Be a Mask Rulebreaker
Defending the "Mask-hole tough guys"
Recently California has reimposed, then extended, it’s statewide mask mandate. I’ve called for everyone to openly defy the mandate and not comply.
I’ve received some comments questioning the wisdom behind this opinion. Some see it as a pointless gesture which makes life more difficult and accomplishes nothing. Others say you should consider the feelings of the employees, often working at minimum wage, who are tasked with enforcing these mandates. Still others see those who defy the mandates as jerks, or “Mask-holes”, just trying to showoff how “tough” they are.
So here’s my reasoned response to criticisms of the mask non compiler "tough guys" and "Mask-holes", which I draw from my personal experience.
I live in El Dorado county, California which is deep red politically and has been relatively open during the pandemic, but I work and do plenty of business in nearby Sacramento and Yolo counties which have been masked to the hilt all pandemic except for a brief respite in the summer of 2021.
I haven't worn a mask a single time in any of these counties since March 2021 outside of airport security. And here's the funny part, in all that time I've only been asked to put a mask on once, at a drug store in Yolo county this summer. I politely left and went down the street to another store which didn't hassle me.
I don't go maskless as some personal attestation to my "toughness", or to piss off the mask nazis trying to enforce the mandates. I do it to show others that it can be done, that the consequences of non-compliance are minimal, and to hopefully encourage others to do the same. Because the secret is, if enough people would just stop complying this would end.
The fact is, in areas where enough of us did not comply, we've won. In El Dorado county today, even though the governor imposed a statewide mask mandate you will not find universal masking. If you walk into a national business chain you'll unfortunately still find the employees having to mask, but not the customers, and if you walk into a local business, even the staff is mask free, because we won. The county won't enforce the state mandate because they know the populace won't comply, and as soon as the statewide mandate is dropped (good luck if you think it will be on the 15th of February…) our county will go back to having no mandate once again.
It’s been remarkable to live and work in two areas following completely different Covid meaures even as our Covid results have been remarkably similar. I’m confident is going maskless since I’ve learned over the last two years just how ineffective masks are as a public health measure. Simply put: masks don’t work, they haven’t worked, they never worked! All masks do is heighten our percieved level of fear, and engender the mass hysteria which is now gripping society.
So I encourage everyone else to defy these mandates at every opportunity they have. Don't be a jerk, always greet everyone with a smile (one of the benefits of going maskless is that you can actually show your smile) and if asked to mask just leave, you will be surprised how rarely this ever becomes an issue. Help build the critical mass locally which will end the mandates or at the very least render them toothless due to non enforcement.
Anyway 0 and 2...