Originally published at: Who killed masking? | Boing Boing
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You lost me at…
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Hmm, haven’t listened to the podcast episode, but it seems US based, and if so, I hope it includes the country’s weird mix of individualism and conformity.
As in, I’m multivaxxed, no need for a mask, me me me!!" versus, Ohhh, freakin no one wears a mask anymore, I don’t wanna seem weird by wearing one!
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I take it as saying that our understanding of left-right politics is rooted in the french revolution…
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It’s capitalism, isn’t it?
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I think it’s ego more than capitalism. After all, things like the recommended N95 masks are a disposable commodity that you can repeatedly sell someone. The more people that wear masks, the more you can sell.
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Despite complaining that no one wears a mask, this is 100% exactly why all but two of my inlaws stopped wearing masks.
One never stopped and wears one constantly to this day. She has a rainbow array of them and makes them match her outfit.
The other has brain worms and stopped wearing it the second she didn’t have to. She believes every fringe conspiracy out there too. She’s a joy to listen to. Not.
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Yeah - a complete diversion in the first para, and then a rambling post that basically said “a podcast says it was the liberals wot dun it” without introducing even a hint into the post as to how they dun it. (Or why.)
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That might come as a surprise to some.
Without at least a short summary in the FPP of why and how liberals supposedly killed masking, it will remain a surprising contention – one that smacks of bothsidesism.
ETA: I’ll be wearing a mask on my next few flights after finding out that my mother contracted COVID (second time) after her trip last week.
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It almost always is. And, to be clear, you are correct.
The episode is a worthwhile listen, along with its companion episode “COVID Year Three.”
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This surprises me not at all.
After all, in MN and other traditionally liberal states, the state governments treated unmasking as the “reward” for getting vaccinated, instead of treating vaccinations as just another tool in the arsenal against COVID. In my locale, when the Governor said folks with the jab wouldn’t have to be masked anymore, masks disappeared overnight, despite the county stats saying less than 50% of the population had received the jab.
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Mrs Johnson and I stopped wearing N95s everywhere late in 2022. We still wear them if required (health care settings) or if the people we are with request.
For us it is not black and white, proper masks did protect us as did vaccines, but we care about others besides ourselves.
I know it is anecdotal but I’m more inclined to view this as those who care about “US” and those who just care about “ME”.
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I’ll just point out that it’s not like contention over this issue is a purely American phenomenon. The EU dropped their masking requirements on flights and in airports in May of last year and the WHO and European CDC never recommended masking children under 5. So we may have our own special twists on this issue but it’s not like the rest of the world is in total agreement about what to do either.
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Great, but then, why did you stop wearing a mask except when required?
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Because we are just hypocrites?
We live in an area of fairly high compliance as far as Covid precautions. The decision to stop masking in public for us was based on multiple factors including local hospitalizations (or lack thereof), long discussions with friends and neighbors, and the guidance of health care professionals that we have trusted over the years who did their best to get everyone to understand how serious this was.
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Man, that was hard to listen to. Is it really 2 and a half hours of those “liberal blowhards” tearing liberals (or democrats, or, as I like to say “normal people”) apart?
Pulling edge-case examples to ensure both-side-erism remains front and center is a waste of time. This is why we normal people can’t have nice things, because liberals love to tear each other apart. True spoiler alert: Democrats did not kill masking. Rs controlled the narrative, because masks are a pain in the ass (to some), and no one likes them. Everyone here understands that Rs are the problem, and guess what? They still are.
Masks still work, they always have worked. Mandates don’t, so figure out your own comfort level, because it seems with the “pandemic over” we’ll get little support from public officials despite people still dying from COVID at rates 5x - 10x higher than the flu.
But man, trying to frame this as liberals killed the mask mandate… Ugh. Pandering to the clicks…
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Trying to compare the destructive tsunami of misinformation and propaganda coming from the Rs to the gentle, quiet fart from the Ds… And calling it “a force”… “Bad people on both sides”. Stop with the crazying making bothsiderism.
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Disneyworld perspective: my partner and I still mask anywhere indoors, but this is true for a vanishingly small number of people. It’s been that about 1/3rd or so of Disney employees mask up indoors, far less outdoors. Interestingly, it seems there are a lot of international visitors (so defined by hearing them speak something other than English, so they may not actually be international) wearing masks, even outdoors at Disney. So, at least from the Disney bubble perspective, I would say US centric guests have all but given up on masking.
I wonder how many people took this approach because they caught COVID once, it seems ok, and so they’ve made the value judgement that masking is worse somehow?
One thing, I have no doubt part of the problem is folks feeling “weird” masking now! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that even as adults “peer pressure” is such a powerful force, but I figured it would end where one’s health was at stake.
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Exactly. It’s why I really don’t care to waste time on political finger-pointing. As long as money continues to be made by controlling politicians (as well as the regulations and legislation they create), convincing the public to vote / act against their own interest, and developing / promoting treatments for illnesses instead of curing them, we will see more of this. They’ve made it clear that profit takes priority over people (even when they wind up killing the people keeping them in power). 
I’m far more concerned about investigating what moves Big Pharma is making now, since we’re past the point of no return on masking, emergency declarations, and countering anti-vaxxers through workplace and school regulations.
The focus is on selling COVID treatments now, and the marketing line is to buy them, “because everyone will catch it sooner or later.” 
I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to bring back pox parties. 
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How does that work? Every liberal I know believes in masking. Maybe they are the exception and they are all outliers. So color me skeptical. I know liberals aren’t saints and they get things wrong, and some liberals are even antivaxxers.
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