Masks do something VERY beneficial -- just not the thing being claimed.
Don't think about masks like an engineer, but like a psychologist. Masks reduce anxiety. They're a magic talisman to keep the demons away, a rain dance to end the drought, but with enough cargo-cult science vibes to be superficially convincing to secular moderns.
Masks do something VERY beneficial -- just not the thing being claimed.
Don't think about masks like an engineer, but like a psychologist. Masks reduce anxiety. They're a magic talisman to keep the demons away, a rain dance to end the drought, but with enough cargo-cult science vibes to be superficially convincing to secular moderns.
Mask also enable cheap status-seeking: with masks, they're very smart people following the science, and heroes protecting the community, and they get to sneer at their "selfish" inferiors, all without having to make any real effort or sacrifice. (Since masks have become a "blue" tribal marker, there's an assertion of group superiority as well.) And frankly, a lot of mask fanatics don't seem to have much else they can leverage for social status.
When we point out that masks don't actually work -- including tacitly, by not wearing them ourselves -- we're taking that away from them. You can see why that would be upsetting to them. How to break that spell, I don't know: the more you show it's true, the more upsetting it is, and the more fanatically it must be rejected.
Still, challenging them may at least stop others from falling under it. And challenging them annoys them, which is all to the good.
I find it ridiculously ironic - they wear them to feel less anxious, but in wearing them actually stresses the body, making them feel more anxious🤔😐🤦♀️
Quite so -- as with anxiety disorders and OCD, the things people do to "protect" themselves are often harmful in the long run. But they provide relief for the moment, and that can be very powerful motivation to do (and believe) things.
Difference is that we normally recognize that as pathology and encourage people to overcome it -- rather than treating it as The Science and making everyone else play along.
For the elite, it's also an easy spot check of the general sentiment of the public and their willingness to comply, and it probably gives them a good chuckle.
Masks do something VERY beneficial -- just not the thing being claimed.
Don't think about masks like an engineer, but like a psychologist. Masks reduce anxiety. They're a magic talisman to keep the demons away, a rain dance to end the drought, but with enough cargo-cult science vibes to be superficially convincing to secular moderns.
Mask also enable cheap status-seeking: with masks, they're very smart people following the science, and heroes protecting the community, and they get to sneer at their "selfish" inferiors, all without having to make any real effort or sacrifice. (Since masks have become a "blue" tribal marker, there's an assertion of group superiority as well.) And frankly, a lot of mask fanatics don't seem to have much else they can leverage for social status.
When we point out that masks don't actually work -- including tacitly, by not wearing them ourselves -- we're taking that away from them. You can see why that would be upsetting to them. How to break that spell, I don't know: the more you show it's true, the more upsetting it is, and the more fanatically it must be rejected.
Still, challenging them may at least stop others from falling under it. And challenging them annoys them, which is all to the good.
I find it ridiculously ironic - they wear them to feel less anxious, but in wearing them actually stresses the body, making them feel more anxious🤔😐🤦♀️
Quite so -- as with anxiety disorders and OCD, the things people do to "protect" themselves are often harmful in the long run. But they provide relief for the moment, and that can be very powerful motivation to do (and believe) things.
Difference is that we normally recognize that as pathology and encourage people to overcome it -- rather than treating it as The Science and making everyone else play along.
For some it's a virtue signal, for the rest it's just humiliating and dehumanizing. https://www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2021/10/24/its-the-mask-of-your-enslavement
For the elite, it's also an easy spot check of the general sentiment of the public and their willingness to comply, and it probably gives them a good chuckle.
Awesome! #PreachingToTheChoir