Let me preface by noting that I realize writing this piece will likely have the opposite of my long-term hope for the situation we all find ourselves in. However, I often struggle with prioritizing short-term gratification over what is best for me and the majority in the long term, but I don’t struggle with it nearly as bad as this anti-mask crowd who seem to honestly believe that the mild discomfort of wearing a mask for 20 minutes in the grocery store is not worth protecting themselves or those around them. Oh, and there’s that thing about it being an impediment to their constitutional right to be the most selfish assholes imaginable.
A few months ago, I saw a middle-aged woman with a Trump-Pence 2020 mask on in a Target in East Liberty Pittsburgh, PA. At the time, I was nearly irate. East Liberty and Pittsburgh as a whole is a fairly left-leaning city. I would have almost respected her courage if I thought that such an action was prompted by her bravery rather than stupidity. Whatever the case, I’ve since calmed down and actually appreciate her for doing one right thing and serving as proof that even wildly ignorant assholes can still be considerate enough to put on a fucking mask…likely only for her own protection, but the end result is the same and that’s good enough for me.
Now, you might be thinking, “I thought you said entirely objective? This appears to be an opinion and personal anecdote.” You’re right. If you’re reading and thinking that as an anti-masker yourself just searching for material to start a fight on the interwebz; congratulations, you would have been right if I stopped writing after the first three paragraphs. If you’re one of the aforementioned keyboard-cowboy/internet warrior types, I would also like to recognize you for the effort you’ve put into reading 3 paragraphs with multi-syllable words, I’m actually impressed given the average reading level of your population.
How do I know that most Anti-Mask Wearing types struggle with reading? There are signs on every fucking business in the United States that explicitly state that you must wear a mask before entering and yet I can’t count how many Duck Dynasty looking mother-fuckers have waltzed into gas stations and supermarkets across the country without any consideration for what is clearly posted all over the fucking door and/or acting as if their unkempt trashy beards are a natural form of protection.
Now granted: the majority of the folks I’ve seen blatantly ignoring the signs look like they’re carrying much more disease than a cesspool, but I doubt any of them are quite as terrible as COVID-19.
Okay, that’s still anecdote and opinion. Here is an excerpt from the abstract of a recent research review, “The preponderance of evidence indicates that mask-wearing reduces the transmissibility per contact by reducing transmission of infected droplets in both laboratory and clinical contexts. Public mask-wearing is most effective at stopping the spread of the virus when compliance is high. The decreased transmissibility could substantially reduce the death toll and economic impact while the cost of the intervention is low.”
To control for the confirmation bias, I did also search for evidence of the opposite. And if I search really, really hard I will admit that I’ve come across a few articles that question just how effective masks are in preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, the overwhelming majority of all research demonstrates that masks are effective in reducing the spread, and especially when coupled with social distancing and hand washing.
Here is even more interesting research to support that anti-maskers are assholes - the sociopathic type. From the abstract of a recent study looking at containment measures and personality traits, “Our findings indicated that antisocial traits, especially lower levels of empathy and higher levels of Callousness, Deceitfulness, and Risk-taking, are directly associated with lower compliance with containment measures.” Remember, I said the research was interesting, but not surprising.
I think I can stop here. This is more than enough irrefutable evidence to demonstrate that anti-maskers are stupid. Stupid assholes, and lesser humans. Please, do the right thing. Wear a fucking mask.
Well, at least when you piss of stupid people, they dont have the ability to formulate a coherent rebuttal. Excellent read.