Me: "I see you aren't wearing your masks. Are you Trump voters?"
Couple: "We sure are!"
Some people take off their masks inside the store. They told me to "fuck off."
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| Medford mask scofflaws |
I observed a dispute between customers at my local grocery store, an Albertsons in Medford, Oregon. A man and woman sharing a cart--presumably a couple--removed their masks after entering the store and left them dangling below their chins while they shopped.
A fellow customer, a women I would guess to be in her sixties, took them to task, telling them repeatedly they should wear their masks inside the store. They refused, and continued shopping. I could observe the back and forth between them until, by chance the unmasked couple was next in line behind me while I was checking out, and they ignored the signs on the floor to leave space and came right up to me. Their masks were off.
I asked if they were Trump voters.
"We sure are," they said.
I said that I noticed that they took their masks off, so it was a guess.
The woman half of the couple told me, "Masks don't work and they make you sick. Educate yourself. It's my body, and I can do what I want. You liberals should fuck off." She turned to her husband and said something about me needing to move to Ashland. Ashland is a nearby college town, with a well-deserved reputation for voting for Democrats.
The news has multiple stories about mask conflicts in stores. A man was arrested in Spokane, Washington accused of breaking the jaw of a 72 year old man in a wheelchair who had commented on a missing mask. A man broke the arm of a Target employee in Los Angeles who tried to enforce the mask law. A woman punched a man in the face in Baton Rouge in a face mask dispute.
None of that happened here. I was curious about them but I mostly wanted more to pay for my stuff and get out. I did not ask their occupations, nor if they were church goers. They refused to give the their names, and when they saw me take out my camera to photograph them, they pulled their masks part way up.
"We sure are," they said.
I said that I noticed that they took their masks off, so it was a guess.
The woman half of the couple told me, "Masks don't work and they make you sick. Educate yourself. It's my body, and I can do what I want. You liberals should fuck off." She turned to her husband and said something about me needing to move to Ashland. Ashland is a nearby college town, with a well-deserved reputation for voting for Democrats.
The news has multiple stories about mask conflicts in stores. A man was arrested in Spokane, Washington accused of breaking the jaw of a 72 year old man in a wheelchair who had commented on a missing mask. A man broke the arm of a Target employee in Los Angeles who tried to enforce the mask law. A woman punched a man in the face in Baton Rouge in a face mask dispute.
None of that happened here. I was curious about them but I mostly wanted more to pay for my stuff and get out. I did not ask their occupations, nor if they were church goers. They refused to give the their names, and when they saw me take out my camera to photograph them, they pulled their masks part way up.
The divide has narrowed recently in response to Trump's grudging validation of mask wearing, but it still exists. A significant number of Trump supporters remain mask skeptics, perceiving them as an unnecessary imposition. A Republican governor in Georgia sued to prohibit Atlanta's mayor from imposing a mask-in-stores rule in her city, a virus hotspot. The South Dakota governor is proudly saying that the Sturgis convocation of bikers is up and running, masks optional, crowd right in.The shopper's comment to me embedded the justifications that circulate around conservative circles for not wearing a mask.
The whole mask/social distancing thing is unnecessary. The virus is out there, it isn't that bad, and some people will die but most will be OK. Some people will die, and "it is what it is," as Trump put it. Worried old and sick people should shelter themselves, but the rest of us should soldier on and go back to life pre-virus.
Masks don't work. It is true that most masks do not protect the wearer. They give some protection to others for inhalation of aerosol body fluids, with the quality depending on the material and whether it is worn correctly. Many people don't cover their nose. Many people use pro-forma masks with minimal value. In short, masks are a very hit or miss protection.
They make you sick. Louis Gohmert, the Texas Congressman who tested positive for Covid, publicly scoffed at masks and blamed wearing a mask for his getting it. He said it trapped germs. Others say it constrains their breathing, which, makes them uncomfortable. My own experience with an N-95 mask, worn tightly across my nose and cupping my chin, is exactly that. Breathing is harder because air in and out is pulled through filters, a feature, not a bug.
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| Irony alert: This is the "pro-choice" abortion argument. |
It is a matter of freedom and autonomy. Masks are perceived as government over-reach, with mask opponents making the same arguments people make about whether or not to smoke, wear motorcycle helmets, how to wear ones hair, how to dress, whether to get vaccinated, and whether to get an abortion. People don't want to be told what to do.
Distrust of experts. The woman told me to educate myself, implying a set of information different from the near universal direction from public health experts urging people to use masks. In fact there are sets of alternative facts circulating: masks build up carbon dioxide; masks collect germs; masks suppress your immune system from getting necessary exposure to the virus so it can respond appropriately. These have been debunked by experts, but that is the point, untrustworthy experts with their group-think.
Distrust of experts. The woman told me to educate myself, implying a set of information different from the near universal direction from public health experts urging people to use masks. In fact there are sets of alternative facts circulating: masks build up carbon dioxide; masks collect germs; masks suppress your immune system from getting necessary exposure to the virus so it can respond appropriately. These have been debunked by experts, but that is the point, untrustworthy experts with their group-think.
This was a big body language statement. He signaled that Americans who liked and trusted him should not let the virus worrywarts and tyrants push them around. You don't wear a Trump mask to own the libs. You own them by not wearing a mask at all. That will rile the snowflakes.
The couple refused to wear a mask, in the face of requests from a fellow customer. I made a guess, that they were Trump supporters, and I was right.
I was wearing a mask and confronted them about not wearing one. They guessed I was a liberal, and they are right.
12 comments:
Hitler was kept in power by those who believed in the "rightness" of the NAZI doctrine. Perhaps over time they would have been defeated from within, but their expansionist actions led to war. NAZI Germany did not have a long experience with democracy and fell back into authoritarian rule not because Hitler was so compelling, but because his followers and enablers benefitted from the regime.
We tend to focus on the machinations in DC but it's equally important that we pay attention to the people who continue to support the Republican descent into depravity.
If this administration is defeated they will still be with us. We are experiencing this because a failed political party, desperate to retain power, has turned to nursing the grievances of the worst among us, feeding them lies they eagerly devour and resorting to illegal, unethical and immoral tactics to amplify their prejudices.
It's a fundamental truth of relationships that if someone lies to you they do not respect you. In turn if you tolerate being lied to, it's evidence of your own lack of self-respect. I think this reveals the nature of the Trump/Republican phenomenon.
Truth and reality are connected. Deny one and you deny both. Reality can only be falsified in a mind that is deluded. The virus is real.
We have these problems and this polarization and this president because our clueless and incompetent “elites” have failed a significant portion of our population for decades.
What, for instance, did our elites do to help the people whose lives were devastated by the unforgivably stupid export of our industrial capacity to China? What did they do to help loggers whose lives were devastated by environmental regulations? What have they done for the half of our population whose IQs are below 100 as more and more jobs are configured to require an IQ above 100?
Calling the people who got screwed “the worst among us“ is the same mistake that Hillary made by calling them “deplorables.“ They can smell contempt a mile away, and they support, instead, those who do not express contempt for them.
Perhaps... people who don’t “express contempt” in words, but by lying to them, they actually show contempt in that behavior.
Well said. The Republicans actions speak far more loudly than words when it comes to expressing contempt for the working classes and their "base". Tax cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires, and an expressed appreciation for "uneducated" voters say more about how the R party feels than anything their fuehrer.says.
Michael said: "Calling the people who got screwed “the worst among us“ is the same mistake that Hillary made by calling them “deplorables.“ They can smell contempt a mile away, and they support, instead, those who do not express contempt for them." is spot on. These Trump supporters are way beyond indignant; they've had it with tax-raising, latte-drinking, Sushi-eating, Volvo-driving New York Times-reading liberal elites and they are out for blood and will increasingly, like their leader, not be playing by any rules. You have to walk a mile in their worn-out shoes to understand the depth of their anger. They are way down on Maslow's hierarchy and HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. Dying on a hill over something as simple as wearing a mask becomes important to them for all the reasons Peter states. The first casualty of such a war may be truth, but common civility is right behind.
Andy Seles
I’m surprised Albertson’s allowed this. They are in violation of the law.
Don’t ask people who they voted for. Remind them the law requires masks to be worn in stores.
That it IS political doesn’t mean it should BE political. But at any rate they can express their political thoughts about it in the voting booth.
It would have been entertaining to see a beat-down in the produce department.
Good News: I often wear a fabric mask that says VOTE. When wearing this mask, I’ve had met several young people who tell me “I like your mask.” So, I always ask if they’re registered to vote and if they plan to vote in November. Answers so far are resounding YES! Pretty sure these young adults won’t be voting for tRump! One Correction: We do have scientific evidence now that when people wear fabric functional masks—there is considerable less spread of disease. Two to Three layered cotton masks are the most effective non-medical grade masks. Masks made from knit fabrics and fleece are not very effective; in fact, fleece face coverings were shown to basically make one’s respiratory droplets smaller—but still go through the mask. Fabric masks should be washed after use. And it’s important to remember to do all three precautions: mask, six feet distance and wash hands—and most importantly try to stay alive long enough to vote out Trump and his allies.
Andy, you brought back this memory:
https://youtu.be/K4-vEwD_7Hk
:-)
Michael, Yep...that's where I got it. The Repugs have been repeating that mantra and, at the same time, starving the "beast" (any institution in the public domain; schools, raiding S.S., bankrupting the USPS, etc.), appointing incompetent cabinet leaders and underlings ("Heckuvva job, Brownie!") all to reinforce the idea that "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" doesn't work.
Now, they are in for the kill whether it be S.S., public education, or the USPS. Their critique of the neoliberal, globalist agenda and government by expert (sometimes called "stakeholders") is lost on entitled liberal moderates and centrists who are (or, at least, were) doing quite well...until now...thank you. Well, "First they came for the trade unionists/And I didn't speak up/Then they came for the immigrants/And I didn't....you get the picture! They won't feel complete until they get our public pensions which is why they are trying to bankrupt the states with pandemic costs (let no disaster go to waste).
Andy Seles
I think it is much more reptilian and it all boils down to the 2nd amendment and guns.
To wear a mask or not to wear a mask, aye, that is the questiion plaguing our society when intermingling occurs between fellow citizens in shopping venues, schools, and places of worship. "Getting in the face" of mask scofflaws is usually counter productive, not unlike repeating the self-evident fact that our president has proven on multiple occasions that he is a lustful bimbo-chasing liar whose business ethics embody the elasticity of a jock strap. As was the case with Hitler's brown shirted thugs, Trump's sycophantic followers can best be described as "intellectually challenged." (And very often are absurdly proud of it!) However, rather than engage in a myriad number of "mask skirmishes" a more productive approach might serve to ameliorate the pandemic now raging from sea to shining sea. In a proposed alternate scenario pro-mask proponents would don a poker face, avoid any rolling of the eyes and respectfully listen to the doubts of the anti-maskers. Any mention of pertinent medical matters far beyond a layman's expertise to comprehend would be assidulously avoided. This truce could engender the formation of
a quarantine-free control group of anti-maskers who would then move forward and validate their position by quickly re-opening our nation's churches, shopping centers and athletic facilities to a "No Masks Business as Usual" status, thereby exposing Covid-19 as a hoax instigated by "liberals" to discredit the good? works of President Donald Trump.
Thw means of solving the Covid-19 dilemma is rooted in a simple time worn maxim referred to commonly as "put up or shut up" and would serve
to confirm whether the Corona-19 virus is as dangerous as advertised.
Conversely, there is always the very real possibility that the reincarnation of Baron Munchausen now residing in the White House has screwed up yet again.
Bob Warren
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