I'm (hopefully) entering a new org soon. Only a few comrades there mask. At my workplace, or anywhere else really, nobody masks. The only people I see mask are like goldfish, and I only see them occasionally in public transit. It's disheartening by the day to see Covid trivialized, and AES like even China not care anymore, in spite of their good policies beforehand.
Just makes me feel like I cannot relate to people anymore, they all look at me like I'm supremely weird for masking, so it's even harder to convince people of anything politically, especially when I'm discriminated all the time and receive verbal abuse for masking. I really dont get how to talk to people when they wont understand the concept of masking to protect themselves/others and it makes me feel stuck politically, to the point I feel I have a one sided view of many social issues, through the POV of Covid consciousness and masking, and I dont see how a movement can be built if no one acknowledges this. I feel like I've become more disconnected from everyone, including comrades, especially them, because they wont listen or want to mask in the first place, and I dont know what to do. I use an N95 every day when going outside, and so does my partner. We dont eat out, etc. I get the fact many wont do this choice to sacrifice their lifestyle or whatever.. but :(
I remember before masking I was taken seriously, now it's impeding me in all my life's aspects just cause we live in an extremely ableist society. It's hard and alienating from others, and no one irl seemingly understands. It's very hard to see how to build a mass movement in these conditions, or to even socialize with others (and I'm very sociable!) when you're instantly labeled as weird. I'm so dissapointed in people sometimes I give up on interacting because of this.
Even among comrades, the moment I mention masking, everyone is suddenly awkward and tries to move on. I'm tired to act like it's a secret or such
I wish things were different. I wish I could connect with people again. And that comrades would take this seriously, because I feel alienated even from those I share the most with, and its painful. I dont want to create a struggle session or whatever, just wanted to feel heard, I hope most people here mask anyways. It's bad enough for my mental healtg to give up on all social stuff cause of masking, and other activities like swimming, it's just tough. Thanks for reading
Coming late to the party I have a few questions and requests ( if anyone got the time to help). I have been one of the plague rats out of sheer ignorance. I mean that not as an excuse but as a reason to enact change.
First, which masks should I get, like which actually help and aren't cosmetic (as a jobless person I would love cheap or reusable options if those exist)?
Second, does any of you have some links where I can educate my ass outside of reading your comments? Articles/Videos/books, all is welcome.
Third, I feel you comrade. As a vegan I can say not much seems to happen. There is just soo much wrong with our society. As products of said society we are bound to run around with more or less brainworms for a long time still. We can only try to do what we can and educate people. Sadly many people don't want to learn anything (I blame our education systems). Also people hate feeling ignorant, yet everyone is ignorant in many topics.
re: links
https://www.youtube.com/@LolaGerms
https://linktr.ee/lizwhatsherface under covid resources
https://pot8um.info/
there are quite a few tiktokers, PacoOnPause, julie [though i don't want to post too many links or it may be over whelming]
i follow this one woman, julia doubleday she runs a news outlet orientated towards covid - she spoke on the covid issue on twitter frequently until she caught covid (multuple times?) and became disabled
re: respirator procurement you can get them pretty cheap on government surplus sites, i know canada government surplus will actually ship them free to your house (in canada)
there is also https://youhavetoliveyour.life/
which is like set up like questions where you can immediately get a response with a study
The zerocovidcommunity and masks4all subreddits have good sources and tips for being covid cautious
https://covidsafehotties.boards.net/ has tips for masking, alerts for mask and test sales, and archive of news and scientific articles. They also have a tumblr account.
Hi! I'd be glad to talk with you^^, so basically, on types of masks:
They come in many variants, such as with a headstrap or ear loops, valve or without valve. Reusable masks sadly arent there yet, but N95s are quite economical as you can reuse them a lot before the filters becomes clogged!
The best N95s, and the cheapest where I'm from, are the https://zimiair.com/ it's made by a Chinese engineer, and they're wayyyy more comfortable and breathable (and fashionable) than other N95s. As a rule of thumb, black N95s get you way less harassed than white ones, like way less. Highly recommend the zimis. I've used both 3M Aurora and Draeger Xplore masks, Zimi beats them all. The creator is also working on a follow up product named the Ziga Air mask, and it's modular. The Zimi is already modular, you have a frame and just buy the filters. Highly recommend compared to any other KN95/N95.
For articles and resources: https://covid.tips/ https://clarion.unity-struggle-unity.org/let-them-eat-plague/
Feel free to ask any questions! Thanks for wanting to be informed:3 and yea agreed constant education and self education, no matter how hard it is.
Thank you for that fast and thorough reply. One less plague rat in the streets now (as soon as the masks arrive). I like black better than white anyways. Colorful would be cool, maybe once the next plague from industrial farming hits and the normies join us for a while.
I will no do some reading up. Maybe I got some questions afterwards but mostly I want to be able to educate people if I am asked and that's hard if I am still ignorant^^'
One question: When do I know if I should use a new one? Does the breathing get worse or do you use a certain amount of hours usage as guideline?