4 ms·

I was thinking about this tonight on my walk. I've been noticing some funny looks at my mask wearing. I usually walk with my mask on. I have done this way be

I was thinking about this tonight on my walk. I've been noticing some funny looks at my mask wearing. I usually walk with my mask on. I have done this way before Covid. I used to wear it for allergies. My allergies just felt better when I wore a mask. Tonight I could smell burn't tires on my walk. A older guy happened to be doing a burn out in his Tesla. Yea--I know, not the typical burnout guy. A few Japanese beers might have something to do with the stunt. I left, and thought about why I like to wear a mask. We have so much pollution in the air, it just seems prudent? I'm not even that worried about Covid right now. (I do believe we consume way to much plastic, and other chemicals (Dawn Dish soap has 13 chemicals. Why? It cleans well. I am not a great dishwasher though.) So if you see a "jerk" wearing a mask on Sir Francis Drake look away. I know it bothers some folks.

swayvil 4y ago
Mask-wearing is like foot-binding and leeching. Pathological and perverse, perhaps. But also totally cool and in agreement with the experts. It's a window into our psychology. Anthropologists of the future will reap much research papers.
- GabrielMtn 4y ago
  Do you have any evidence of these claims or is this just more reactionary politicizing of masks?
  - swayvil 4y ago
    Experts agree that there is such a thing as anthropologists.
- danShumway 4y ago
  > Pathological and perverse, perhaps. But also totally cool and in agreement with the experts. Um... "perverse"? I have a lot less patience for these takes than I used to because at least early on in the pandemic people could convincingly claim that wearing a mask was "cool". There was at least truth to the idea that you would be shamed for not wearing a mask. But that's not the situation anymore -- GP wrote a comment about how they're getting a lot of weird looks in public for wearing a mask to help with pollution. If the response to that is, "what's up with this mask fad?", then I'm not sure you understand how fads or popularity work. Anecdotally, even in a majority Democrat area the majority of people I see in just about every single social situation are not wearing masks, even in enclosed environments and at offices. The majority of retail workers I see don't wear masks. There are maybe 3-6 people total that I've seen in my entire church that wear a mask. And it's not exclusive to Republicans, most Democrats I know are not wearing masks -- to the point where people are far more likely to give funny looks or scowl at others for having one on. As far as I can tell people wearing masks in public are pretty squarely the minority at this point, but the rhetoric against masking never really got updated since the early pandemic so people are still pretending like if they go to an average grocery store without a mask everyone there will judge them over it. GP wears a mask to help with allergies and reduce road pollution -- this is pretty reasonable and would have been reasonable pre-pandemic. I don't understand why anyone would care about someone else making that decision in the first place, let alone why they would care so much that they'd call GP a pervert over it. :)
  - swayvil 4y ago
    In a hundred million years of biological history, I doubt that there is anything as perverse as voluntarily blocking your own breathing hole. It's right up there with crowds throwing themselves off cliffs and maniacs walking down the sidewalk chattering at their plastic rat.
    - GabrielMtn 4y ago
      “Blocking your own breathing hole” Ok. Well thanks for removing all doubt here at least.
    - danShumway 4y ago
      > In a hundred million years of biological history, I doubt that there is anything as perverse as voluntarily blocking your own breathing hole Really? You genuinely can't think of anything in the entire history of humanity more perverse that someone could do than wear a mask? Have you spent much time on the Internet? And historically -- I mean, I'm just throwing out one idea off the top of my head, but how about public executions in the Colosseum for entertainment purposes? This is pretty silly. :) Even if you do somehow think that mask-wearers are all perversely deriving some pleasure from suffocating themselves and that they're walking around unable to breathe, there's still no way you genuinely believe that auto-erotic asphyxiation is the most perverse thing that society has ever invented.
    - TomSwirly 4y ago
      If you think any of this is sane, you have another think coming.
    - CyanBird 4y ago
      > I doubt that there is anything as perverse as voluntarily blocking your own breathing hole. Well, then I would recommend you to look more around you, very few to no animals intake air directly through their trachea, we evolved noses to both filter the small particulate with nose hairs, change the temperature of the air and later evolved the use of smell So yeah, next time you go out I would recommend you to carefully review the faces of the beings you see around you and realize the existence and plurality of noses and "noseholes", and yes, noses themselves also inhibit oxygen flow vs "open trachea holes" Lastly, you are welcome to give yourself a tracheotomy if you'd like too, just be careful, or maybe not
- TomSwirly 4y ago
  One of the sad things about the Internet these days is that into every conversation descends the Screaming Loonie™. The Screaming Loonie doesn't waste any time but immediately dives into some world-class conspiracy theory - in this case, "Almost all the world's doctors, medical researchers and public health officials are in a century-long conspiracy to present a false theory, that masks help prevent infectious respiratory diseases." I used to find this sad, but now the Screaming Loonies have killed a lot of people by hampering our response to COVID, and it's not sad or funny any more, it's enraging. If we can jail people who call in prank bomb threats, we can should certainly jail the gloating and arrogant medical liars who have caused such carnage. In a just world, medical liars would be given the same sort of sentence that we give today to
  - swayvil 4y ago
    That is a carefully roundabout argument for something, no doubt. And I'm sure that the experts all agree.

swayvil 4y ago

Mask-wearing is like foot-binding and leeching. Pathological and perverse, perhaps. But also totally cool and in agreement with the experts. It's a window into our psychology. Anthropologists of the future will reap much research papers.

GabrielMtn 4y ago
Do you have any evidence of these claims or is this just more reactionary politicizing of masks?
- swayvil 4y ago
  Experts agree that there is such a thing as anthropologists.
danShumway 4y ago
> Pathological and perverse, perhaps. But also totally cool and in agreement with the experts. Um... "perverse"? I have a lot less patience for these takes than I used to because at least early on in the pandemic people could convincingly claim that wearing a mask was "cool". There was at least truth to the idea that you would be shamed for not wearing a mask. But that's not the situation anymore -- GP wrote a comment about how they're getting a lot of weird looks in public for wearing a mask to help with pollution. If the response to that is, "what's up with this mask fad?", then I'm not sure you understand how fads or popularity work. Anecdotally, even in a majority Democrat area the majority of people I see in just about every single social situation are not wearing masks, even in enclosed environments and at offices. The majority of retail workers I see don't wear masks. There are maybe 3-6 people total that I've seen in my entire church that wear a mask. And it's not exclusive to Republicans, most Democrats I know are not wearing masks -- to the point where people are far more likely to give funny looks or scowl at others for having one on. As far as I can tell people wearing masks in public are pretty squarely the minority at this point, but the rhetoric against masking never really got updated since the early pandemic so people are still pretending like if they go to an average grocery store without a mask everyone there will judge them over it. GP wears a mask to help with allergies and reduce road pollution -- this is pretty reasonable and would have been reasonable pre-pandemic. I don't understand why anyone would care about someone else making that decision in the first place, let alone why they would care so much that they'd call GP a pervert over it. :)
- swayvil 4y ago
  In a hundred million years of biological history, I doubt that there is anything as perverse as voluntarily blocking your own breathing hole. It's right up there with crowds throwing themselves off cliffs and maniacs walking down the sidewalk chattering at their plastic rat.
  - GabrielMtn 4y ago
    “Blocking your own breathing hole” Ok. Well thanks for removing all doubt here at least.
  - danShumway 4y ago
    > In a hundred million years of biological history, I doubt that there is anything as perverse as voluntarily blocking your own breathing hole Really? You genuinely can't think of anything in the entire history of humanity more perverse that someone could do than wear a mask? Have you spent much time on the Internet? And historically -- I mean, I'm just throwing out one idea off the top of my head, but how about public executions in the Colosseum for entertainment purposes? This is pretty silly. :) Even if you do somehow think that mask-wearers are all perversely deriving some pleasure from suffocating themselves and that they're walking around unable to breathe, there's still no way you genuinely believe that auto-erotic asphyxiation is the most perverse thing that society has ever invented.
  - TomSwirly 4y ago
    If you think any of this is sane, you have another think coming.
  - CyanBird 4y ago
    > I doubt that there is anything as perverse as voluntarily blocking your own breathing hole. Well, then I would recommend you to look more around you, very few to no animals intake air directly through their trachea, we evolved noses to both filter the small particulate with nose hairs, change the temperature of the air and later evolved the use of smell So yeah, next time you go out I would recommend you to carefully review the faces of the beings you see around you and realize the existence and plurality of noses and "noseholes", and yes, noses themselves also inhibit oxygen flow vs "open trachea holes" Lastly, you are welcome to give yourself a tracheotomy if you'd like too, just be careful, or maybe not
TomSwirly 4y ago
One of the sad things about the Internet these days is that into every conversation descends the Screaming Loonie™. The Screaming Loonie doesn't waste any time but immediately dives into some world-class conspiracy theory - in this case, "Almost all the world's doctors, medical researchers and public health officials are in a century-long conspiracy to present a false theory, that masks help prevent infectious respiratory diseases." I used to find this sad, but now the Screaming Loonies have killed a lot of people by hampering our response to COVID, and it's not sad or funny any more, it's enraging. If we can jail people who call in prank bomb threats, we can should certainly jail the gloating and arrogant medical liars who have caused such carnage. In a just world, medical liars would be given the same sort of sentence that we give today to
- swayvil 4y ago
  That is a carefully roundabout argument for something, no doubt. And I'm sure that the experts all agree.