I’ve been thinking about the motivations (beyond plain selfishness) that might drive anti-mask rage. Thread. 1/n

In a more functional society, we would have had clear and unified public health messaging from the start, which would have prevented a lot of this sentiment in the first place.

In a more functional society, the (hopefully fewer) people who think masks are kind of dumb might shrug and say “whatever I’ll just wear it to the store...

But more than that, I think many people are very stressed, isolated, and adrift right now. The economy is in the shitter, people are dying, leaders are incompetent, and everything feels very out of control.

Some people use plain old denial to cope. Nobody likes to think about their own mortality. Especially when lack of sick leave or financial support means that social distancing could bankrupt you.

But other people might come across a nice info graphic that says “hey, I know what’s REALLY going on, and if you’re reading this, maybe you’re special and smart and brave enough for the truth too.”

Flattery is a big driver of conspiracy.

“And look! Here’s some scientific sounding information that not only gives you *permission* to go do what you understandably miss, but gives you the moral and intellectual high ground for doing it!”

“You are standing up for rights and freedom!” Suddenly going to the bar gives you a sense of moral and political PURPOSE, which a lot of people are sorely missing right now.

And, as a bonus, this relieves you from listening to authorities who keep telling you things are bad and you could die. It’s denial, control, simplification of a confusing situation, moral purpose, community with other mask refusers, AND the joy of doing what you want all in one.

If you just look at the logic of mask refusal, it’s absolutely baffling. If you look at it as an assertion of control that hits a lot of other psychological sweet spots for a scared and lonely population, it starts to make a lot more sense.

I don’t really know how to incorporate this wider psychological picture into discussions with anti-maskers, but I think it is important.

Some people just aren’t able to have a real conversation. Don’t worry about them. Others are just kind of weak willed and misinformed. I think for those folks it’s important to really LISTEN.

That doesn’t mean accepting false info, but it does mean listening to them as people and taking their VERY REAL fear and frustration and alienation seriously. If reasonable people don’t, bad actors will.

And really, it’s easier to be afraid of masks than it is to be afraid of covid-19 because you can control whether or not you use a mask. I sometimes think it’s a way of displacing the fear of covid to something more manageable.

Also, right wingers have a big old persecution complex. You shouldn’t let them off the hook for bad facts or arguments, but in general it’s best to avoid accusations and name calling since that just puts them into “I’m being oppressed” mode.

If you’re a bit of a jerk to them, they’ll quit listening, and then also go tell all their friends how hateful liberals are and it’ll just compound the problem.

If you need to step away, DO IT. You don’t owe assholes on the internet (or IRL) a conversation. Just try to end it while you still have the moral high ground. Name calling etc are counterproductive, and they kind of like it, frankly.

(I do make an exception for powerful people like senators who signed up to hear public opinion. Rage away. I’m talking your crazed fellow citizens here.)

End for now.

PS some people are also just jerks who like to inflict pain on others, but overall I think anti-masking is about denial and control.