Rand Paul loves to remind the world that he’s a physician (which is true). What is also true is that he is not an immunologist, a virologist, or an epidemiologist. (He’s an eye doctor.) Nor has he been in the trenches with the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci (who has become a favorite target of Paul’s) in studying the COVID-19 coronavirus specifically, which is still new enough that we’re learning things about it every day. Which is all to say that when the Kentucky senator offers up his medical-related opinion on something, it’s just that—an opinion, not a fact. Which is why YouTube just banned Paul from the platform for a week for posting an anti-mask video full of lies and misinformation… and Paul is not happy!
On Tuesday evening, a clearly fuming Paul—whose face is so punchable that even his neighbor couldn’t resist—tweeted about having his video pulled from YouTube… though he claimed (presumably between clenched teeth) that it was “a badge of honor.”
“A badge of honor . . . leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.”
A badge of honor . . . leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.
If you want to see the banned video go to Liberty Tree https://t.co/gsTUwuLZGL
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 10, 2021
In the now-deleted video, Paul was speaking out about the “danger” of mask mandates, which… what?!? It’s one thing to not like being told to do something; it’s another thing to claim that being told to wear a mask when we’re more than 18 months into a pandemic that has so far claimed the lives of more than 4.3 million people around the world, and is seeing record-high numbers of people being hospitalized across America, particularly in places where mask-wearing and vaccine-gettin’ don’t seem to be a priority. States like, oh, I don’t know… Kentucky? Which has seen a 139 percent increase in COVID cases over the past two weeks, according to The New York Times. While doctors and other health officials at the center of the COVID surge are pleading with people to mask up and get vaccinated, Paul took a different tack in his now-deleted video:
“Saying cloth masks work, when they don’t, actually risks lives, as someone may choose to care for a loved one with COVID while only wearing a cloth mask. This is not only bad advice but also potentially deadly misinformation.”
YouTube quickly removed the video for violating its community guidelines. In addition to his tweet, Paul’s office issued an official statement on the matter, in which the good doctor claimed:
“I think this kind of censorship is very dangerous, incredibly anti-free speech, and truly anti-progress of science, which involves skepticism and argumentation to arrive at the truth. As a libertarian leaning Senator, I think private companies have the right to ban me if they want to, so in this case I’ll just channel that frustration into ensuring the public knows YouTube is acting as an arm of government and censoring their users for contradicting the government.”
Noted.