LMK5 said:
01Bear said:
LMK5 said:
01Bear said:
BearForce2 said:
01Bear said:
BearForce2 said:
71Bear said:
01Bear said:
I was getting gas at Costco last night at 8:30pm. Usually, that's a pretty dead period so I can arrive, gas up, and leave in minutes. Last night was completely different. The cars were lined up at least two or three deep per pump. It was like the middle of the day on a Saturday. I wonder if the lines were related to the pipeline hacking and subsequent gas shortage in the East Coast.
I suspect those drivers probably had cases of TP in their trunks they purchased at the beginning of the pandemic. The notion of panic buying is an enduring mystery. Why???
Those who hoarded TP are probably the same ones who are currently wearing masks outdoors while vaccinated.
Do you drive a car with airbags, a seatbelt, and brakes? I mean, it's obvious you're opposed to redundancy to prevent an undesirable event.
Yes and no.
I hoard TP but generally don't wear masks outdoors where there are a lot of people.
Absent any laws or regulations to the contrary, your choosing not to wear masks outdoors around lots of people is your decision to make. Just as it's up to others to decide whether they wish to wear masks outdoors. Ridiculing them for being more vigilant about protecting their own health as well as that of others because you made a different choice is foolish.
I get that the rightwing has ridiculously made mask wearing into a cultural-political issue, but it's just asinine for any critical thinker, which I assume you to be as I assume you are a Cal alumnus, to follow that path. The science has shown that mask wearing cuts down on the transmission risk of respiratory illnesses. Sure, science has also shown that certain viruses, including SARS-Cov-2 are inactivated by sunlight over a matter of time. But that doesn't mean the viruses are immediately and automatically inactivated upon exposure to sunlight, let alone that being outdoors is sufficient to inactivate those viruses. Additionally, science has shown that the Covid-19 vaccines will not always prevent a vaccinated person from catching Covid-19, though it will reduce the risk of a severe illness.
In short, if others wish to wear masks outdoors after being fully vaccinated, they should be free to do so without fear of derision (or worse, assault).
Good points. But following your line of thought, when will these same people ever stop wearing a mask outdoors?
Barring any laws or regulations mandating they do so, why should they have to stop wearing masks? In many East Asian countries, wearing masks has become normalized, and is also partly responsible for why their Covid rates were so low. These countries suffered from SARS outbreaks before; their populations got used to wearing face masks in public. These countries haven't suffered any negative effects as a result of their populations face mask wearing.
The primary reason people in the US have become upset with wearing face masks is that the political rightwing has turned it into an idiotic cultural-political war. For them, wearing a face mask is a sign of disloyalty to Donald Trump who claimed that Covid-19 wasn't a big deal and would disappear in a few weeks. They show their support of Donald Trump by downplaying Covid-19 and ridiculing all the "eggheads" and "libtards" who take science seriously by not wearing face masks (and now by refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19).
Of course I don't care if others wear masks outdoors on a trail, but it is a shame that people will follow science when it restricts their lives, but won't follow science from the same source when it releases them from that restriction. I guess it's human behavior. Why do we still have hand sanitizer all over the place when it has been documented that Covid doesn't get transmitted via surfaces?
There are people where I live who not only wear masks outdoors and while driving alone, but use an umbrella on sunny days or wear a huge tinted visor that swivels down into a pseudo welder's shield. When you package that kind of mindset with getting searched at airports in your stockinged feet (which is necessary) and your bag rifled through and your person wanded to enter a ballpark, you can kind of see the road map that we are on if your eyes are somewhat open. But I do realize that there are quite a large number of people who feel protected--coddled even--the more their lives are controlled.
At this point in the game, a person who's walking around in the park with a mask smacks of defeatism.
I agree with you on the hand sanitizer front, but for different reasons. It's not so much that science has shown the Sars-Cov-2 virus is rarely transmitted through surface contact. Rather, it's because the widespread use of hand sanitizers will create nastier superbugs we won't be able to kill off with alcohol. This is something many scientists have known and warned about for years (it's also a repeat of the mid-20th century antibiotics craze that led to antibiotic-resistant diseases, like super gonorrhea). Instead of using alcohol based anti-bacteria hand sanitizers, we should've pushed handwashing with soap. (For those who don't know, soap is effective at destroying the Sars-Cov-2 virus, but there are other bugs that are immune to it).
As for your argument about science restricting people's lives, that's just patently absurd. Science does no such thing. Science explains how things happen. Science does not tell people not to do things. Intelligent people can make rational decisions based on what science has shown, or they can choose to ignore science. In this case, science has shown that face masks can help prevent the transmission of some respiratory illnesses, including Covid-19. Science has also shown that some mRNA vaccines may help protect against a severe case of Covid-19. It has not shown that any vaccine that has been developed thus far prevents contracting Covid-19.
Your suggestion that science releases people from restrictions is equally absurd for similar reasons. Additionally, it assumes wearing a face mask (or using hand sanitizer) is some sort of restriction. This argument may work well within the confines of the Fox News echo chamber, but in the rational world, it's ridiculous on its face.
Similarly, your contempt for people who use umbrellas on sunny days or wear tinted visors reveals your own ignorance and prejudice/bias. These objects are used to prevent the sub's rays from affecting the person's skin. Although in 20th century America, it was fashionable to get suntanned, modern medicine has revealed that suntans damage skin and may lead to melanoma and other skin cancers. Rational people who pay attention to science and who wish to lower their risk of skin cancer may end up using these skin visors and umbrellas. Of course, if you don't care about your risk of skin cancer, you're free to get as tanned or as burnt as you want.
What I find ironic is you suggestion that taking off shoes to be scanned at the airport is necessary. If anything, an objective review of history shows that there is little to no need to x-ray passengers' shoes as the screening reveals little or nothing. Heck, even the shoe-bomber passed through a security check with his shoes. Critical reviews of American security screening reveal that American airport passenger security checks have proven to be little more than kabuki theater. They're designed to show the American public that our government knows what it's doing and is aggressive re preventing terrorism. While the latter is more or less true, the best terrorism prevention methods are still the result of gathering information--not random security screening.
As for being wanded at a ballpark, to the best of my knowledge, most ballparks are private property. The owners can decide whether they allow guests to be armed on the premises. For public ballparks (e.g., Memorial Stadium), an argument could be made that the state may restrict whether guests may be armed. This, obviously, brings up second amendment concerns, but the courts have yet to find that the second amendment applies to ballparks. Until then, it's arguably a grey area.
Finally, I am curious how wearing a face mask smacks of defeatism. What exactly is being defeated?