Mask mandates say “vaccines dont work” and “stay scared”.
They are dehumanizing.
Besides it doesn’t matter what you think about masks. The fact that many people resent wearing them is reason enough to rethink forcing people to wear them. We do live in society and not everybody considers Covid the only problem in existence. Especially post vaccine.
Maybe people want to move on? Mayne those people have incredibly valid reasons for they wish? Maybe the government should respect that?
It's a piece of cloth worn over your nose and mouth. How fragile is your sense of humanity?
> Besides it doesn’t matter what you think about masks. The fact that many people resent wearing them is reason enough to rethink forcing people to wear them.
I don't like wearing shoes, but that doesn't make shoe mandates (which are totally a thing, but only private businesses, not by government order) dehumanizing.
> We do live in society and not everybody considers Covid the only problem in existence.
Is that straw man dead yet?
> Especially post vaccine.
On this point, I actually agree. Would vaccine mandates be acceptable instead? It would be much more effective than mask mandates (which, while I have no real problem with them in principle, don't actually work that well because so many people don't wear them correctly).
What about a mandate against wearing shoes, when many are more comfortable wearing them? I think the argument here is that any mandate beyond the bare minimum is harmful to freedom. Just because you don't mind wearing a mask doesn't mean others can't.
I say this as someone who doesn't mind masks and wears them often.
If not wearing shoes was potentially helping health services to keep being functional, then yes it would make sense to mandate it. Harmful to freedom? What about the freedom of having functional health services? I keep hearing about freedom but freedom isn't about doing whatever we want, we also have to consider the freedom of others not to suffer from our actions. I consider my suffering of wearing a mask laughable compared to the suffering of people unable to get health care when their life depends on it. I'm happy to wear it even if in the future it turns out they weren't helping significantly.
> I'm happy to wear it even if in the future it turns out they weren't helping significantly.
I guess that's where we differ. I believe we should make our best decisions based on what science predicts. If there's unlikely to be a significant benefit, some are not happy to wear it. You are, but that's a personal choice.
There are lots of sacrifices we could make that would have an immediate and more tangible impact on health outcomes. Outlaw motor vehicles, mandatory vegetables, end alcohol sales. We don't do that because it would piss people off.
Edit: since we already asked you twice not to do this, and you've continued, I've banned the account. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Just curious, but would you feel comfortable elaborating on how? I haven’t found them all that bad personally, but maybe there’s something I’m not as attuned to.
Not everybody considers Covid the only problem in existence? Sure you can consider whatever you want, but hospitals being overrun and barely able to provide not-covid-related health services is the reality some people keep ignoring. Maybe people want to move on? Sure we all do, but... you know... health services can't just "move on"...
and your argument amounts to bullying. It doesn’t matter why I dislike masks. I don’t want to wear one. They are a medical device that I’d rather subject myself to no matter the risk it puts me in. And you have no right to force me or bully me or call me names.
Masks turned a swath of a particular political party into some seriously sanctimonious assholes.
> And you have no right to force me or bully me or call me names.
Sure we do. The word "quarantine" comes from the fact that during large stretches of human history we'd isolate people before entering new cities for the objectively true concern that they're bring in new pests. My grandparents traveled to the Americas from Europe and had the vaccination cards, had thorough medical examinations, and had to quarantine after coming from a ship full of sick people.
The entire history of human civilization is one big narrative of hygiene management. Sewage, water management, waste management, disease control.
I like my civilization more than I care for the whining of people ignorant of the unthinkable amounts of pain that diseases have caused. So, yeah, no problem calling you names, some people need to be reminded of their own ignorance every now and then.
They are dehumanizing.
Besides it doesn’t matter what you think about masks. The fact that many people resent wearing them is reason enough to rethink forcing people to wear them. We do live in society and not everybody considers Covid the only problem in existence. Especially post vaccine.
Maybe people want to move on? Mayne those people have incredibly valid reasons for they wish? Maybe the government should respect that?