The Conspirituality Report

The Unbearable Feelings of the Anti-Masker

What’s going on for the person compelled to harass others?

I can’t stop thinking about anti-vax mom influencer Stephanie Sibbio marching into her neighbourhood health food store here in Toronto without a mask on, and demanding to buy tampons. I first wrote about her here, and here’s her march, once again:

Sibbio’s having a busy spring. Recently she represented the 100 Million Moms movement at the Nathan Philips Square vaccination clinic, harassing families who showed up for their shots. She agreed to a interview with citizen journalist Morgan Yew, in which she promotes the false idea that the unvaccinated are being poisoned by the vaccinated — “reverse contagion anxiety”.

It’s a theme. In Los Angeles a few weeks back, “Dimensional breathwork teacher” Andrew Genovese organized a “Maskless Sunday Meetup”, intending to enter stores maskless, protecting “our right to breathe”. His co-organizer was Jeff Witzeman, who makes films about how children with cancer should not be treated with chemotherapy. Witzeman also posts sermons about defying anti-COVID measures “with love”.

What is going on?

I’ve thought about this from many angles: consumerist entitlement, medical libertarianism, white supremacy, oppression fantasies, and performing for the algorithms. Back to the Vax founders Lydia Greene and Heather Simpson describe the online anti-vax movement, comprised mostly of white middle-class mothers, as a cult. These takes are all helpful.