Why they don't wear masks.
Nov. 22nd, 2023 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
"Why are most people not wearing masks?"
This is a recurring question among Covid cautious people. It is sometimes an expression of frustration at this massive, unnecessary loss of health and life, and at the astonishing lack of responsibility, or even self preservation instinct, of non-maskers. It is sometimes a question, expressing genuine confusion over the behavior of people who have, in all other aspects of life, behaved with compassion and sense. Often, it is both.
I empathize with the frustration, but no longer share the confusion. These are several reasons that we have abduced1 for people not wearing masks.
1. They're a Nazi/Republican: Eagerly killing people, or just killing people because it's the thing to do.
2. They just can't mask due to injury, pain, skin reaction, breathing issue, etc.
3. They are unaware of the debilitating and deadly risks of infection, and of increased risks from reinfection. Or they mistakenly believe that "low case rate" areas exist in the US (or in other places without mitigations).
4. They have an overriding wish to look and act like everybody else, because that is rule 1 of staying safe in a society dominated by WASP culture.
5. They don't like changing their mind. They feel "consistency pressure" to continue not masking, as though changing a practice would constitute admitting a mistake, which (to immature minds) implies intellectual weakness.
6. They don't want to think that they might have been harming or killing people up to now, so they dismiss all evidence and moral arguments.
7. They are out of "rebellion points". These measure the emotional toll of resisting social pressure. A person could spend rebellion points until it just hurts too much. Until they're too tired. Too burned out. Too beaten down. Or too acutely aware of the cost in social capital.
8. They lack the privilege to withstand the social cost of defying anti-maskers. Fascists are hugely invested in both spreading and downplaying Covid, and, when they can get away with it, will punish those who take safety seriously. Just for masking, a person can lose the goodwill of their family, their friends, their employer, their coworkers, or others whom they depend on. Those who have more financial and social privilege are both more insulated from punishment and in a better position to withstand setbacks. Fear of repercussions might make someone follow the herd even in situations where taking precautions would have been safe.
9. They do not think about the consequences of their decisions. This sounds dismissive, but a large proportion of people act mostly by impulse, even when the stakes are high.
10. The fact that Covid might, or might not, be debilitating/fatal contradicts their existing, incorrect idea that viruses can be sorted into "awful" and "no big deal".
11. People are terrified of the reality that the pandemic exposed: That we are all in grave danger, and that the government had the capacity to protect us but decided not to. They cannot face this. So they pretend they never saw it.
12. Acknowledging the pandemic invites grieving the loss of pre-pandemic life. People may not feel up to this.
Points 4 and 9 are explored in depth here, and tongue-in-cheek here. Point 10 is expounded here.
I've had people (whom I admired) cite reasons such as "I just hate wearing a mask". To me, this doesn't balance against recklessness with other people's lives and health. I hate waiting in line when I'm late for something, but I won't club everyone in front of me so that I can get to the front faster.
As usual, this post is an exploration and explanation, not an attack. If your mitigations are not the same as mine, but you are doing your part to help lessen the risk, I love you for it. If you feel defensive over not doing your part, I'm not the one holding you accountable. Look in the mirror.
Footnote 1. "Abduced" is from "abductive reasoning," which is the thing investigators do, that Sherlock Holmes popularly mislabeled "deductive reasoning".