What's with the mask protests?

[DavidBoren]

Why are so many people up in arms over wearing a mask during a global pandemic?

People are acting like we are being told to wear armbands because of race/religion. Lol.

How utterly selfish does a person have to be to protest against public health?

Masks are uncomfortable for everyone. They make everyone's glasses fog. We are all in this together.

The other week, on my way to work, I seen a skateboarder putting up stickers that said:
"The pandemic is fake news. Real Republicans don't wear masks."

And while hilarious, it really got me thinking about how ignorant and selfish people have to be to protest something so obviously beneficial as public health.

Granted, I live in a country that can afford a military of global conquest proportions, but can't afford universal Healthcare. Lol.

[PaintballNick]

No Idea. My little part of Canada has tons of people wearing masks willingly.

Our cases are under control now and we are in Phase 3 of reopening. Looks like the States are about to spiral at this point... somehow it turned into a political situation down south.

[JonM]

The real reason will be difficult to discuss without crossing the line into political discussion.

[Rusty Brass]

somehow it turned into a political situation down south.

Everything's political now. Next week licking light sockets will be the constitutional crisis. Or maybe sticking your junk in a blender... I can't predict these things anymore.

[Jonnydread]

Americans don't like being told what to do, for better or for worse. When you see science going against your convictions, but political figures support them people are going to self-serve.

[DavidBoren]

White people have never been told what to do in the history of white people, and now they are having a freaking fit. Lol.

The sad thing is, it's a bunch of people who don't believe in science that are protesting wearing masks.

And if it didn't affect other people, I would say go ahead... don't wear a mask, we don't need ignorance in the gene-pool anyways. By all means, if you don't believe in science, then take your chances, see what happens... but don't come crying to me when you're sick and only science can save you.

But it does affect other people, so wear the freaking masks!

It's literally the easiest thing we can do.

[rawbutter]

I'll give the explanation a shot, but this will be a long read. It's a complicated issue.

The anti-mask movement is basically the latest salvo in the bigger anti-science movement. The push-back goes back a long, long time. (Ever hear of the fight Galileo had with the church?) But the modern iteration of this kicked off with the scientific acceptance of the theory of evolution nearly 100 years ago. That goes against what the Bible says (as least if you believe that the Bible is 100% literally true instead of partially allegorical), so Christians started doubting and speaking out against evolutionists specifically but also science in general. If scientists were wrong about evolution, they reasoned, they were probably wrong about other things.

(As a Christian myself, I find this part rather weird. Many of the greatest scientists of the past were devoutly religious. They actually viewed science as a path to know God better, and when science and the Bible disagreed, they simply reasoned that they didn't understand one or the other, not that either was wrong. The whole thing about Biblical inerrancy is also troubling to me. While I believe the Bible is "true," I do not believe that every single word is meant to be taken as literal fact. So much of it is poetry or parable or vague prophecies, so I have no problem entertaining the idea that maybe God didn't create the world in six literal days. That could just be another metaphor for some other truth that wouldn't have made any sense to the ancient Jews. But I digress.)

More recently, the fossil fuel industry has been a huge factor. As soon as climate change became worrisome, environmentalists started lobbying for new laws, which restricted fossil fuel companies. To protect their profits, fossil fuel companies started lobbying back, but more importantly they hired their own "scientists" to do their own research and experiments which---surprise, surprise---concluded that climate change was a myth. (The tobacco industry did the same thing to cast doubt on the dangers of smoking.)

The modern iteration of this started in the 60s or 70s, so now in the 21st century we have people who have literally lived their whole life listening to phony science that confirms their confirmation bias. They've never been taught what "science" actually means, and they'd rather believe a story that lines up better with their religious views anyway, so they disregard any information or research that goes against that. This is the same reason why we now anti-vaxxers, flat-earthers, etc.

And since the 70s, this has become increasingly political, sadly. The right has generally embraced this line of reasoning (again, because of the fossil fuel industry, which wants smaller government and less regulation, which are Republican mainstays). So, it's a one-two punch. Take a person like my father, for instance, who goes to church every week and watches Fox News every night. Every week, he's hearing sermons that reinforce his believe that the Bible is more important than science. And every night, he's hearing stories that demonize the left and their beloved science. So, both his religious and political communities are telling him to ignore science. What's he going to do?

Now, how does this all relate to masks? Sadly, I think the push-back against masks started with politics, not science. Trump spend the first three months of 2020 denying that corona-virus was a threat. As a result, the Democrats were forced to contradict him. And once the truth became unavoidable, Trump couldn't just admit that he was wrong. Neither could Fox News and the other right-wing media outlets. So, they instead adopted the strategy used by the fossil fuel and tobacco companies. Start with an assumption (the virus isn't a big deal, masks are dumb, and Democrats are still wrong), find research that backs up your point of view, and then present those findings to your followers. Problem solved. Oh, and be sure to say that anyone who says otherwise of making this all political, even though that's what you've been doing the whole time.

So, now we have a whole political party encouraging it's people not to wear masks. Never mind that they're actually recommending a behavior is literally killing Americans. Never mind that if everyone actually wore masks, the pandemic would be over in two months and we could all go back to normal. They can't came around and admitted they were wrong about the whole thing. That would erode the public trust, which might jeopardize the election. Which might lead to a loss in November, which might lead to new climate laws, which might reduce profits.

Can't have that.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Lizards and 5g or something like that. Lol

we laugh when we watch dale gribble on king of the hill ramble on. But truth be told, their are thousands upon thousands of people in the country who think just like that. And then they're even more who are just like him but worse (the ones who ram and shoot protesters).

[PaintballNick]

Well as long as we continue to keep our border closed... you do you....

[russc]

It's utterly stupid that this became politicized. It could have been used to unite the country in a common cause, but here we are.

We've been wearing masks at work for two months now, and it sucks. I'm pretty pissed off that because the rest of the country couldn't follow along, we'll probably be wearing them into next year. Meanwhile life is sort of getting back to normal for my friends and family up in Canada.

[Nish]

Sorry guys. New site, Same rules. No Politics

[DavidBoren]

I don't even see this as remotely political in nature... it boils down to how selfish people are, regardless of political influence.

It's a matter of holding one's self above the needs of all others.

And I had honestly forgotten about the losers burning 5g towers! Lol. Oh man... don't get me started.

[LUKE]

What is this debate you speak of? What has this paintball community become!? I thought a consensus had been reached long ago in this community of honorable players