions have been discovered, we can anticipate and to some extent determine his actions (Skinner, Science and Human Behavior). 

This substantiates the results of the NIH article. That study was conducted to determine what motivates people to wear face masks. The manipulation of the environment and pushing the story of a deadly pandemic was the stimulus, and people falling into compliance was the expected response. This was determined in 2014.

What Skinner is essentially saying is that people are programmable, and our behavior is not the result of our own will, or chosen course of action, but a result of environmental circumstances.

Prevailing philosophies of human nature recognize an internal "will" which has the power of interfering with causal relationships and which makes the prediction and control of behavior impossible. To suggest that we abandon this view is to threaten many cherished beliefs—to undermine what appears to be a stimulating and productive conception of human nature (Skinner, Science and Human Behavior). 

In an article entitled “The Psychological Manipulation of Universal Masking,” published by Health Freedom Ohio, the author points out the long used tactic of discrediting people who do not go along with social norms. People who refuse to wear masks are uncaring, selfish and pose a danger to everyone else. No doubt this is social conditioning for the acceptance of mandatory vaccinations. Those wearing masks have been fooled into believing that they are morally superior and that their actions show that they have some deep concern for the safety of us all, despite the evidence proving otherwise. B.F. Skinner had something to say about this as well. In “Beyond Freedom Dignity,” Skinner says that people can be persuaded into behaving in certain ways out of a fear of being rejected. “People who get along together well under the mild contingencies of approval and disapproval are controlled as effectively as (and in many ways more effectively than) the citizens of a police state” (Skinner, Beyond Freedom Dignity.) In other words, those wearing masks are doing so out of a deep-rooted fear that they will be perceived as contributing to the problem, or not caring about humanity. They will then viciously defend their actions because they have been led to believe that their compliance represents a moral superiority.  

Those who work productively because of the reinforcing value of what they produce are under the sensitive and powerful control of the products. Those who learn in the natural environment are under a form of control as powerful as any control exerted by a teacher. (Skinner, Beyond Freedom Dignity.)

The social sciences have made great progress in understanding and manipulating human behavior. People can indeed be conditioned to behave in predictable ways, making it easier for those seeking to exert their control over society. Skinner’s theories on operant conditioning have attempted to prove that people’s behavior is largely determined by the environment around them, which often can force people to act in ways to save their lives. He put forth a thesis which suggests we have no control of our behavior at all, and that certain factors like the fear of rejection, or appearing to have a morally superior position can reinforce behavior patterns no matter what the truth is. Can those wearing a mask be brought to see that it is making no difference at all? Or, will they continue to do so until they are told they are safe? The one thing that proves Skinner’s theories to be incorrect is the self-evident truth that people have a choice. Just as there are millions wearing masks, there are millions who know the truth and will refuse to do so. If Skinner’s theory were completely accurate, those refusing to wear masks could be pushed into doing so by portraying them as uncompassionate or uncaring. What is the difference?

People are more easily manipulated when the foundations of truth have been ripped out from under them. In America, the concept of absolute truth has been replaced with moral relativism while the very character of our national morality has been under a vicious assault. Americans are turning to atheism at an alarming rate, making them more susceptible to the type of behavioral manipulation described by Skinner. For a person grounded in truth and following God’s word knows they can choose their behavior and not be led by fear. The very foundations of this country are based on the premise that religious and moral men can be free because they can control their behavior. B.F. Skinners theory represents a system which denies God’s truth and leans on men’s own understanding. Which is something the Bible clearly warns us against. A society living in perpetual fear of an over-hyped flu virus is the consequence of developing systems antithetical to God’s and looking to science instead of God.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not, on your own understanding.