Originally Posted by G1911
I do not know, I cannot disparage the motive of people I do not know. If I have to give a reason, and I don't think I should as it is pure speculation and I do not personally like to engage in pure speculation, it is because people find what they want to find when it becomes a highly emotional issue. In 2019, masks were not emotional. It was almost universally understood that they did not do anything to stop airborne transmission of viruses, and this was borne out in numerous studies, which was not surprising as they have large gaps and were not designed for this purpose whatsoever. In January 2021 when this appears to have been done, masks were and are a highly emotional (I think this thread can be used as evidence there) issue, and those who don't go with the narrative can expect a torrent of hostility directed there way, while those who do use them generally are heavily invested in it as a signal of virtue and morality.
I am not a scientist, I am not an expert in viruses, nor a doctor of any kind. I run an analytics department in a medtech company. I trust statistical data, good data used appropriately. I have to trust good old common sense (why would a mask with large gaps be expected to stop transmission of an airborne disease?) when I have nothing better to go off of. Science pronounces many things that are wrong (if we accept these studies now, then science before late March 2020 was wildly incorrect). I think the tendency we have drifted towards in recent years of treating "science" almost as a religion never to be questioned is foolish. I love the Socratic, I like the Scientific Method, I do not like this new "ignore what we said before, and do not question what we say now", especially when it flies in the face of the available data. I certainly will not be avoiding family and friends, wearing a mask that statistically does nothing to prevent a risk that is almost non-existant and injecting experimental drugs into myself because so many have brought into the fear flavor of the month. The narrative simply does not align with the evidence, and the anger and castigation I face on a daily basis for simply not partaking in the popular panic (I have never told anyone else that they should make the same choice I do, or that they can't wear a mask or get a vaccine, I simply am not participating along with you and disagree) only makes me want to have even less to do with this. I came to my conclusion on evidentiary grounds, but the months of abuse and hostility have certainly made me refuse to participate even moreso. All of us compromise what we know to be to get along sometimes (No, my girlfriend is not a good cook, but yes I tell her she is for the sake of harmony), but when the demand is that I reshape my life and pretend to be terrified of a statistically insignificant fear and never question the narrative of the state and the vocal part of the public, I think it reaches a level of absurdity in which the right thing is to refuse to be party to it.
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