"WOT NO GRASP OF THE FUNCTION OF THE HUMAN RESPIRATORY SYSTEM?"

I often wonder if IQ's have dropped sharply or that the general public have an inability to follow simple instructions. Queues seem to be a thing of the past; the idea that you would wait behind somebody who had arrived at a bus stop before you is now passé it would see. We are bombarded with written information and instructions which, in their own way, actually make people less likely to read what is written. We are saturated with reminders to be polite, civil and well mannered, which fall upon deaf ears and limited attention spans. This relentless information overkill shouldn't be needed. Values and standards should be in place as part of growing up, not things that the government, LRT and the neutered Police Service should have to remind people of.

Which brings me to my current bette noir; those that are unable to wear a face mask correctly. Of all the numerous instructions and reminders that should be headed, the way in which to wear  face masks is a critical piece of information that could, literally, save lives. Yet there are still those that don't get it and I don't know why. This is a separate issue to those that expound conspiracy theory and choose not to wear a mask at all as some sort of act of rebellion; these people are trying to make a point, albeit a misguided and possibly lethal one.

I'm talking about the hard of thinking for whom the basic grasp of how the human respiratory system works is as alien a concept as the theory of the existence of dark matter, which is that the motion of galaxies in the Coma cluster, and of nearby stars in our own galaxy, do not follow the expected motion based on Newton's law of gravity and the observed visible masses, is to a 4 year old.

The sight of numerous proboscis peaking over the top of masks like Chad (for our American cousins 'Kilroy') is both infuriating and unfathomable. Is it that they don't understand or is it that they genuinely believe that leaving their hooters exposed isn't an issue? The thing is that there is no one prepared to tell them, no one prepared to say "Oi, mate, do us a favour and cover your nostrils will you? cheers" as the prospect of being on the receiving end of a barrage of abuse (at best) or the end of a blade (at worst) is extremely off putting.

Never has the sight of the human olfactory organ been so offensive or, potentially, deadly.