Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro was widely mocked on Friday after appearing to struggle with the concept of population density.
In a tweet regarding the coronavirus, Shapiro compared a map of infection hot spots in the U.S. next to a map of where individuals are wearing face masks.
“Map of mask-wearing in the US vs. map of total case count in US. See if you can spot the pattern,” Shapiro tweeted.
Shapiro’s insinuation appears to be that wearing masks somehow leads to higher infection rates, although the science points to the exact opposite.
The obvious explanation is that areas with a higher population density will likely see both higher infection rates and more people wearing masks.
Shapiro’s remarks quickly led users to mock his comparison by making absurd correlations of their own.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but has anyone noticed that the more cheese you consume, the more likely it is that you’ll get tangles in your bed sheets and die,” @SlivdrazilHerald asked. “Has anybody researched this yet.”
Another user made a fake correlation between the number of people who have drowned in pools and the number of films actor Nicholas Cage has appeared in each year.
“See if you can spot the pattern,” @Ad_Inifinitum wrote.
Others were more straight to the point in their criticisms of Shapiro’s tweet.
“Yes, higher density cities where people are closer to each other have higher infection rates,” @ChrisRGun wrote. “A truly baffling concept.”
Someone even managed to find a way to jokingly blame the food franchise Subway for the coronavirus outbreak.
“Ben, I think I’ve figured it out and I don’t know why nobody is taking about this,” @Jellyra_ said. “Subway (owned by globalists) is putting COVID in the food. It makes people put on masks and shoot each other — presumably to erode faith in the second amendment. This is big.”
Shapiro eventually responded to critics by seemingly claiming that he never actually intended to suggest that there was a connection between wearing masks and the coronavirus.
Despite his attempts at clarification, Twitter users weren’t buying it.
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