Politics Plus

MTG Greene seems to be in a never-ending battle with Lauren Boebert and Louie Gohmert for the Congressional Olympic Gold Medal of Abject Stupidity.

But her latest pungent foray into the Stupidity Olympics battle really stinks.  No, really … it STINKS!

So many people still wearing masks.

I just want to ask you.

If a pair of underwear, really thick ones, high quality cotton, can’t protect you from a fart, then how will a mask protect you from covid??

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 29, 2022

COVID has been plaguing the world for a couple of years now and this is NOT the first time this question has been raised and answered.  You would think that before posting a question like this that anyone would do a minimum bit of research – especially someone who serves the people as a Representative in Congress.

But noooo – not MTG!

I’ll try doing my best Bill Nye the Science Guy imitation to help her out.

Let’s start with a brief overview of the chemistry of farts (a topic you’ve probably wondered about a time or two, but never felt it worth your while to delve into.)

There are three different types of gaseous sulfur compounds that cause the stinky odor of our farts:

• Hydrogen sulfide, which is very common, will produce a rotten egg smell.
• Methanethiol will produce a smell similar to rotting vegetables or garlic.
• Dimethyl sulfide is often described as smelling like cabbage but might add a sweetness to the overall smell of gas.

To understand why masks truly DO WORK to protect against COVID (but not preventing MTG from smelling her own farts) it turns out size actually DOES matter.  (Given MTG’s lurid history of multiple extramarital affairs that led to her recent divorce, you’d think she’d have at least a passing familiarity with this concept.)

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:

The main sulphur-containing flatus component was hydrogen sulphide (1.06 (0.2) μmol/l), followed by methanethiol (0.21 (0.04) μmol/l) and dimethyl sulphide (0.08 (0.01) μmol/l) (means (SEM)).

https://gut.bmj.com/content/43/1/100

I agree – that’s way too much chemistry.  Here’s something a little bit easier to understand:

Dear God,

Your underwear isn't designed to filter the air.

A fart is a bunch of gas molecules. They're tiny, e.g. methane is 3.8 x 10⁻¹⁰ m. The coronavirus (1.25 x 10⁻⁷ m) is 3+ orders of magnitude larger!

If a molecule is a corn of sand, COVID has aircraft-carrier size. https://t.co/kaBwjoeH0D

— Walpurga Müller-Schm (@WalpurgaMueller) November 29, 2022

NOTE: Remembering that “orders of magnitude” is a logarithmic term based on power of 10 – so from the Tweet:

3.8 x 10⁻¹⁰ m = 0.00000000038 m.

1.25 x 10⁻⁷ m = 0.000000125 m.

Realizing that MTG is severely “intellectually challenged” – let’s go for something more graphic to help her grasp why masks work against COVID but not farts:

And even more akin to her Saturday morning cartoon-watching (I’m sure MTG enjoys animated graphics) something even simpler

But that doesn’t mean MTG wouldn’t be ruthlessly mocked for this level of stupidity, so let’s enjoy a few.

(To save space, rather than posting each individual Tweet in full, I’ll just post the response to MTG’S question with a link to its author.)

And don’t forget her stinky question:

“If a pair of underwear, really thick ones, high quality cotton, can’t protect you from a fart, then how will a mask protect you from covid??”

No surprise that beloved George Takei would come up with the perfect analogy to help her understand the concept using tools that she’s more familiar with:

If you wear a white hood, really thick, with eye slits, it still can’t protect you from being identified as a white supremacist.

Kristina Wong:

She’s comparing COVID to a fart smell. Because that’s what idiots do.

Lock Them Trumps Up:

Mainly because I don’t wear my underwear on my head. Next question.

Ralph Toivonen:

The same way socks aren’t designed to be used as condoms.

Bruno in the Bay:

Behold. A sitting Congresswoman thinks farts are highly contagious.

Chris D. Jackson:

How the hell did we go from leaders like John Lewis to MTG in just one generation.

How very sad.

TheLastAnemone:

Why is it any of your business if people choose to mask up to protect themselves and their loved ones from the flu or covid19 or smelling your stinky farts?

MYOB, stop being a bully and leave folks to decide for themselves what’s best for them.

Pithier variation from RsLie:

It’s called free choice, Marj!

FREE CHOICE!

Cartoonist Steve Bensen thought that maybe if MTG were provided a bespoke mask, she might actually be enticed to wear it.  He’s got a point:

Others had a more … hmmm … aromatic approach to mask customization:

When it comes to MTG regularly displaying her ignorance via Twitter, I think we’d all agree with Sunday Claus on this:

Liked you better this way. pic.twitter.com/sUQ17TrwMX

— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖_ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕦𝕤 (@SundaeDivine) November 29, 2022

Of course, the actual reason MTG is not having any success with blocking out the smell of farts is easily explained with this one graphic:

 

So if MTG does not want to be known as the absolute DUMBEST person in Congress, she had better hope that Boebert and Gohmert don’t die!