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2

neku wrote

i am usually a mask person at school and on public transport but i have decided to not wear a mask at my summer grocery job because its so hot that the inside of my mask literally becomes wet with sweat and breath and the store is quiet enough that people mostly stay beyond 2 m away from me. take me away boys

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flabberghaster wrote

The two meters thing is based on spit droplets but we know it's airborne now so it doesn't make much difference, the only thing you can do is source control, aka, a mask.

I don't blame you in particular because everyone in society is completely selfish and unwilling to take small steps to protect others, so it feels futile to keep doing it yourself. But I still think even given that, it's still selfish to not wear one.

Immune compromised people deserve to be able to go to the grocery store and the fact that people don't mask there makes that dangerous.

Why is it always the sick and vulnerable who have to shoulder the burden of everyone's minor comfort? It continues after almost four years to make me so angry how as a society we have just decided to let everyone die and become long term disabled. It's such a microcosm of this death cult of a culture we have where not even the smallest act of caring about others is permitted.

We have people conduct mass shootings at schools routinely but the response it OK well do mass shooter drills. We have an environmental Apocalypse, and the response is OK buy an electric car. We have a respiratory pandemic and the response is ok, get a vaccine if you want, I don't care.

No one cares! I feel like I'm going insane! We live in hell!

2

twovests wrote (edited )

i'm immunocompromised but wearing a mask drives my TMJ up the wall. i try to limit my mask wearing. it's a balancing act of "how much risk am i taking" and "ow ow my jaw + all the regular discomforts of wearing a mask." i am, indeed, weaker than furries

i want to agree with you, but right now my jaw doesn't hurt right now,

(EDIT because i wanna add more)

like. i feel all this same anger and rancor. everyone should still be masking, etc etc

i'm ardently "covid is real and you should take precautions against it", combined with the selfish "i am immunocompromised and especially susceptible to pneumonia", and even then i'm still not masking 100% of the time

i think instead govts would invest into other measures to reduce the spread of diseases, like paying for vaccines and testing, air filtration symptoms, etc.

2

neku wrote

i didn't know that the two meters thing is based on the droplets model. in any case i understand where youre coming from but public health does not come about by scolding individual people into changing their behaviour. fundamentally the advice from all the world governments and health agencies is that masking indoors is now largely unnecessary. to say that people are "completely selfish" for following that advice is absurd. the average person is not in the position to research the epidemiology of mask wearing and the mechanics of viral particle spread in order to make decisions on whether or not to wear a mask. and even in an ideal society it is untenable to mandate 100% masking indoors for 100% of the population. i think its more effective to focus on systemic changes and regulations that encourage health, like mandating effective ventilation for buildings and providing a robust health system that can prevent illness in the first place.

moreover i think its deeply concerning to think that "everyone in society is completely selfish and unwilling to take small steps to protect others". i think thats literal doomer shit. theres no way thats a healthy way to view the world. its incredibly ungenerous and cynical. if that's the case then why try and improve things at all? it makes me wonder if this is really about public health at all or if this is an easy shortcut for you to crudely write people off as uncaring. are you immunocompromised? do you know immunocompromised people? do immunocompromised people uniformly believe that people who dont mask up are completely selfish and unwilling to protect other people? its easier to cope with a bleak world if youre confident that everybody in it is irredeemable. if there is value in people then it means you have to change things, and that's harder than retreating into doomer shit.

also "the only thing you can do is source control" is obviously untrue. if that were the true there would be no point in wearing a mask when everybody else is going unmasked

2

flabberghaster wrote

in any case i understand where youre coming from but public health does not come about by scolding individual people into changing their behaviour.

I agree, it won't work, but I'm just out here venting my frustration, not trying to pass a law.

fundamentally the advice from all the world governments and health agencies is that masking indoors is now largely unnecessary.

They are wrong

it makes me wonder if this is really about public health at all or if this is an easy shortcut for you to crudely write people off as uncaring. are you immunocompromised? do you know immunocompromised people

I know multiple people who are now long term disabled due to covid, and who've ended up in the hospital from it. And even if I didn't, why do I have to personally know someone with a condition in order to be allowed to care?

if there is value in people then it means you have to change things, and that's harder than retreating into doomer shit.

Don't call me a doomer who's looking for an excuse to check out just because I made a pissed off post. You presume way too much. I don't believe everyone on earth is a selfish monster, what I really believe is that I wish people would pay more attention and have more of a heart, and that I was pissed off and exaggerating.

also "the only thing you can do is source control" is obviously untrue. if that were the true there would be no point in wearing a mask when everybody else is going unmasked

One way masking is far less effective than everyone masking. Source control is the only real solution that you as an individual can take to prevent spreading the disease. Wearing a mask to protect yourself helps, but not nearly as much as if everyone is wearing one.

But yes, if no one else is bothering I can easily understand why one might decide it's futile and give up. I just think it's selfish to do so.

2

anethum wrote

i still wear a mask when i go out because it enables me to look at reflective surfaces
(i'm lucky that i don't suffer from jaw problems or even ear problems with well-made masks, wearing it for a long time)

i live in a physically and socially cramped space (higher danger of transmission!) but coming into close contact with tens of people everyday, who smile at you and are generally nice to you at no cost, while having the "everyone else is a selfish asshole" mindset, is just psychologically untenable

2

flabberghaster wrote

while having the "everyone else is a selfish asshole" mindset, is just psychologically untenable

Hard to draw any other conclusion

During the early part of the pandemic, everyone was saying "we're all in this together! Social distance, wear a mask, you're supposed to protect other people!" It was a great outpouring of support for collective action. It was wonderful.

But almost the minute the vaccines became available, people immediately shifted to saying, "oh, I'm safe from it, I don't need it. If you're vulnerable, I don't mind if you wear a mask but I am safe from it." Or "I already had it, so I don't mind."

While everyone felt they were in danger, it was a collective action problem that we all had to protect each other. As soon as people felt like they personally were safe from it, suddenly everyone else's health was their problem, don't tread on me.

The mask came off, literally.

I don't think people are inherently selfish, I just think we live in a poisonous, atomized and individualistic culture where thinking about others or taking steps to protect others at minor expense to yourself is just an alien concept to most people due to our upbringing.