OPINION: People STILL Don’t Understand That ‘Dropping Mask Mandates’ Isn’t ‘Banning Masks’

I’m kind of cracking up right now. I’m on a Facebook page for the families who reside at a particular military installation, and those pages are always a hoot. But the other day, some brave soul posted on the page wondering when the DOD was finally going to drop the ridiculous mask mandates for military installations. She posted anonymously, of course, because publicly posting anything contrary to the official narrative like this could literally affect a soldier’s career, not to mention she obviously knew she’d get some serious haters for having the audacity to publicly call out the stupidity. And she definitely got the haters.

I mean, a room full of geriatrics riddled with comorbidities had just managed to survive an entire evening maskless during the State of the Union, so why are healthy kids and healthy soldiers being expected to wear masks indoors at all times even though we know it to be essentially ineffective and irrelevant?

Anyway, the comments were exactly as polarized as you’d expect. One particular lady said she was “so glad” that the mask mandate was till in place because she “couldn’t imagine sending her child to school without a mask on.”

And in my brain I was like, “Oh, honey, bless your sweet little misunderstanding heart. YOU CAN STILL SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL WITH A MASK ON IF YOU WANT TO! Just because the government wouldn’t be FORCING EVERY SINGLE PERSON to wear a useless mask whether they need to or want to doesn’t mean you are suddenly NOT ALLOWED to choose to send your child in a mask if that’s what you want to do. You would still get to decide, but now so would I!

But what I ended up actually saying was, “And isn’t it such a blessing that you can still choose to send your child to school in a mask if you want to? Choice is such an incredible privilege, isn’t it?”

It’s hilarious that people really don’t understand this concept. That no longer forcing everyone to do something doesn’t mean you are suddenly legally prevented or banned from doing that thing if you want to. They’re not instituting a mask BAN, for goodness sake.

Then at church, our local leaders changed the guidance about masks, which was previously hilariously illogical and unscientific, like wearing a mask to enter the building but being allowed to take it off once you sit in your seat and proceed to sing and talk and laugh in a room full of people. But people did as they were told, because that’s what good compliant people do to avoid being targeted by vindictive, discriminatory, hateful hardcore pro-maskers or simply to avoid confrontation. And in the email we received notifying us of the dropping of the mask “requirement” at church, they reminded everyone to be nice to those who still choose to continue to wear a mask even though they are no longer “required” to do so.

But you know what’s crazy? No one ever sent a reminder email to be kind, thoughtful, and respectful of those of us who chose this whole time not to blindly follow an illogical and unscientific mask mandate implemented by religious figures who had no authority to do so. So, like, it’s just a one way street, apparently? Yes, I was annoyed.

And apparently people think that now pro-maskers will be targeted and shamed for their choice to wear a mask that they don’t need the way that non-maskers have spent 2 years being targeted and shamed for their choice not to wear a mask that they don’t need.

Turns out, non-maskers are actually not as vindictive and discriminatory and hateful as the hardcore pro-maskers have been this whole time.

Hearing a lot of comments from blue areas around the country about how people shouldn’t shame or harass people because of their choice to wear a mask once mandates drop.

— Josh Stevenson (@ifihadastick) March 4, 2022

I’ve got news for you: Red areas have been examples of tolerance, acceptance and diversity in mask choice since as early as 2020.

No one cares what your personal mask or vaccination choice or views are- they don’t demand that you reveal nor particularly care.

— Josh Stevenson (@ifihadastick) March 4, 2022