Old Buffalo said:

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I don't want to devolve OP's original purpose into a should or shouldn't people wear masks, although he himself diverted this thread.

People should wear a mask if they feel comfortable, and people should not wear a mask if they chose so. The assumption here is those who don't wear a mask show reckless regard for life, when in all reality those people could be practicing social distancing and self-quarantining as regulated. Where is an individual supposed to prioritize this disease? This is the shtick that started this whole thread and has turned it into a divisive issue much like the "if you go outside you are killing others" that the stay at home turned into.

We accept risks everyday in our lives. It is not the responsibly of one person to make another feel safe. There are means for those who are higher risk to avoid being exposed, but to shame someone who is asymptomatic who passes it to another person, who passes it to Meemaw is a blame game that's being played.

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I don't believe there is any blame game at all. It may not be the responsibility of one person to make another feel safe, but that isn't the point. It is our responsibility not to put others in danger. Wearing a mask. a simple, minimal inconvenience does this, as referenced by most all medical professionals.

Collective sacrifice for the greater good is not a novel idea in this country. The Meemaws, hate that reference, want to get out just like you do. Can't because of folks that refuse to respect the advice from the healthcare industry.

Probably a generational thing, I don't see how in the hell civil liberties are being violated. It is just showing simple respect for our fellow human beings.

DTP02 said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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DTP02 said:

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ancientag67 said:

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Old Buffalo said:

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Duncan Idaho said:

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If you wont wear a mask to slow the spread so that fewer have to die before a vaccine or treatment is found, you dont care about the people hurt or killed by this. It is honestly that simple.

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No it's not. Stop shunning people who don't share your belief.

Of course this post will also probably be deleted like my last 3 comments on this thread but the opinions of Duncan are acceptable.

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So exactly how is it not that simple? Not trying to stir the pot. Genuinely wanting an explanation. Sure there are circumstances where it might not make sense ( like at a gym. Geez, seriously, that had to brought up). But if minimal sacrifice saves one life and gets back to some resemblance of normalcy in this country, why the resistance?

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If you don't drive at the speed limit at all times, obey all traffic rules and recommendations scrupulously, and avoid any distractions while driving, you don't care about people who might be killed in a car accident. True statement, and truly that simple, or maybe not quite so simple after all? Is this where we will find that this thread, against all odds, has mostly readers who meticulously comply with every driving rule and recommendation?

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Again, the driving analogies just never fit very well because we're not talking about a one-off event that could only impact one or two people.

Also, it's a bit different in the sense that the potential negative outcome of the events wouldn't actually be known by the person who caused them. If you're asymptomatic and you spread the disease to 10 other people at a grocery store, you'll never really have that guilt on your conscience cause you'll never really know.

But if you remove those two parts of the equation, then yeah I'd say purposely not wearing a mask when going into a heavily trafficked store is on-par with texting while driving. It shows a general thought process of "this is dangerous for other people to do, but not me" as well as simply not caring about other people.

It honestly comes off to me as a really insecure flex by some people, like doing something incredibly simple to insure the safety of others isn't macho enough and might make people question their toughness.

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Let me offer an alternative perspective:

you don't like the driving analogies because it challenges your conception of COVID19. You e been driving for x years and you've become fairly numb to the associated risks. You're peripherally aware that driving a car is likely the most dangerous activity you engage in on a regular basis, but it doesn't seem dangerous because you do it all the time without serious incident.

COVID19 is something new and is much scarier. It's a constant focus of our attention and concerns. Sure, you may know intellectually that there's almost no chance you're infected and that if you are, wearing a mask may not actually do anything, but this thing is scary.

On the other hand, you've been driving for a long time. And while you picked the low-hanging fruit of not texting while driving as being unacceptably selfish, what about not snacking or drinking coffee while driving? What about not changing the radio while driving? Hands-free phone calls? What about not realizing you are somewhat close to missing your exit and making a quicker lane change than is ideal instead of allowing yourself to miss the exit and costing yourself time? You skipped right past speeding, which was the first example given; isn't he science pretty settled that lower speed saves lives? You never exceed the speed limit, do you? Unlike the vast majority of the population, we're all people who stay within the posted speed limits on here, right?

The driving analogy actually holds up pretty well, it's just that we don't really like what it says about us. It says that we make decisions all the time to act in a less than safe manner, thereby putting those around us at greater risk. It's just that we have come to accept those decisions because we are used to them.

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Agree 100%.

Which is why I chose texting while driving as a comparison. There are tons and tons of people who do it. I've been guilty of it from time to time.

And if I constantly told a lot of people that I do it and accept the consequences of doing it then I'd certainly hope they'd view me as a selfish dumbass.

We all do selfish things, but there's a line between doing them and puffing your chest about them. The former is human nature, the latter is what we like to call an *******.