Thoughts occurred to me when talking masks with someone sneering at all the ‘dumb’ people who refuse to wear them, see them as intrusion on freedom, etc.

So many thoughts. Almost enough for a tweet thread

So I’m pro mask. Not cuz I know they do anything, but cuz they might, & small inconvenience.

At the same time, I’m anti forced-mask, or mask-mandate. I wear masks when I think it makes sense, I’d suggest others do too, but not make a legal thing out of it. That’s what I’d do

So, when Smart People say stuff like, ‘come ON, don’t whine to me about muh freedomz, this is such a small thing, there’s a pandemic on’, i agree in a technical and mathematical way with the ingredients of that sentiment.

But, I don’t like it.

When you sneer at people for not-liking masks, you’re communicating far more than the raw content of a rational pro-mask message.

You’re communicating that you don’t give a fuck about what those people think or how they feel and are happy to see that apathy embedded in law.

So, when people *complain* about masks, I think it’s worth considering that they’re not JUST complaining ‘about masks’. Maybe, in some cases, they’re complaining about the mindset and diktats of...people like you, willing to run roughshod over them, with nary a second thought.

Some of the anti-maskers might even AGREE with the narrow ‘hey, masks are worth giving a shot’ argument, and be willing to do it voluntarily, if it all were presented humbly and respectfully.

But that ain’t what’s been happening, is it.

So if I were an anti-masker (again: I’m not) I could see myself thinking something like this:

‘Well today it’s masks, and maybe that’s a minor thing, but what’s it gonna be tomorrow? And the day after that? And six months from now? Where will the line be drawn?’

In a healthy trustful society, perhaps there’d be a degree of confidence that the people around them, those who say Put On The Mask Please, *would* draw the line at more-serious infringements.

So they’d put on the mask.

But that’s not what they get. What they get is arrogant sneering at how ‘dumb’ they’re being. What they get are draconian ‘mandates’, issued under color of no lawful authority, and socially enforced by puritanical cancel-nannies on their social-media.

They get: JUST PUT ON THE FUCKING MASK YOU DUMB (REDNECK/MAGAHEAD/WHATEVER).

Sending this message, probably, to some:

We have no respect for you, or for any boundaries.

You can never trust us to show restraint or respect for you, on anything.

There is no limit, no line.

If that’s how I felt, I could totally see myself saying, in response:

Fuck you too. Fuck you and your damn mask. No, I will not wear your fucking mask, or do anything else that you say.

I have to draw the line somewhere, after all. Because you clearly won’t.

So, hey, if that’s the equilibrium you want, Smart People, just keep on lecturing (and citing, fining, social-media-shaming, jailing...) people to WEAR THE FUCKING MASK.

Just don’t then come complaining to me that we have a low-trust, divided society. You made your bed.