THE NON-POLITICS OF MASK WEARING
a theory in a thread.

I am not an epidemiologist.
I am not a political scientist.
I am that most feared of experts, a man with an internet connection.

Please keep that in mind.
1/

Background:

Earlier today I unleashed a snark bomb on a fellow user of this here web site.

"Bryan, did you, in so doing, cover yourself in glory?"

I did not.

I was told no apology was necessary, but I have to admit I stepped in it big time.
2/

Like many frustrated by the politicization of mask wearing. That some people would see it as an affront to their liberty and others an inconvenience in the name of public safety is not surprising, but the degree to which mask wearing has become fiercely partisan and how the 3/

lines have been drawn has some apolitical factors which are worth exploring.

Note the word "some" above. That folks who highly value individual liberty lean anti-mask makes sense. That those who believe in a reliance on expertise and community-level action lean pro-mask 4/

similarly so.

There's more to it than that. (Imagine that, last March, the president began wearing and selling red Keep America Healthy masks.)

"GET TO THE POINT BRYAN"

FIne.
5/

Check out the Johns Hopkins US Sick Map, below. I notice two things.

1) The dark spots are not unique to one perceived bloc or another. Neither the coasts nor Flyover Country can claim to be doing better than the other.

2) The two hottest spots are 6/ https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map 

(loosely) Boston south through the Acela Corridor and a spot from Southern California somewhat east. There are others--Urban Texas, for example--but those two are particularly important.

They are the centers of media.
7/

People on the Right have a healthy skepticism about the coastal media, which factors into the divide, certainly.

What I think might by going on, to some degree, is that folks on the coasts are seeing the higher rates of infection and the social and economic strain and are 8/

speaking from a perspective bourn by that environment.

People living in places where the infection rates are lower, hear this talk, look around themselves and interpret what they are hearing into their own context.
9/

People in low infection rate areas are bewildered by the "need" to wear a mask, try to make sense of it, and express that maybe masks are unnecessary, or that there's a hoax, or a nefarious threat to liberty & coastal folks interpret what they hear back in their own bubbles. 10/

That those lines are drawn in the same places where the country has dug its political trenches solidifies the political elements and makes mask wearing a Left/Right issue for many people.

To me, it's not about politics. But I think I understand how it became one, here in the 11/

Era of Total Politics.

I think it's a shame, but here we are.

Back to the top, I will try to be more charitable and understanding in the future.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
/fin