It’s honestly been fucking baffling watching people be like “I didn’t wear a mask during covid I ain’t wearing one now” like alright bro breathe that toxic smoke ig, you do you.
Like, at least with covid it wasn’t visible. The virus isn’t visible, you don’t show that you caught it till later, and sick and dying people usually aren’t super visible to the public. But this is smoke in the air!!! You can see it! When you breathe in it hurts! Immediately!
Have they come so far they now just completely disagree with the idea that it’s possible to filter the air you breathe? Are they about to start rejecting germ theory? Return to humoral theory?
I wonder if it's about admitting that there are things beyond your control that you have to change to deal with. A lot of people in the US recognize that their way of life is extremely fragile and probably going away. It's a terrifying prospect and they don't know what to do but try and stonewall it with denial. Any real change in behavior, no matter how minor, is a potential gap, a place where coming to terms with the falling apart of things can come streaming in.