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COVID-19 Politics

Are masks political?

What is going on here? I read recently that women, democrats and city dwellers are more likely to wear face masks than men, republicans and rural people. This is not something that I understand. I can imagine that there are many uninformed, petulant people (like our President) that don’t want to wear a mask in public because it “impinges on my freedom”, but that’s seriously one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. We do lots of things that impinge on our freedom for the public good. We make restaurants get health inspections, we don’t defecate on the street, and we don’t shoot guns into crowds of people because they all impact our personal safety, but we don’t complain that somehow make us less free. I would argue that they actually improve our freedom by allowing us to go about our daily business unencumbered by fear that we will get a foodborne illness, tyhpoid, cholera, or any number of illnesses, or randomly shot.

The Huffington post suggests that

Because this virus and pandemic feels so unfamiliar, we’re clinging hard to whatever makes us feel safe in the moment.

But we’re now in our 5th month of this riduculousness. Isn’t it time that we stop looking for excuses and start doing the right thing? I can see being uncomfortable about wearing a mask for like a minute, but come on people. Get over it.

  1. But politics and mask wearing is really beyond me. Am I to believe that Democrats, as a goup, care more about other people and Republicans? Maybe it’s true, I don’t know. But if Republicans really only care about themselves, wouldn’t they want to see every person around them masked up to minimize their chances of getting COVID? I mean, isn’t that the next step in the deductive reasoning process? And really, no matter whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, don’t you really just want to be able to go about your day without having to worry that every person you have any contact with will give you COVID?
  2. Wear a mask in public
  3. Wash your hands often
  4. Maintain social distancing (6 feet or more)

 

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