this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
263 points (98.9% liked)

HistoryPhotos

1465 readers
130 users here now

HistoryPhotos is for photographs (or, if it can be found, film) of the past, recent or distant! Give us a little snapshot of history!

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Foster a continuous learning environment.
  4. No genocide or atrocity denialism.
  5. Photos MUST be at LEAST 10 years old, and ideally over 20. We appreciate that we are living through events which will become history, but this is ultimately not a comm for news or current affairs, but events which have occurred some time in the past.

Related Communities:

founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago (3 children)

The wild thing is, thet back then, people knew that they were protecting others from themselves by wearing one.

I feel like most people who wear masks today, wear them to protect themselves from catching a virus

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Because people understood back then that not wearing a mask while contagious meant directly killing others.

Also, flu was highly mortal at the time, and people were acutely aware of this.

I lost my parents because of an asymptomatic idiot who refused to wear a mask and wash his hands, yet insisted of visiting them. That person literally killed them.

I still consider anyone who consciously refused to wear a mask or get vaccinated during the last pandemic as selfish criminals and murderers who should be held accountable.

[–] visch@quokk.au 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Did you research this or are you just guessing?

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was indeed guessing but there is an interesting read

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/masks-spanish-flu-1918/

'public health leaders rebranded personal care as a display of patriotism and duty to make men to wear masks.'

'In 1927, Edwin Jordan’s definitive study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association as a series of articles and then as a book, determined that masks were effective when worn by patients already sick or by those directly exposed to victims, including nurses and physicians.'

[–] visch@quokk.au 4 points 1 month ago
[–] Visstix@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Seeing as the photo implies people are being arrested for not wearing them. I doubt they did it out of their kindness of their heart.

Not sure why I am getting downvoted for saying most people probably wore masks to not get arrested.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 month ago

yeah there was a whole mask vs anti-mask movement then as now. the anti-maskers then were just as dumb