We have heard a great deal about the Spanish Flu of 1918, and how many people died, but what we didn't know was that there was a mask mandate then.  I implore you to read this article before you continue reading what I am going to say...I'll wait...  Ok, I hope you took the time to read that because everything that happened then is happening now!  I am going to quote from the Times article frequently in this discourse so that you know where these quotes are coming from.  I just don't want to have to site every quote.  So all credit will go to the NY Times in all quoted material unless otherwise sited.  Let's begin.

"In 1918 and 1919, as bars, saloons, restaurants, theaters and schools were closed, masks became a scapegoat, a symbol of government overreach, inspiring protests, petitions and defiant bare-face gatherings. All the while, thousands of Americans were dying in a deadly pandemic."  

The interesting thing about the Spanish flu is that, like the COVID it attacked the lower respiratory tract which made it  potentially far more deadly than the seasonal flu which generally just got caught up in the upper respiratory tract. It was also discovered that lung tissue  at autopsy was full of fluid and hemorrhages.  Sound familiar?  Our country was just one year into WWl and in 1918 we simply didn't have the medical advances we have now and many of those who died were on the battlefield or those impoverished.  It was however, a very severe flu for the time and the outbreak went from city to city rather quickly.

NEVER LET A GOOD CRISIS GO TO WASTE!

This flu no doubt was severe and killed roughly 675,000 people in the US in a little over 1 year (1918-1919).  And just like THE COVID, there were mask mandates and fines and jail time for those who disobeyed the order.  But something else was going on in the United States that was seriously upsetting to the Democrats--->  The woman's suffrage movement!  This was a long haul movement that had begun in 1848. Women wanted the right to VOTE in this country and by 1918 these women were very close to getting that right...so close!  But then the Flu came as a bird and spread its wings over this country like a feathery veil of death.  At this point the President (Wilson), and both the House and the Senate were Democrat and the war and the flu pushed these women back.  But make a note that there were also many Democrat women who fought against women's right to vote because it would enfranchise Black women...YEP, that's right!  White, female Democrats didn't want Black women to be equal to men in the voting arena.  To them it was worth losing their right to vote as long as a Black woman couldn't!  Learn your history Black Democrat women! 

So back to the flu CRISIS and masks.  At the turn of the Century, in the early 1900's,  most people didn't know much about viruses let alone their microscopic size so when the mask mandate was made: "masks of gauze and cheesecloth became the facial front lines in the battle against the virus. But as they have now, the masks also stoked political division. Then, as now, medical authorities urged the wearing of masks to help slow the spread of disease. And then, as now, some people resisted."  

Do you think there were people at that time, the anit-maskers saying, "cheese cloth?  What the heck is that going to do?"  There was even an Anti-Mask League!  Were these just selfish, uncaring people, or did they have a point?  Were some of these people back in 1918-19 smarter that we thought regarding medical issues?  Or did they just know a sham when they saw one?  If you take a minute to look at some of the newspaper articles (google images) from that time period, you could be looking at articles from 2020!  Well, except those people actually had more of a FREE PRESS than we do now...they could actually print an opposing idea then.

"On Oct. 28, a blacksmith named James Wisser stood on Powell and Market streets in front of a drugstore, urging a crowd to dispose of their masks, which he described as “'bunk.'”  Even then people had a feeling that the mask mandate was of a political nature.  Sound familiar?  Sure does!  And even with their limited knowledge of how this virus was spreading they were using the same, exact tactics that we are seeing now, CLAIMING that wearing a mask, one made from GAUZE was 99% effective in stopping the spread of the Spanish Flu, even using the RED CROSS to spread this lie!  And most people believed this...GAUZE?  But there were many who didn't, there were a lot of people, even common folks that were seeing something more to this mask mandate, something political going on.  Hmmmm

In Los Angeles, ‘To Mask or Not to Mask.’

"That was the headline for a report published in The Los Angeles Times when city officials met in November to decide whether to require residents to wear “germ scarers” or “flu-scarers.”  

Public feedback was invited. Some supported masks so theaters, churches and schools could operate. Opponents said masks were “mere dirt and dust traps and do more harm than good.”

“I have seen some persons wearing their masks for a while hanging about their necks, and then apply them to their faces, forgetting that they might have picked up germs while dangling about their clothes,” Dr. E.W. Fleming said in a Los Angeles Times report."

So we had hundreds of thousands of people dying of the flu but these people obvious saw a flaw in this mask mandate, and remember this was in 1918!  But the women fighting for their right to vote knew something was up and: 

In Illinois, the right to choose, and to reject.

"Suffragists fighting for the right to vote made a gesture that rejected covering their mouths at a time when their voices were crucial.

At the annual convention of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, in October 1918, they set chairs four feet apart, closed doors to the public and limited attendance to 100 delegates, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported."  These women felt the masks were part of a ploy to keep their voice and their faces hidden at a crucial time when the NEEDED to be heard!  After all, they were SO VERY CLOSE to getting the 19 amendment signed into law and women of all colors could finally VOTE!   The Anti-Mask League was now in full swing.

"On Jan. 25, the league held its first organizational meeting, open to the public at the Dreamland Rink, where they united behind demands for the repeal of the mask ordinance and for the resignations of the mayor and health officials.

Their objections included lack of scientific evidence that masks worked and the idea that forcing people to wear the coverings was unconstitutional."  Remember, this was in 1919...sound familiar?  

WAS THE MASK MANDATE FOR THE SPANISH FLU IN THE US A POLITICAL PLOY TO DISTRACT?

I guarantee, if we could ask one of the leaders of the Women's Suffrage movement if the mask mandate was a political ploy to distract citizens from one of the most important amendments to our US Constitution---the right of a woman to vote, she would say, HELL YES!  The 19th Amendment was finally passed 100 years ago, Aug. 18th, 1920, no thanks to the constant thwarting from the Democrats!  

IS THE MASK MANDATE FOR THE CORONAVIRUS  IN THE US A POLITICAL PLOY TO DISTRACT?

If you read the article, so well written by the NY Times, and that is a compliment I don't give often to the NYtimes, but if you read that article, the parallels to what we are experiencing with the Reelection of Donald Trump are almost exactly like what was going on in the US during the Spanish Flu...like down to a tee.  This is such a crucial time in our history and Trump has made it his purpose to destroy the Deep State and drain the swamp.  The Democrats are doing everything in their power to not let this crisis go to waste and they will fight Trump's reelection as hard as they fought to keep their slaves and to keep women from voting!   The mask is simply a way to control people and silence them!  Just like back in 1918 the mask is a political ploy used for control and distraction.

Final note here...We know that The Spanish Flu was a devastating virus there is really NO DEBATING that.  In 1918 we also know that sanitation, personal hygiene like bathing, hand-washing and general disinfectants were not commonly practised and this was the MAJOR reason so many died from that virus.  But history tells us that the Mask Mandate of that time was looked upon as a political tool; even though hundreds of thousands were dying, some people knew that the government was using that crisis to their advantage, perhaps to stop the passage of the 19th Amendment by the Democrats?  We also know that THE COVID CRISIS, although not nearly as deadly or contagious seems to be riding the same rails as history depicts back in 1918.  Except this time, the division and the contention is being driven by the Democrats to STOP the Re-Election of President Donald Trump!