This meme is making a comeback in light of the soon-to-be-mandatory mask law in the UK.

I thought I might try to provide some insight into the issues with homemade mask wearing in the community, by taking this meme to its logical end point in the analogy.

(A THREAD)

So, here’s goes. You’ve got your pants on and yeah, you piss in them. But, you don’t take them off right away. Because you’ve got “protection,” you sort of forget about the piss. So, you keep your piss-filled pants on, for your whole trip around the Aldi.

Between touching fresh produce, you put your hands in your piss-filled pockets. You scratch at your piss-covered crotch and then you grab that weird kitchenware from the middle aisle for a closer inspection, before putting it back, stained with piss.

You adjust your piss-filled trouser leg in order to retrieve your piss-sodden wallet and then you tap you pissed-on bank card against the till. Probably got piss on it now.

You head out to your car and at this stage, if you’re feeling a bit clammy, you take your pissy pants off. But you don’t throw them away; you put them on your dashboard, ready for the next piss-covered excursion.

You wipe piss over your steering wheel. Your car stinks of piss.

If you think on, you’ll probably pop your piss-covered pants in the wash the day after tomorrow. But in the meantime, you’ll wear them to your mum’s house.

Ah, bollocks. Looks like your mum’s shopping is all covered in piss.

Don’t forget, you sewed your pants yourself. They’re nice - a real fashion statement! But they’re not made to an industry standard; there’s no warranty or anything...

So when you do urinate in your pants, there’s no guarantee streams of piss won’t shoot out between the seams and splash all over anyone within a metre or so.

If you’re gonna wear your pissy pants, you’re better off staying far away from other people regardless - and you’d better wash your hands regularly, you smelly bastard.

Laypeople in the community aren’t trained in the hygienic use of masks. Evidence suggests they tend to contaminate their masks and also stop engaging in other more protective practices, out of a false sense of security. They can therefore make germ spread potentially worse.

The evidence challenging widespread homemade mask wearing has nothing to do with breathing problems or some sort of direct harm to the wearer - that’s a red herring. And highly trained anaesthetists wearing medical masks in theatres is a different scenario altogether.

(END)