Aggressive non-maskers, aaaagh. JAWM - Vent ahead.

[teachermom2834]

1 minute ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I haven't had any altercations with anti-maskers and almost everyone around us seems to comply with the mask requirements. However, I know people who have gone absolutely nuts about this subject. They will not go to stores where they have to wear masks. A few of them have cancelled their Costco memberships over masks. I know families that are keeping their kids home from school to avoid mask requirements. 

I hesitate to link this here because it is completely insane but this is the mindset motivating the people we know who won't mask. They really think that masking is evil which justifies being jerks to mask wearers. 

Should we send our kids to school if they are requiring them to wear masks?

You can't even reason with that kind of fundamentalism. 

Yeah I am running into some of this too. I guess if they think we are demons it is easier to yell at us. 

[Not_a_Number]

6 hours ago, EKS said:

I will also say that I think that deep down, most of them know that what they are doing is wrong.

I agree there. I think that's part of what's fueling the defiance. I know I sometimes get angry when I know I'm wrong... 

[Tanaqui]

1 hour ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I haven't had any altercations with anti-maskers and almost everyone around us seems to comply with the mask requirements. However, I know people who have gone absolutely nuts about this subject. They will not go to stores where they have to wear masks. A few of them have cancelled their Costco memberships over masks. I know families that are keeping their kids home from school to avoid mask requirements. 

I hesitate to link this here because it is completely insane but this is the mindset motivating the people we know who won't mask. They really think that masking is evil which justifies being jerks to mask wearers. 

Should we send our kids to school if they are requiring them to wear masks?

You can't even reason with that kind of fundamentalism. 

 

But, you know, it's the rest of the world that wants these folks to be scared, not the guy screaming about demons.

[Frances]

8 hours ago, Spryte said:

@MEmama Happy belated Anniversary!  You planned one seriously cool celebration, and hopefully the good parts out weigh the craziness of encountering the weirdos.
 

I hope that crummy experience didn’t color the whole day, and that you took away some wonderful memories of celebrating your anniversary.

 

I wonder if the aggressive anti-maskers are just getting worse, more aggressive, the more time passes?

 

People can be just so awful, sometimes.  I just don’t get it.

 

Nothing crazy at the car place today.  We have the vehicle home now, everyone was masked properly indoors, and no one chased DH around with an unmasked nose. Whew.  I did see two guys that work there standing outside, unmasked, not distanced, just hanging out talking, but that doesn’t bother me.  
 

@SKL Was your friend who was hit by the rock ok?  Oh my goodness, that’s just rotten.  I hope they are ok!  We have a serious “no throwing rocks policy” here, as I witnessed a kid being hit in the eyebrow with a rock, as a child.  He needed stitches, blood was everywhere, and it was traumatizing.  I’m sure he has a huge scar, as an adult.  Poor kid. My kids got the “no throwing rocks” rule right away.

At least here, I think the political side of things has escalated which I think has increased the aggressiveness of anti-maskers. We now have people combining the disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda surrounding covid with the same surrounding the “stolen” election. So now most protests are combined pro-Trump, anti-mask/anti-mandate, and “stop the steal”.

[mom2scouts]

Wow, some of these stories are just crazy! My church has a campaign going on right now called "love well" about how we can love our community well by shutting down all in-person events again due to surging cases; reaching out to people we know who may be isolated or struggling through phone calls, Facebook, texting, or emails; wearing masks in public; and finding other ways of protecting vulnerable people in our community.

It's probably a good thing I'm rarely leaving the house these days. Between feeling stressed and depressed, not sleeping well, having repeated disappointments, dealing with elderly parent issues, and feeling very isolated, I've been very irritable lately and might be at risk of punching someone who got in my face to breathe on me or to yell at me about my mask! I'm not sure that's a good example of loving well. LOL!

[MEmama]

7 hours ago, mom2scouts said:

Wow, some of these stories are just crazy! My church has a campaign going on right now called "love well" about how we can love our community well by shutting down all in-person events again due to surging cases; reaching out to people we know who may be isolated or struggling through phone calls, Facebook, texting, or emails; wearing masks in public; and finding other ways of protecting vulnerable people in our community.

It's probably a good thing I'm rarely leaving the house these days. Between feeling stressed and depressed, not sleeping well, having repeated disappointments, dealing with elderly parent issues, and feeling very isolated, I've been very irritable lately and might be at risk of punching someone who got in my face to breathe on me or to yell at me about my mask! I'm not sure that's a good example of loving well. LOL!

((Virtual, socially distanced but very intentional HUGS!!!!))

[SKL]

I avoid many things that require mask wearing, because I don't like masking.  It interferes with my breathing and gives me a headache.  I also avoid much swimming in pools because I don't like what chlorine does to me, but I hope that doesn't make me aggressively anti-chlorine.  I feel like some people here (not the OP) are painting with a broad brush.

Most people here comply with the rules.  My sister does have an exemption, and I'm sure there are people who think she is making a political statement or doesn't care about others.  I think a lot of the feelings about this are over-thinking.  The CDC does not even take masking into account when deciding who has had close contact with a Covid-positive person.

Who would have thought, a year ago, that Americans would be condemning others for not wearing masks?  It would have been seriously unbelievable.

[Not_a_Number]

3 minutes ago, SKL said:

I avoid many things that require mask wearing, because I don't like masking.  It interferes with my breathing and gives me a headache.  I also avoid much swimming in pools because I don't like what chlorine does to me, but I hope that doesn't make me aggressively anti-chlorine.  I feel like some people here (not the OP) are painting with a broad brush.

Yeah, I don't wear masks too often either, because I think they are much less safe than just not getting near people. But this is obviously not what the OP is talking about. 

 

Quote

Most people here comply with the rules.  My sister does have an exemption, and I'm sure there are people who think she is making a political statement or doesn't care about others.  I think a lot of the feelings about this are over-thinking.  The CDC does not even take masking into account when deciding who has had close contact with a Covid-positive person.

Not sure what the CDC has to do with it. Yes, masking decreases chances of catching COVID, especially with a good mask. No, masking doesn't mean you haven't been exposed and aren't at risk. 

 

Quote

Who would have thought, a year ago, that Americans would be condemning others for not wearing masks?  It would have been seriously unbelievable.

Some flexibility in thinking is a useful quality. Who would have thought a year ago that a respiratory disease would wind up killing more than a quarter of a million Americans and sickening countless others? Yet here we are, and we have to adapt. 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Not_a_Number

[SKL]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

Some flexibility in thinking is a useful quality. Who would have thought a year ago that a respiratory disease would wind up killing more than a quarter of a million Americans and sickening countless others? Yet here we are, and we have to adapt. 

I agree, and flexibility in thinking goes both ways.  I see a lot of rigidity on both sides, and I think it's just human nature.  It takes people - even good people - time to accept new ideas.  Some good people take longer than others.  And those who accept a new idea quickly often aren't right either.

I guess I don't see the value in condemning people based on something like this.  A song comes to mind, "what the world needs now is love."

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, SKL said:

I agree, and flexibility in thinking goes both ways.  I see a lot of rigidity on both sides, and I think it's just human nature.  It takes people - even good people - time to accept new ideas.  Some good people take longer than others.  And those who accept a new idea quickly often aren't right either.

I guess I don't see the value in condemning people based on something like this.  A song comes to mind, "what the world needs now is love."

Is there ever any value in condemning people based on anything? It never gets anything done. But this is a vent thread about how the OP is being mistreated, so it's not really about condemnation, except insofar as she's being condemned about masking. 

[SKL]

14 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Is there ever any value in condemning people based on anything? It never gets anything done. But this is a vent thread about how the OP is being mistreated, so it's not really about condemnation, except insofar as she's being condemned about masking. 

Not talking about the OP, but about some other posts.

I am going to try to stay away from this now, as this is a JAWM post and I have a ton of work to do.

[MercyA]

A few things that have happened near me:

My DD and I went in a video / game rental store which was holding a going-out-of-business sale. The sole employee wasn't wearing a mask in spite of county and state mandates. When we got to the counter, I asked her as nicely and pleasantly as possible, "Do you have a mask you could put on?" She said, "Me?? Well, yes and no." She explained that she wasn't going to put on her mask and it didn't matter because the store was closing soon. Then as she was packing up our items she quietly coughed on them. 🙄

At a local Walmart, the police had to be called more than once because customers were threatening store associates and managers with fist fights because the customers didn't want to wear masks. One customer told the store manager to take the mandate and "shove it up your *#&." 

When our church had the audacity to finally "strongly urge" people to wear masks *just until they reached their seats*, some people stopped coming in protest. (And we still don't come, either, because a good percentage of the people there STILL aren't wearing masks, they're still doing singing, and there have been several confirmed cases already in our church. Although nobody says the word "covid," ever.) 

Edited December 4, 2020 by MercyA

[melmichigan]

People hanging way into my personal space while trying to pick out meat in the case, getting right up behind me in the checkout line despite obvious marks on the floor to pick candy out of the display, intentionally wandering to close when passing in a store isle, when they're literally 8 ft wide. I've had non-mask wearers come up to me and get in my face explaining how I don't "legally have to wear that anymore" and similar nonsense.  I rarely go into a store anymore unless it's specific hours.  It's obvious by my bracing and such that I have medical issues.  Instead of clueing people in that I have a reason to be cautious it seems more a magnet for all the crazies.  It's gotten to the point where I am polite but blunt in telling people to maintain 6 feet of space, and I use my Leki walking sticks just about everywhere anymore.