Unmasking Prejudice? Professor Denounces Maskless People as “Racist, Ableist, and Classist.”

George Washington University (where I teach) this week became one of the last major universities to drop its mask mandate. Many students had long declined to follow the mandate, but the decision was met with relief by many at the school. Yet, some are vivid about the lifting of such mandates in various schools. One is a professor at the University of British Columbia who has participated in roundtable discussions as an expert with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Dr. Amy Tan is a Clinical Associate Professor in Palliative Care and Family Practice at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Calgary. She recently issued a blistering attack on those going maskless as being “racist, ableist, and classist.” The comments raise long-standing concerns that masks have become a vehicle for social and political rather than medical agendas.

According to media reports, Tan responded to a user who defended labeling non-maskers as “racist.” The user denounced dropping the mandates and added:

“once again and always – white people, you do not get to say what is or isn’t racist. stop speaking for and over BIPOC.

learn your place, sit down, shut up, and listen to us. your white saviorism is killing us. whiteness is a problem. oof.

(read & listen to James Baldwin! <3)”

Tan appeared to agree and added that “not masking is racist, ableist & classist.” Notably, some experts believe that the mandatory mandates are alarmist. Recent studies have cast doubts on the efficacy of masks and revealed that even the CDC long harbored doubts on the question. Others continue to challenge those contrary findings as incomplete.

Notably, Tan is not attempting to engage skeptics on the science. Instead she (and others) are attempting to cut off debate by labeling opposing views as revealing a myriad of prejudices. These attacks have largely worked to intimidate many in government, business, media, and academia. Mask efficacy is a debate long suppressed by social media companies and disfavored by many universities. Experts were banned for raising such questions and others labeled conspiracy theorists.

Figures like Tan continue to argue that questioning mask efficacy is to self-identify as a racist, ableist and classist. That is a lot of “ists” for anyone and most academics do not want to risk becoming a target of such attacks. The problem is that the students and the public at large no longer appear to be buying into the mask mandates.

Hopefully, we can still have this long delayed debate at universities without the type of personal, vituperative attacks employed by figures like Tan. If one truly cares about public health, there is nothing to fear from hearing opposing views on the underlying science. People of good faith should be able to disagree on these studies without being allegedly “unmasked” as the Bull Connors of medicine.

Her bio on UBC’s website highlights her work as “an advocate for health equity and an anti-racism educator and consultant” with expertise on “culturally-safe and anti-oppressive care with patients and families.” She has been a continuing advocate for masks where both inside and outside buildings.

Screenshot of a tweet by Dr. Amy Tan published from Feb. 18 2023.

 

120 thoughts on “Unmasking Prejudice? Professor Denounces Maskless People as “Racist, Ableist, and Classist.””

  1. The latest ‘metastudy’ of the efficacy of face masks was the huge study of many, many studies. Their conclusion was that they couldn’t decide whether or not masking made a difference.

    1. Completely false: the lead author of the study summarized the results this way: “There is just no evidence that they make any difference. Full stop.” He went on to say that applied to all kinds of masks, including N95s. Are you lying due to your own malevolence or is someone paying you to do so?

    2. Let’s all chip in on a Go Fund Me to buy David Benson a mask just like Amy Tan’s. David, what color decal do you want? That rose gold is mighty stylish!

      And the plus side? We won’t have to worry about Go Fund Me or the government freezing our funds.

        1. Not so. It came from the animal market ‘with low confidence’ from other parts of the intelligence, etc., serrvices. Only the FBI is slightly more confident that it came from the lab.

    1. Should anyone be surprised this report was released shortly after it was announced China was considering giving Russia lethal military aid? U.S. is trying to threaten China into submission – If you aid Russia we’ll turn the world against you over the Covid pandemic. If China caves, U.S. will retract statement saying it was a ‘low confidence’ report and can’t be verified.

    1. Those who love love other people’s money.

      Those who don’t hate are fools.

      Fools and their money are soon parted.

      Hate is required to retain one’s estate.
      ______________________________

      Those who stop other Gods, graven images, taking name God in vain, forgetting the Sabbath, dishonoring father and mother, murder, adultery, theft, perjury and covetousness are doing the Lord’s work.

  2. Sorry to the “professor” from the University of British Columbia; not masking is a representation of sanity. Your excessive use of categories of “ism’s” is beyond boring; it is despicable.

  3. Amy Tan! You won’t find her speaking anywhere in Canada. That is before the public. Where she might be confronted. Without armed guards.

  4. Andrew Wilkow took a caller to task the other day over the masking controversy citing current research which he asserted supported the claim that masks did not serve at the community level. Another group has conducted an exhaustive critique and analysis of said research and I offer it here for your interest simply to illustrate that science does not always agree and, as I have been saying for the past 3 years, what one needs to know in the present is still in the lab and may ultimately be refuted in time. https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fyes-masks-reduce-the-risk-of-spreading-covid-despite-a-review-saying-they-dont-198992&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cf991dd3fa0fd4c8de15908db177721d7%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638129572653773787%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=foK9aOzHyZ9ZrAZWPnULYZFVyo9e%2FEffmSkjb1zcLt0%3D&reserved=0

    1. ZZDoc – It may be that the “science” will never be settled. We still see conflicting studies on whether red wine is good or bad for the heart. JT’s point is that if the science is not settled, then we need to have an open public debate on this issue. Policy must be based on something other than “settled science” (if that even exists). The CDC discouraged that debate.

  5. “…a chain-link fence to stop mosquitos…”

    “The virus that causes COVID-19 is about 0.1 micrometer in diameter. (A micrometer (µm) is one one-thousandth of a millimeter.) The holes in woven cloth are visible to the naked eye and may be five to 200 micrometers in diameter. It is counter-intuitive that cloth can be useful in this setting — it’s been compared to putting up a chain-link fence to stop mosquitoes. However, that analogy is wrong in many ways.”

    – The Conversation.com

  6. “…A FREE WHITE PERSON…”
    _________________________

    “once again and always – white people, you do not get to say what is or isn’t racist. stop speaking for and over BIPOC.”

    “learn your place, sit down, shut up, and listen to us. your white saviorism is killing us. whiteness is a problem. oof.”

    – Comrade Tan
    ____________

    —- —, comradettetress!

    Go take a “Long March” home.
    ________________________

    “It’s the [welfare and affirmative action state], stupid!”

    – James Carville
    _____________

    “If you build it, he will come.”

    – Strange Voice, Field of Dreams
    __________________________

    “If you [demolish] it, he will [go].”

    – Strange Voice, Field of Dreams
    ___________________________

    “Gentlemen, and if the Cap fits any Body let ’em wear it.”

    – Daniel Defoe, 1705
    _________________

    Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798 and 1802 (illicitly and unconstitutionally repealed – four iterations – they meant it)

    United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof…

  7. Try as I might I can’t find one picture of the drag queens at drag queen story hour that shows the queen wearing a mask. Can’t the little kiddies get Covid. One could never have thought it to be true. Racist drag queens! What’s this world coming to!

  8. This is a classic result of the indoctrination of a woke queen employed by her place of education. One can be amused until one recognizes that this is a product of the re-education imposed on the college students of the nation. When brought up by a CRT education what else can be expected. Thank you Ron Desantis for saying it ain’t happening in my state.

  9. Jonathan: I am a big advocate for unmasking. We could start by unmasking the GOP House “Criminalization” Committee that wants docs and testimony from Hunter Biden and Gorge Berges. Jim Jordan has a lot of theories but no evidence. It’s a fishing expedition designed for one purpose–as pay back for the Jan.6 House investigation of Donald Trump and his likely criminal prosecution. But Jordan will be eventually be unmasked for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. But I digress.

    Maybe we should discuss other important news this week you have once again ignored. At the top of my list is Elon Musk. He and Biden have been fighting for years. But this week Biden praised Musk for saying he was going to open Tesla’s chargers to other brands. That didn’t stop Musk from firing a Twitter salvo at Biden–calling the President a “damp sock puppet”. Then this week Musk decided to fire another 50 Twitter employees–affecting the engineering teams and ad technology–the latter category Musk desperately needs because there has been a massive drop in ad revenue. Go figure. Then, Musk is facing numerous lawsuits due to his failure to pay his bills. Vendors, landlords and consultants are suing for $14 million in unpaid bills. With all his woes you would think Musk has better things to do than constantly responding or attacking his critics.

    Ralph Nader, the Don Quixote of consumer protection, has taken a shot at Musk: “Musk started Tesla with a huge US government welfare grant. He has taken taxpayers to the cleaners for his factories and for Starlink. He is a gigantic corporate welfare king masquerading as a capitalist businessman.” Nader has called on the government to stop Musk’s FSD technology “to prevent the growing deaths and injuries from Tesla manslaughter crashes with his technology”.

    Finally, did you see SNL this week? James Austin Johnson did a perfect imitation of the Trumpster–right down to the voice that if you were only listening you would swear it was Trump. Johnson had a lot of fun over Trump’s visit to East Palestine, Ohio after the massive train wreck. Johnson pointed to Trump’s rollback of rail safety regulations during his administration: “I did a lot for trains. I made them bigger, faster, less safe, perhaps”. I give Johnson 5 stars for his perfect impersonation of the Trumpster–the voice, mannerisms–he had Trump pegged and perfectly unmasked the wannabe presidential candidate.

    1. Dennis McIntyre, we can recall when you were proudly declaring that you were still wearing a mask when ninety percent of the population had thrown their masks in the gutter. Aren’t you a cute fellow in using the subject matter of masks to tell us that Republicans should be unmasked. Such panache. Such wit. Too clever for its own good. Rest assured Dennis McIntyre believes that you are racist if you don’t wear a mask. When we read his comments we should keep this in mind.

    2. No Evidence ? On what planet do you live ?

      What is it that you think there is no evidence for ?

      The weaponization of law enforcement for political purposes – that is trivial – look at the twitter files.

      Hunter Biden ?
      There was hundreds of pages of “evidence obtained via FOIA Prior to Faux impeachment one.
      Now there is a laptop full of evidence.

      Drug dealing.
      Human Trafficing.
      Sworn falsification on gun purchase applications.
      Tax evasion
      Money laundering.
      And on and on.

      If Hunter was an ordinary person he would be serving a decade atleast.

      But Hunter is not the issue or the target.

      The issue is did Joe Biden through his family Sell out the office of Vice President.
      There is more evidence of that than there was for Trump faux impeachment one.

      Next – the house is not law enforcement. There role is government oversight, and legislation.

      You lost the argument on “evidence” when YOU subpeonead all of Trumpdom before the J6 committee.

      First evidence though readily available is completely unnecessary for the House to conduct oversite of the Federal Government.
      A subpeona should not even be necescary. The only “absolute” protection from house oversite is executive priviledge and that is relatively limited and generally only applies to the communications of government advisors with the president.

      The constant “ongoing investigation” claim by DOJ/FBI is not an actual priviledge.
      If the house wants it can DEMAND information from Government – even about ongoing investigations and the executive must comply.
      The risk is that the legislature may interfere with a criminal investigation and prosecution. The courts have long ago decided that is a choice the legislature gets to make – not the executive.

      Federal oversite includes subpoenaing private actors such as Hunter Biden regarding their involvement in government actions.
      Again something democrats did repeatedly int he past 2 years.

      Finally there is potential legislation as a justification – and the courts – again challenges to the democrats overreach have already said they will not second guess the legislature on claims of legislative purpose.

      Regardless, it is perfectly legitimate for the house to investigate the conduct of the Biden family – first to determine if any laws were actually broken, but next to determine if there should be laws against the conduct of the Bidens.

      1. John Say: In my world, if the DOJ and FBI do not comply with requests for documents, the House Leader would take a boatload of armed federal agents over to the FBI offices and stay there until the documents are retrieved. Christpher Wray acts as though he is the unaccountable head of the fourth branch of government. To me, it is anathema to our system and all things about government being of, by and for the people.

        1. The only law enforcement under the control of the House is the Capitol Police and they have no jurisdiction outside the Capitol and its immediate surrounds.

          The best that The house can do on its own, is to hold someone in contempt, and lock them in the Capitol Jail until they clear the contempt.
          But that requires that they show up at the capitol to be taken into custody.

          There are several problems with our federal government.

          The first is that it is for the most part unaccountable.
          Whether that is FBI Director Wray, or some minor aparatach in HUD.

          There is no system in existance that works well unless people are rewarded for success and suffer consequences for failure.
          Neither of these are true in government.

          The next problem we have is the political weaponization of government power.
          It is bad enough when those in government slander and malign each other – but that has been true for the entirety of US history.
          When the parties start using their political power within government to criminalize the non-criminal conduct of their opponents – or worse yet – ordinary voters that disagree with them – we are in deep trouble.

          Finally all of this is far too big – especially the federal government. My local government is absolutely abysmal and politically corrupt.
          But it costs very little and actually manages to accomplish alot for that pittance that it collects.

          Most of us receive almost no benefit from the federal govenrment – and the cost for that is enormous.

          Adam Smith nailed it on the requirements for good government almost 3 centuries ago.

          “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things. All governments which thwart this natural course, which force things into another channel, or which endeavour to arrest the progress of society at a particular point, are unnatural, and to support themselves are obliged to be oppressive and tyrannical.”

          1. The reason these bureaucracies have been unaccountable is because the House is unwilling to use the most potent weapon they have – power of the purse. If they had the will, they could reduce any agency that won’t submit to oversight to a non-entity.

            1. This is a reason why it is absolutely critical that the House return to the normal budgeting process. I forget the details, but since Obama was elected – Continuing resolutions and omnibus budget bills have become by far the norm.
              That precludes the ability to constrain individual agencies.

        2. We have serious problems as a country because our instutitions are hell bent on self destruction.

          Our media is partisan and self serving, has no interest in truth and if it did, no clue how to find it.

          Much of our education system is garbage – not worth a fraction of what we pay for it.

          Our government at all levels and through both parties – even if one is worse than the other,
          are still out of control, unanswerable and a drain.

          Much of the country is fixated on holy wars over complete nonsense.

          We live in the most diverse and tolerant country in the world in the most tolerant moment in history and you would think that yesterday was Krystal Nacht if you listen to the left.

          Our future is determined by ONE thing – how productive we are.

          The left can solve or claim to have solved all the problems in its long litany,
          and our lives will still be worse than they are today if we do not produce more value tomorow than today.

    3. “If you build it, he will come.”

      – Strange Voice, Field of Dreams
      __________________________

      “If you [demolish] it, he will [go].”

      – Strange Voice, Field of Dreams
      __________________________

      Which “politicians” gave Musk “…a huge US government welfare grant[?]” – that is not dissimilar to claiming that British colonists started slavery while ignoring the fact that Africans abducted and sold their own people – communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO, AINO) elected American officials legislated and commenced the welfare state, including “grants.”

      Musk started Zip2, Paypal, etc., as endeavors in constitutional American free enterprise; “capitalist” is a Marxist pejorative, probably coined by “Crazy Abe” Lincoln.

      “Ralph Nader, the Don Quixote of consumer protection,…” – was that pejorative? Quixote was dissociative having paranoid personality disorder.

      “Nader has called on the government to stop Musk’s FSD technology ‘to prevent the growing deaths and injuries from Tesla manslaughter crashes with his technology’.” How’s that Boeing 737 Max doing?

      Etc.

    4. Of course there is going to be pay back for J6 – you expected otherwise ?

      But this is not that payback.

      Investigation of the Biden syndicate was inevitable really the moment you conducted Faux impeachment one.

      But certainly when you spent the entire 2020 Political campaign trying to hide the truth from the american people.

      Garland has been trying to deal with the Hunter Biden tar baby for 2 years.

      Biden is probably not the most corrupt politician of the past 50 years.
      But he is likely the stupidest.

      As Obama said – “do not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to F#$k things up”

      Unfortunately now the country must learn what Obama understood years ago.

      Do you honestly think The Biden family could survive the kind of scrutiny that Trump had to endure from you idiots ?

      What does it take for you to grasp that pretty much ALL the corruption in this country is in YOUR HOUSE ?

      Regardless the House investigations are also trivially legitimate.

      Whether the conduct of the Biden’s is or is not legal.
      It is fully within the legislative domain of the house to decide that it SHOULD NOT be legal in the future.

      Regardless, if you do not want investigations – do not elect crooks – especially stupid ones.

      Not long ago we had a growing economy, good jobs, low inflation, low crime, a secure border, and peace.
      In two short years Democrats have burned all that to the ground.

      Democrats are more interested in what DEI boxes it can check off, than whether someone is Competent.
      We have Mayor Pete Pothole in charge of Transportation – and have had problems since Day one.
      And while our transportation system gets F’d over – Pete is busy taking this leave or that.

      Donald Trump got to East Palestine OH before not only Biden but also Pothole Pete.
      And he actually brought things people could use and connected with the people there.

      Meanwhile President Demento is busy trying to start a Global Nuclear War.

      And you tried to blame Trump and your own NTSB head said – NOPE.

      Your corrupt and incompetent.

      And you wonder why the house wants to investigate ?

      What are they supposed to do Cheer as you F$%K things up even more.

      Trump was not the hero that much of the right paints him as, he was a C+ president at best.
      He Still was the best president in the 21st century.
      And now we are stuck with the worst president in US history – as if Bush II and Obama were not bad enough.

      Trump looks like a rhoads scholar compared to this dufus.

    5. Trump has not been president for over Two years – YOU OWN THIS MESS.

      You Own East Palestine.
      And you have sent a really clear message to the working people there – “Democrats do not give a $hit about you”

      The derailment was do to a axle breaking when a wheel bearing overheated.
      There is no regulation to address that. There has been none.
      Nor is there likely any easy fix. There is not even a difficult fix. A 150 car train has atleast 1200 wheel bearings.
      Rail cars travel unbeleivable distances per year, carry massive amounts of freight, do so incredibly economically.
      Rolling stock is not like modern cars. There is no electrical system, no sensors, A 150 car freight train is over a mile long.

      Instead of Attacking Trump Pothole Pete should have been noting that while accidents like this do happen and we should strive to prevent them, as well as the poorly thought out stupid decisions of those in government after the accident. he should have noted that the safety record for our rail system is incredible. Of the 43,000 people killed each year in transportation accidents. less than 40 – 1/1000th the total are associated with the Railroads. The fatality rate for Trains is 0.43/Billion miles Traveled, while that of cars is 7.5.

      I do not blame Biden or pothole Pete for East Palestine. Accidents are going to occur. That is part of life.
      Trains should NOT be our focus.

      The problem is not what happened – but how Government – and specifically the federal govenrment responded.

      Telling the people of East Palestine that you do not give a $hit about them is exactly the message we want from our Transportation Secretary and President.

      These Fools are YOUR Fools.

      YOU Own their failures.

    6. SNL is great – we all love comedy.

      But actual adults do not confuse comedy skits with reality.

      Aparently you are not an actual adult.

      1. John Say: You know your problem? You don’t have a sense of humor–especially when Trump is being skewered. It touches a sensitive nerve in every MAGA supporter. I have 3 granddaughters in the fullness of their teenage years. We all watched the SNL spoof of Trump and we fell over laughing. We also watched Trump’s visit to East Palestine after the train wreck. You know when he said he was providing Trump branded water to the residents. Afterwards, he stopped by a local McDonalds to pass out MAGA hats. Campaigning during such a tragedy was not lost on us. My youngest granddaughter remarked: “Trump is such a fool!”.

        The problem is that “adults” like you haven’t yet seen through Trump’s scams–using a train wreck to pass out his branded water and MAGA hats. Such a cynical ploy for votes in the midst of a toxic mess is why young people don’t take Trump seriously. The Q is who really is the “actual adult”–you or my granddaughters? I will take them any day over you!

        1. You conclude I have no sense of hmor based on my unwillingness to confuse an SNL skit with reality ?

          Your problem is that you reach idiotic conclusions based on poor evidence.

          Every president gets skewered. That comes with the job. I have zero problem with that.

          Comedy is likely to be funniest when it is closest to the truth, But comedy is ALWAYS a distortion of the truth.
          And unlike you I do not confuse what is funny with what is true.

        2. You exemplify another problem with the Left.
          You are under the delusion that those who still beleive in Magic are good sources of truth.

          My children are in their 20’s. They have done well. In many things I trust their judgement.
          In some specific areas of expertise it is better than my own.
          But they are still only in their 20’s. There are far more things in which their judgement falls short from lack of wisdom and experience.

          If I am not going to carte blanche trust a 20 something – why would I trust a 4yr old ?

          Regardless, I have no doubt your grandchildren think Trump is a buffoon – as likely do your children.
          They are after all YOUR children and grand children.

          Where would they get good judgement from ?

          Trump’s trip to East Palestine was not lost on the residents of east palestine, nor the myriadss of other working class people thoughout the country that those like you on the left do not really give a schiff about.

          Again one of the fundimental problems with those of you on the left – you think you are better than everyone else.

          You do not actually give a schiff about the less fortunate – if you did you would not screw them over so badly.

          The world is not perfect – East Palestine is an example of that.

          Over time we will look at the causes, and the subsequent choices and try to figure out how to do better.
          But bad things will happen in the world no matter what – that is not avoidable.

          We can not prevent that.
          But we can decide what matters.

          Are the needs of Americans in East palestine more important to the US government – the president than those of a nations thousands of miles away where we have no compelling interest ?

          Biden thinks not. He is more interested in the mess he created in ukraine than the mess in Ohio.
          Trump clearly thinks so.

          Trump is not the only person to go to East Palestine.
          Eventually even PotHole Pete went – and made a fool of himself.
          Where do democrats get these buffoons ?
          Fauxcahantas ? Shifty Schiff ? Pothole Pete ? Kackling Harris ? Demented Biden ?

          Republicans leave alot to be desired – but they are not the total fools that democrats have become.

          But keep it up – you seem to have poisoned your grandchildren.

          I hope the damage you have done to then does not have to be paid by them in the quality of life they have.

    7. “[T]here has been a massive drop in ad revenue” in *all* media.

      In case you haven’t noticed, D policies are wrecking the *entire* economy.

      But don’t let such facts slow down your Musk smear campaign.

      Why does the Left always feel the need to lie by omission?

    8. “[Musk] has taken taxpayers to the cleaners for his factories . . .”

      That, too, is a lie. Tesla repaid that loan *early*.

      Now, about that $120 billion in welfare to that crook, Zelenskyy . . .

  10. Me-thinks this woman, posing as a so-called “educator,” would get no media coverage (social or otherwise) if she did not spout her own kind of racism. Me-thinks she believes in the saying “divide and conquer” and she is doing her darndest in furtherance of the former. I, for one, do not think of people in terms of skin color, but sometimes in terms of the continent from which their ancestors or some of their ancestors came. And I wonder: at what point does a person of mixed race/color/heritage be dubbed “white”? or black? Or do people of mixed race get to pick a skin color? or identify only as ONE race/color/heritage of their ancestors?

  11. Masking is a Western Hijab in a form of Western fundamentalist true believers, period, and anyone advocating it can screw the hell off. I am not following mandates again, ever; I am an experienced, intelligent, independent adult and can make my own choices, thanks. 😛😛

  12. Don’t want to sound racist but for years I have noticed that Asians are prone to wearing masks at least in the many airports I travel through. This was going on even before the COVID pandemic.

    1. The SARS epidemic of 20 years ago saw masking, particularly on public transportation and venues, as common practice during and after the event. No doubt such historical practice was the rationale for the institution of same beginning in 2020.

    1. Oh please. These “scholars” with their self-defining lists of virtuous and meaningless labels march in lockstep with no deviation allowed from the latest wacky idea promulgated by their thought police leaders. They work hard at proving themselves worthy of the stereotype of The Nutty Professor while they stereotype all white people. Independent thought is punished on these campuses.

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