Every time I hear someone talk about life when a modicum of COVID concern existed in western countries it's basically them saying they're scared of coughing in public, not because they're scared of spreading COVID but because they don't want people to think they have COVID. It seems like the idea they might have COVID doesn't even enter the picture, at least initially. As well as other similar examples of their self-orientated lives.
Obviously most people dropping the masks as soon as possible as well as refusing to learn how to use them (or even what kind of masks in the first place) reveal this a bit as well. It seems, to me in my small social world at least, that the people around me literally only cared about themselves during the pandemic and how awkward it was for them. My existence isn't inside a particularly great slice of humanity though.
Even in left-ish spaces you see maybe a vocal minority of people who care, like some people on here, doing anti-COVID acts as part of a larger understanding of the world: either out of empathy or at least a greater self-interest in seeing society not crumble. But everyone else is basically only doing "good" so far as everyone else forces or allows them to.
Again, my world is pretty small but getting really tired of hearing saying "during COVID" in pass-tense around/to me as I wear a fucking mask in front of them. Haven't heard of any great empathy from people broadly. And the shallow bloomer excuses don't really convince me otherwise.
I think it was more the opposite, people totally judged those that bothered to act against covid.
"I can't hear you with that face diaper on!"
really tired of hearing saying "during COVID" in pass-tense around/to me as I wear a fucking mask in front of them
i don't have anything oh value to say (as usual) but
i'm at the point where i'll always bite back and remind them that they're still living in a pandemic bc my patience for this shit was shot after a mere month or so of "back to normal" from people i previously respected
i would physically assault people who said that shit if i wasn't still social distancing from them
For most people in my circles it’s a bit of both I think. Most people obviously care about not infecting other people if they have covid, but at the time it seemed like perfection was expected (a small mistake can cost lives). I think it makes people uncomfortable to admit that they made misjudgments, so they act like their actions weren’t to stop spread the virus, but to conform to social experiences. As in the latter case it doesn’t sound as bad to make a mistake.
I say this because most people around me did really care about not spreading the virus (many people around me worked with elderly people and they were genuinely afraid they’d infect them if they weren’t careful), but at the same time they sometimes now talk about handling with covid as if the social expectations were the reason they wore masks and didn’t gather with too many people.
Interesting response. I could see this for some people, yeah. Especially kinda' high-empathy low-info types who got burnt out by the governmental/media misinfo barrage we got.
Most really. We're social animals, we have a pretty strong drive to acquiesce to the zeitgeist.
Imo the average person's view of the pandemic was/is mostly shaped by government propaganda, first that COVID was a threat to take seriously and later that COVID was over. If the government were broadcasting "hey by the way 50% of people who contract COVID experience symptoms past 18 months", I imagine we'd see less dipshits pretending it's not real.
That said, there's definitely an element of individual stubbornness. Most liberals I talked to just before mask requirements were removed would try to say some bullshit statement like "WELL WE CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS FOREVER!", but when pressed on the fact that their lives weren't actually interrupted anymore with schools, workplaces, restaurants etc already open again, they would bashfully admit that they just didn't like wearing masks. At any rate, I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep if the people in my life who refuse to mask or test drowned in their own lung fluid tomorrow.
So, I wore a mask for my protection and for the protection of others. And I maybe tooting my own horn, but I feel like others only did so because I was so fervent.
I had been following the situation in China starting in the last couple weeks of December. I dunno if those videos at the beginning were real or not, but I didn't see many people refuting them, source wise. The videos of when they started welding people into their Apts, and dissapearing the citizen journalists that had taken video of inside the hospitals had me on edge. When the videos started comming out of south korea and iran, and the first cases started popping up in california, I started making preparations. By the time it really hit europe and new york started getting bad, I was as prepared as I could be, considering the circumstances. I made sure family members had gone to get n95 masks from home depot, and were loaded up on hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes, before they sold out, but, in my opinion, they only did it so I would stop hounding them.
I was considered an essential worker, and the industry I worked for ran through lock down. The majority of the people in my office would continue to go to meetings, internal and external. Only me, and one other person (i think) took it seriously. I live in a deep red state and even the company owners were pretty skeptical of the whole situation. I think i was lucky the owners came from california (so they were used to being a little more sensitive to other people's beliefs) and were educated enough to not completely blow it off. Company covid policy was enacted. It was reasonable and was actually pretty strict if you got sick, but I honestly think that the only reason people in the office put on their masks as much as they did, was because they didn't want to hear me complain when they went to clear their throat.
I continued to wear my mask for almost a full year after the mandates ended, due to temporary health issues, everyone else dropped them at the first chance they got. I still carry a mask with me, just in case I need it, though. I'm not the only one that deserves consideration, and if I wander into a place where someone needs protection from me, I am prepared to give it.
So how many people wore a mask because of fear of repercussions? Im going with 97%... although it does occur to me that I'm still writing this, mostly, from the same self oriented view as all the rest of those people that wore masks out of fear.
