Bill Nye Celebrated for His Message to Anti-Maskers: 'This Is a Matter, Literally, of Life and Death'

Bill Nye, like anyone who's not intellectually deficient to the point of COVID-19 conspiracy theory hawking, is urging the general public to do the wise and easy thing: Wear a goddamn mask.

The longtime voice of reason put his proven mastery of condensing science into an easily shareable and digestible format to good use this week with a pair of TikTok uploads centered on coronavirus containment efforts. Specifically, Nye placed emphasis on the effectiveness of simply rocking a mask, a task some in the U.S. still struggle with despite it requiring practically zero effort.

"The reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect you, sure, but the main reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect me from you and the particles from your respiratory system from getting into my respiratory system!" Nye said in one video. "Everybody, this is a matter—literally—of life and death. And when I use the word 'literally,' I mean literally a matter of life and death. So when you're out in public, please wear a mask."

In another clip, Nye demonstrated the effectiveness of blocking the movement of air by pointing out the similar effectiveness of scarves in keeping one's neck warm. He also demonstrated this effectiveness by attempting to blow out a candle with a face mask on.

Of course, it's fucking pathetic that anyone at this stage in the COVID-19 era would need to be told to wear a mask, but that's the way things go in 2020 America. Still, at least Nye minced zero words in his message that's since been very widely shared as part of an effort to sway the anti-mask portion of society:

And one more time for everyone in the back:

WEAR A MASK.