Are We Fighting Each Other Over Masks?
As far as I can tell from my daily walks, masks have gradually become more common over the past month or two. Some are wearing them, some are not, and we still cross the street to avoid each other. But now that the rules in some places call for masks, social media seems to have exploded, with people arguing over them. Does this also happen in real life?
On the one hand, there are people who break the rules of the mask and rush into battle. For example, this guy is wearing a gauze mask that says “placebo” . This woman claims that she should be able to enter the store without a mask , contrary to store rules. Some of the clashes were tragically violent .
There is something human (maybe just American?) About wanting to get angry with people because of what they are doing. Shaming a mask has become commonplace – yelling at someone to wear a mask. Maybe the person has a stupid reason not to wear a mask like the people above, but some people are unable to wear it due to health conditions. (You can’t always tell by looking at someone what category they fall into, and it doesn’t help that some screaming people use probably insincere health statements to try to get around the rules.)
The point of wearing a mask in public is to protect others, and we would probably all be safer if wearing a mask were more common. But giving great importance to mask policies probably does more to anchor masks as a political wedge than to meaningfully enhance someone’s health or freedom.
So I’m curious how you see the solution to the mask problem. Are all your friends fighting over masks? Is this a problem when you shop? Or are we all handling this situation better than social media and news reports suggest?