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(cw: vent) I feel it's hard to impossible to connect with non maskers (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by transbyanism@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net
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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

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[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 36 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I agree with masking although I don't really understand the antipathy toward people not masking at this stage when few do. At this point it feels like trying to solve climate change by separating and recycling plastic from my trash. It does help, but the most I can do is asymptotically approach equivalence with me not existing at all or being a complete shut-in. I became vegan once I internalized the harm I participated in toward animals... and still, my efforts can at most be equivalent to me taking up zero space. The problem is still there even if I individually do everything right.

Most people collectively, and not voluntarily, gave up on slowing covid once the governments of the world decided it was over... because losing one's job and starving is a more concrete threat than covid for a lot of people.. or at least that is how they perceive it. It's not fair and it is an example of how society leaves behind the disabled. Yet... I don't feel anger toward random individuals who are more or less just scraping by. The problem is bigger than a single person, it's not about the relative difficulty of wearing a mask (it's not that hard) it's about the perceived futility of it all.

Practically speaking, fighting for cheap or free vaccines seems more effective than convincing each individual to mask. I don't foresee generalized masking happening again unless a new variant significantly increases mortality rates.

[–] ComradeRat@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Practically speaking, fighting for cheap or free vaccines seems more effective than convincing each individual to mask.

The vaccines dont stop you from getting covid, just make the symptoms slightly less worse and give you a slightly lower chance of getting long covid. If anything, the fact that people go "well i'm vaxxed, i dont need a mask" makes me think fighting for free vaccines is less effective than fighting for free masks in terms of reducing damage from covid.

I agree with masking although I don't really understand the antipathy toward people not masking at this stage when few do.

You dont understand why people might be upset at others for putting themselves and the people they love at risk of death or permanent chronic illness, leading them to want to vent in literally one of the few places in many of our lives that at least claims to take this seriously?

It does help, but the most I can do is asymptotically approach equivalence with me not existing at all or being a complete shut-in.

The most you could do is wear a mask (reducing the threat of illness and death to people around you) and publically support masking and oppose antimasking. Idk why "being a complete shut in" is mentioned; the cause of covid safety isnt advanced any more by staying shut in than environmentalism is addressed by not going to protests bc it increases ones carbon footprint.

The problem is still there even if I individually do everything right.

Thats how systemic problems work yeah. The same is true of capitalism or climate change; doesnt mean we get the luxury of giving up

Most people collectively, and not voluntarily, gave up on slowing covid once the governments of the world decided it was over because losing one's job and starving is a more concrete threat than covid for a lot of people.. or at least that is how they perceive it.

I dont doubt some people were fired for continuing to mask, but afaik in the vast majority of cases it has been cowardice and laziness. My mother (retired now thankfully) dealt with verbal and physical abuse at her (minimum wage! And we still bought masks!) workplace for years, constant sarcastic remarks by her bosses. It took a week or two of "pandemic is over" (before the harassment even started!) for literally all her coworkers (many of whom knew she was immunocompromised) to stop masking. There was no threats of unemployment in 2021, and still very little social pressure. What can this be called if not cowardice and laziness?

I don't foresee generalized masking happening again unless a new variant significantly increases mortality rates.

Antimasking won without a change in mortality or disability rates; masking wont win again unless people struggle for it. Unfortunately, even many leftists prefer brunch to disabled lives

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Vaccines tend to reduce viral load if/when you do get infected, thus reducing further transmission. That's why everyone should be vaxxed even if they catch it anyway. The holistic approach would of course be best, mask + vax + reducing physical proximity.

I disagree that the most that we can do is mask. That's why I mentioned veganism and environmentalism; those are other examples of individual efforts being at most a mitigating factor, not really a solution per se, not on its own as a "grassroots" trend. It requires management from the top down, at all layers of society, to actually mean anything. Radical action against covid would mean things like legal protection for remote work, mandatory and unlimited paid sick time for covid, stricter indoor ventilation regulations, free vaccines, free masks, etc. Tbqh, sitting in a poorly ventilated cube farm with 30 other coworkers for 40 hours a week — mask or not, if a coworker has covid, I'm catching it too. That's what I mean about employment. Fulltime in-office is the norm again, and yes they will fire you if you don't comply. That is way more impactful than any individual choice to mask.

My purpose is not to justify not wearing a mask but to explain my understanding why the large majority of people stopped.

[–] Blockocheese@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Tbqh, sitting in a poorly ventilated cube farm with 30 other coworkers for 40 hours a week — mask or not, if a coworker has covid, I'm catching it too.

Ive had almost ten coworkers in my less than 50 person department in and out with covid last week and havent gotten sick because I mask and get my booster. This is just covid liberalism

Edit: and more have symptoms and are still coming into work or could be asymptomatic

[–] bobs_guns@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You know what else reduces viral load? That's right, wearing a mask

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[–] ComradeRat@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I never said the most we can do is individually mask, i explicitly said at the end we must struggle for to make masking society wide instead. And societywide, masking had the biggest impact on reducing deaths. You seem to he doing the opposite of struggling for a society wide hollistic solution by spreading antimasking rhetoric, justifying antimaskers' decisions, and framing those advocating struggling for masking as individualists who dont have real jobs

Tbqh, sitting in a poorly ventilated cube farm with 30 other coworkers for 40 hours a week — mask or not, if a coworker has covid, I'm catching it too

I'm in schools all day, havent got covid in years despite the hacking coughs of my classmates and profs. One of my neighbours teaches hundreds of students a day in a poorly ventilated educational institution where he's the only masker. He hasnt gotten covid since 21/22. Another has the same job, but doesnt mask, he's constantly sick. Neither of them have ever been threatened with being fired for masking, neither was my min wage mother or any of her coworkers, but only my mother kept masking.

You are claiming to not be justifying not wearing a mask, but that's exactly what you're doing with your misinformation: you are quite literally justifying peoples choice not to wear a mask. You mention reduced viral loads wrt vaccines, but ignore the (much larger!) reduction from wearing a mask. And in your radical action against covid, you mention providing free masks, but dont mention restoring mask mandates

You claim to just be explaining why, their perspective, etc, but you ignore the most reasonable explanations: ableism, complacency, bourgeois propaganda, selfishness to explain (falsely) if they masked theyd be sick anyway and maybe fired so there's no point.

Tbqh, sitting in a poorly ventilated cube farm with 30 other coworkers for 40 hours a week — mask or not, if a coworker has covid, I'm catching it too. That's what I mean about employment. Fulltime in-office is the norm again, and yes they will fire you if you don't comply. That is way more impactful than any individual choice to mask.

My purpose is not to justify not wearing a mask but to explain my understanding why the large majority of people stopped.

In the preceding paragraph you seem to be saying those are actually your own views, but then you say youre just explaining your understanding of why most people stopped? Unless the whole thing is "in character" from an antimaskers perspective

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[–] Demifriend@hexbear.net 23 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Hi there, this is demifriend’s wife using her account to post. I used to have a lemmy account but the two I had do not exist exist anymore; that was mononoke@lemmy.sdf.net, and before that, I was Ivysaur here. One of the lasting impacts I seem to have had was helping found the disabled community on here in an effort to help combat this exact sort of emerging ableism I see creeping from the woodwork everywhere. I am proud to see it still exists and has activity. Most of my posts from both accounts are still around if you search me here, and a lot of them were about covid and the left’s infuriating apathy toward it. What made me leave this place and largely stop interacting with most radical spaces online and IRL is exactly this: everything you describe. I could have written the entire thing verbatim. I have felt all of this, every day, for the last seven years. I have nothing else to add. I hear you loud and clear, and I am so thankful you are here. I hope you stay and be a voice of reason among the irrational.

Beatrice Adler-Bolton of Health Communism and Death Panel fame caught a lot of undeserved flak from so-called leftists recently for giving a panel about disability justice in the movement at a socialist conference, and I believe a large part of it was because she was still wearing a mask like she has been since the beginning of the pandemic. Frankly if this is what everyone’s communism is then we are lost. “Fix your hearts or die”—and we have chosen death. I am ultimately resigned to survival anymore; call me a coward, but I tried longer and harder more than any of my accusers ever did, or will. Organizations won’t listen, comrades won’t listen, friends won’t listen. I listen, though, and I know who’s going to be prepared for when everything goes down; it’s not the ‘a fascist lifted today’ polemic-spewing “socialists” and their ilk pushing their dreaded, inevitable future wrapped in the mangled bodies of their disabled comrades underfoot, out of sight and out of mind until the music stops and they will find themselves at last lacking any chairs. Their body is keeping the score. I have no hope that things will get better anymore, personally, but one thing is always for certain: change. This will change too, eventually. I see every day how unsustainable it all is even if everyone else does not, willfully or otherwise. The damage has already been done, unfortunately, and I think we will be living with this for the rest of our lives. I’m sorry I don’t have anything better to say. Some of us are out there still. The work must happen one way or another. Thank you for sharing, and for listening. As my favorite podcast always says by the end, stay alive another week.

[–] T34_69@hexbear.net 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Beatrice Adler-Bolton of Health Communism and Death Panel fame caught a lot of undeserved flak from so-called leftists

I was thinking of this too. A lot of "socialists" exposed their whole ass by jumping on the bandwagon, mocking their mask usage at that event, and completely missing the point of what those panel members were even saying. Those two speakers were cooking imo and the fact that so many radically online commentators jumped on it to say "hurrrr so you're saying not being fat is fascist???" - shows who's a crypto-eugenic opportunist.

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[–] Chana@hexbear.net 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"Leftist" spaces abandoning masking is full-blown liberalism.

In places like the US, masking was not abandoned based on public health grounds: at no point, not even today, has the crisis stopped meeting the criteria for a pandemic and excess mortality is still qualitatively higher.

So what was the timing of ending restrictions based on? Capital and its political class functionaries. We can all remember when restrictions were weakened because Delta put pressure on the feds. And the "end" of the pandemic in liberals' minds was when Biden declared the emergency over. And then, either simultaneously or very soon after, alleged leftists did the exact same thing. There was no reason for them to do this other than being intensely malleable and subordinate to capitalist propaganda and being big babies no discipline. And I think that does describe most self-labeled socialists in the imperial core. It's getting better but most treat organizing as a social club and process of self-fulfillment. They don't read, they don't self-crit, they don't subordinate their petty personal gripes to organizational strategy (a serious global pandemic not being a petty gripe), most aren't even in an org and are not particularly serious about it.

In short I just don't take 90% of them very seriously and approach organizing with the understanding that even self-labeled communists in the imperial core tend to be breathtakingly ignorant yet extremely confident and willing to share and act on their ignorance. Education is a constant battle even within a communist organization and is arguably the most important one. Never slack on internal organization, on running committees, having reading sessions, lectures, film viewings, and developing lines. It's work that only we can do, people who haven't lazily rolled over when Joe Biden, capital's lapdog, passed on the message.

Unfortunately this is not unique to COVID-19. COVID-19 is just an objective and recent case. We have to do the exact same Ed work on nearly every relevant topic and develop strategic organizing cadre as a top priority and it will always be frustrating in the sense that all of these self-labeled leftists should already know better and at least shut up when they haven't investigated. But really, tale as old as socialist organizing.

If it's any consolation the process of doing this internal organizing will generate a group of people you do respect, appreciate, and feel appreciated by. Both because they'll just reveal themselves and because you will actually create them via cadre development.

[–] Camden28@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

My understanding was that the "emergency over" wasn't about risk of getting covid, but risk of overwhelming hospitals. At first they didn't know how it spread and were setting up tents as emergency wards with no meds and insufficient equipment. Once there were treatments and most everyone had been exposed, the crisis point was over and covid was relegated to something like the flu's status: deadly for some, but oh well. Yes it was and is callous indifference. So were all the individuals who acted like going mask-less was a risk they were willing to take for themselves without seeming to understand that it was a greater risk for everyone around them. At this point, though, I have some understanding that most social people care intensely about seeing faces and would rather risk temporary illness than reduce human contact... despite the fact that the illness may not be temporary. What can I say? Humans are bad at assessing risk.

[–] Chana@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My understanding was that the "emergency over" wasn't about risk of getting covid, but risk of overwhelming hospitals.

The opposite would be much more likely: drop precautions, rates shoot up, more people in hospitals.

"Emergency over" was about capital pulling all of its various strings so that there could be a return to certain forms of profit-seeking and bourgeois control over labor. "Emergency over" meant no more lockdowns (labor scarcer and at a premium, land use disrupted). It meant commercial real estate could again speculate like it always does and try to get renters and jack up rents rather than watch their "investments" go poof (this was a big one, it is the main reason why office workers were hen forced to return to the office). It meant pulling the plug on periodic basic guaranteed income payouts and services to support people during lockdowns / the emergency (we then saw a new cycle of primitive accumulation as people were again made poorer and more precarious). Millions of petty bourgeois tyrants all demanding to exploit again (despite being paid to not do so via bailouts and loan forgiveness) and real estate.

At first they didn't know how it spread and were setting up tents as emergency wards with no meds and insufficient equipment.

Some places yes. I mean Sweden almost immediately attempted "herd immunity" and pretended like the virus only negatively impacted the asiatic hordes or something.

Once there were treatments and most everyone had been exposed, the crisis point was over and covid was relegated to something like the flu's status: deadly for some, but oh well.

This is actually just a liberal propaganda narrative. It is part of normalization of a pandemic whose response was aborted early by capital. Vaccination rates plummeted, the plug was pulled on propping up pharma companies to make new ones every 6 months and ensure people could actually get vaccinated. As I said originally, excess mortality is still way higher, it is not just "some" people it is more than the flu kills and it is not seasonal. Hospitals were permanently changed and travel nurses normalized, moving where there was greater need in a petty boirgeois-ification of what would otherwise be unionizable work. "Most everyone had been exposed" means nothing when immunity wears off every 6 months, as again, we are still in the middle of the pandemic, there is no herd immunity. The old people just die off and young people get disabled and immune damaged, but because cause isn't obvious it only appears as statistics and a pile of immunological studies that get ignored, for political reasons, by top brass health officials.

Yes it was and is callous indifference.

I disagree. It is malleability, a subservience to bourgeois propaganda. Provide the narrative, normalize, and in the forefront discipline labor to force a form of obedience. If everyone has to go to the office, everyone has to be exposed. If a manager says masks are optional, you will get sick with what they have eventually. If a manager says masks must be removed in order to do your job - like sales - you must obey or lose your job. Nothing to protect you, "emergency over". It is a mass of people susceptible to bourgeois propaganda and coercion then simply accepting the false rationalizations of capital's propagandists, including the people who claim to be explicitly against this and capable of dismantling it. The same people will cry when they see someone sick and die, when they see heir neighbors tormented by cops, when their friends become homeless through precarity created by marginalization. Their capacity to empathize is not broken, merely short-circuited via conditioning to accept bourgeois narratives and rationalizations for their predicament.

So were all the individuals who acted like going mask-less was a risk they were willing to take for themselves without seeming to understand that it was a greater risk for everyone around them.

Note the timing on this. In the US, prior to Biden claiming the emergency was over, those people were considered assholes by most liberals. Almost overnight it was entirely normalized and various anti- masker arguments were now acceptable to liberals. Oh now the masks are uncomfortable, they look weird, they don't work very well, it's hard to talk in them, poor babies. And again, alleged "leftists" followed suit. Ask yourself what had actually changed, materially, re: public health and the pandemic, at that moment. Were waves over? Vaccines working for over a year? Vaccination rates extremely high? Excess mortality rates "normal"? Or did a bourgeois party politician simply declare it over?l and they fell in line like good citizens?

At this point, though, I have some understanding that most social people care intensely about seeing faces and would rather risk temporary illness than reduce human contact... despite the fact that the illness may not be temporary. What can I say? Humans are bad at assessing risk.

Do you believe this behavioral sea change came from below? People just wanted to be coughing in each others' faces at work? Or that the desire to drop $60 at a restaurant to hang out with people led to a groundswell demanding an end to lockdowns and precautions?

What actually happened was a bourgeois politician giving permission to stop and specious rationalizations for why to do so, all at the urging of capital. This is not a human nature debate. And the turn to do so is a very old form of bourgeois propaganda.

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[–] ComradeRat@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My understanding was that the "emergency over" wasn't about risk of getting covid, but risk of overwhelming hospitals.

Not sure what its like where you are, but where I live the "temporary" overcapacity measures adopted by hospitals were quietly made permanent. Its become nearly impossible to get treatment in reasonable time; an old guy literally died of a heart attack in the hospital lobby a few months back bc the hospitals are still so overwhelmed

[–] Camden28@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

Oooh, that reminds me of a lesson on using 'metrics'. The story was about the British healthcare system measuring how long people were left in the waiting room, and hospitals got in some sort of trouble if it was too long, soooo hospitals began improving the wait times yet overall care stats remained the same. It turned out this was because the act of measuring the wait time lead to staff getting pressured to be faster without more getting more people or resources, so staff learned to quickly move patients out of the waiting room -- done! -- only to have them wait unseen in exam rooms or even on gurneys in the halls.

So here we are again adjusting to the new normal.

[–] transbyanism@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

It's wild to me how I got asked in a Hospital why am I masking.. Yea, agreed with people had no reason to unmask, everyone just followed Biden, and just wanted to instantly forget what we've been through (another thing I'm told, that I "remind people of the pandemic"). The part you wrote about education is on point and inspirational, thank you.

[–] ComradeRat@hexbear.net 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Most annoying shit is when they invite me to go eating or drinking, or offer me food or drinks at meeting. Fuck off!

But yeah I agree. I'm lucky in that I'm not very sociable so i'm generally happy sitting at home reading and skipping parties. For more socially inclined people like you (or my brother) i cant imagine how rough it is.

Folks have talked about how easy it is to mask so i wont repeat that except to say if i see one more "leftist" call masking "bourgeois" i will shoot them and make their skin into masks. My mum makes min wage and was our only breadwinner and we never stopped masking!

Also ive lost a lotta respect for peoples commitment/bravery. I'm lucky enough (ciswhitedude privilege) to have escaped much verbal or physical abuse for masking, but my mother spent years being screamed at by truckers in her work place and was physically assaulted repeatedly (literally kicked in the head once as she was checking gas levels). I cant rly see antimaskers as anything but lazy cowards.

I also wanna add: it has started really pissing me off when people (especially comrades) get sick and cant make it to organising events. I havent been sick in years so it's rly started feeling more like antimaskers own fault for being sick to me. We dont have many people in my org, so stuff keeps coming to a standstill bc the antimaskers keep getting sick and its very frustrating.

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[–] DisabledAceSocialist@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I've had a really bad cough for months, that I believe I caught at a hospital appointment when an unmasked woman got unnecessarily close to me and coughed all over me. I'm immunocompromised, and it's just not going away. I wish hospitals at least would make masks compulsory again.

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[–] bigpharmasutra@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Still masking 100% of the time. At this point, my social life has completely died and I've got zero friends left. No one wants to hang out with someone that has to wear a mask when no one else is wearing a mask. Sad but true. You can either own it or let it own you. Show up, mask, tell them this is the way its going to be, and then go from there.

Sadly, most people here do not mask. In fact, most of our leftist cohort do not mask at all.

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[–] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

if people won't do the most basic thing they're worthless. putting on a mask is less effort than putting on normal clothes, there's zero excuse.

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[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I spent a good hour yesterday calling around to get the out of pocket prices for the 2026 Covid vaccines. They're hovering around $300 this year! Any leftist out there that doesn't have a medical reason for their maskless face is no comrade of the people. Absolute fucking liberalism.

Thank YOU, comrade, for hanging in there and setting a fucking example for those cowardly libs around you. heart-stalin-p100

I'm an n95 guy myself, but I feel like Stalin wouldn't fuck around. owl-wink

For anyone in the US, Costco members can get novavax for $222.

I've also heard about this rx discount shit that might be able to help bring the cost down further but the costco rx tech on the phone wasn't sure about it. I'm in Florida so I didn't really feel like they gave a shit to begin with.🙃

https://www.goodrx.com/novavax?pharmacyId=31240

I'm still not sure if the prices they list are updated from the 2025 vaccines.

[–] CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I got the updated moderna vaccine this week for $0 with insurance ! Why is novavax so pricy and out of pocket?

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

Everything is out of pocket when you don't have insurance, comrade. doomer

Edit: They're all hovering around the same prices. Novavax might be $20 more than the mrna stuff. But they're all up there.

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[–] doubledealer@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

A depressing point: The guy who discovered microbes and told people to wash their hands was institutionalized for being crazy years before science caught up to him. Being leftist is really being correct too early.

Another depressing point: Most people conveniently forgot that the flu was practically non-existent when everyone was locked down or masking. Masking saves lives, for far more than just COVID.

I do like to point out when people ask why I'm in a mask that I haven't tested, and I don't actually know if I'm contagious or not, and they dont know where I've been or who or what I've been exposed to, so I'm trying to help them too. It's intentionally backhanded and probably not helpful, but it's true and it makes me feel good saying it.

My first chapter vote was repealing the mask rule for organizing. The arguments for repeal were selfish and wee-woo vibe shit in the face of people talking about how the repeal would put them at risk and how they are already dealing with complications. Not a great look for my local, but its cool they held out as long as they did. As the cognitive dissonance about COVID and the general public continues to drag on, the more I find myself being seduced by individualist anarchism. I have to remind constantly myself that I think democratic rule sucks ass, but it's the best, least bad system we have and I don't have a better idea.

The only empathy I can muster toward masking apathy, or antagonism, is that everyone is exhausted and burned out for the last 7 years and counting. Nobody talking politics in the US publicly has a good, consistent framework to talk about any of this. Everybody has collective trauma due to COVID that hasn't been reckoned with.

We need effective vaccines that will actually prevent getting sick and wipe out infectious disease. We need clean air, including HVAC and UV and rapid cycling for any indoor space. The only way we can achieve this is with a class respectful and conscious society not under the thumb of capitalism.

Comrade, you are correct, just too early. You are not alone.

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[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Saw this and fully expected a troy-pizza deep-nesting but good to see everyone was just clowning on some antimasker. Good posting.

ⓘ Remember to enable JPEG-XL support in your browser, even on your phone!

[–] transbyanism@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

Yea I logged in earlier and was like "oh no" but then just saw it was that guy lmao

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[–] tocopherol@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Around where I'm at I see people masking somewhat regularly on transit and such, almost always people of color or older people, definitely not most riders. A lot of young men in particular I see with masks fairly often but typically ski masks mask-on One funny side-effect of the mask recommendations (and the general attitude) since 2020 is seeing people in balaclavas regularly

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[–] Clippy@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

read your commentary, in agreement with your sentiment - not sure what else to add on.

(some comment expressing wishing things were also different)

edit: also ahck i got covid attending socials for an indoor palestine soldarity event, this perspective is extremely valid and i can verify your stance

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[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

Forget general society. The majority of people here on Hexbear dot net are plague rats. You can especially tell when people here get hyped about watching Hollywood slop in the Covid death traps called movie theatres.

Whatever. Just mask up, take your shots, and set up CR boxes. The easiest CR box design is just a box fan with a 20x20x4 MERV 13 MPR 1900 filter like this

Depending on how much you are exposed to plague rats in your routine life, masking and vaccines may not be enough.

Read up about ventilation and air quality. You'll be shocked (or not since you refuse to become a plague rat) at how little plague rat society gives a fuck about air quality. Plague rats will cram themselves like plague-bearing sardines into a small room with no windows and wonder why it "feels stuffy." (That's their body's response to CO2 concentration rising above 1000 ppm, which is when cognitive impairment starts to happen.). Buy a cheap CO2 monitor and use it as a proxy for well or poorly ventilated your living and working spaces are.

[–] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 13 points 1 month ago

Forget general society. The majority of people here on Hexbear dot net are plague rats. You can especially tell when people here get hyped about watching Hollywood slop in the Covid death traps called movie theatres.

and we're supposed to organize with people worse than this.

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[–] miz@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The only people I see mask are like goldfish,

what does this mean

[–] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

44 year life expectancy and a penchant for eating their own young while bottom-feeding

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[–] Blockocheese@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Ive gotten screamed at multiple times in public for wearing a mask while daring to be east Asian in a majority white area and femme.

I live with my abusive antivax, anti mask adoptive parents and I still mask when in public (I dont go anywhere I think ill see them)

I care about both my health and the health of others around me more than I care about harassment or judgement.

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