Even as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wane in the United States, some are still desperately clinging to ineffective mitigation. Perhaps it’s fear, perhaps it’s a status thing, or maybe it’s just about power, but they can’t just allow people to live their lives in peace even after being vaccinated.

Case in point, Sen. Ted Cruz had to deal with a reporter who doubled as a mask-Karen today. This is one of the dumber exchanges I’ve seen a politician have to deal with, and Cruz delivers the perfect response, in my opinion.

REPORTER: “Would you mind putting on a mask for us?”

CRUZ: “Yeah, when I’m talking to the TV camera, I’m not going to wear a mask. All of us have been immunized.”

REPORTER: “It’d make us feel better.”

CRUZ: “You’re welcome to step away if you’d like.” pic.twitter.com/0d0rvz0OAJ

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 25, 2021

First off, this has to be the most beta-male thing I’ve ever witnessed. Some reporter asks Cruz to put on a mask despite the fact that he and all his colleagues are scientifically immune due to vaccination. Then when Cruz points out the obvious, i.e. that there’s no point in him wearing a mask while talking to the camera, the reporter says it would “make us feel better.” What exactly do feelings have to do with any of this? Are we following the science or not?

As I wrote just recently, yet another major data point has suggested that masks are largely ineffective (see New Data Further Calls Into Question Joe Biden’s Edicts on Mask-Wearing). Couple that with the fact that Cruz has been immunized, and it becomes nothing but absolutely pointless theater to put on a face diaper.

But masks have become more about control than anything else. It gives the government control, yes, but it also gives people control over other people when they demand everyone around them don a mask. There’s something perverse about that, especially given what the actual results and science are telling us. There’s certainly no justification for it when you are dealing with someone who has been vaccinated.

Good for Cruz for not giving in here and putting this guy in his place. If this reporter can’t operate when someone isn’t wearing a mask around him, even an immunized person, then he’s welcome to go stand in the back of the room and listen quietly. The idea that everyone must bow and do pointless things to make others feel comfortable regarding COVID has long expired.