Excuse Me If I’m Not Ready to Unmask

The Atlantic ^ | May 19, 2021 | Dana Stevens

[DoodleBob]

...But excuse me if I, like many of the people I see around me, am not yet quite ready to expose my lower face. Early on in the pandemic, I made a vow with my family that we would set a high standard for COVID-19 avoidance. Not only were we not getting this virus ourselves, if we could help it, but we were taking no chances of inadvertently spreading it to anyone else, even if that did make for a long and lonely year without indoor gatherings and travel to see family and friends.

...

The vaccines are remarkably effective, but not 100%. Breakthrough infections among vaccinated people have occurred (witness the cluster of cases among the New York Yankees), and the science about whether and how the virus can be transmitted by the vaccinated to the unvaccinated is not yet certain. Putting aside the hard science for a moment, wearing a mask in public spaces—especially indoors, where transmission is more likely—serves a broader social purpose: It says to those around us that, whatever our vaccine status, we value community safety.

When I walk outside my door into a densely populated neighborhood, I know as little about the life circumstances of the people I encounter as they do about mine. Are they, like me, fully vaccinated? Or are they in between shots, still looking for an appointment, or never planning to get a vaccine at all? Might they be in chemotherapy, or otherwise immunocompromised in some way that would prevent them from either getting a vaccine or experiencing its full benefits?

...

But if...some of us simply find comfort in going around with a scrap of cloth on our face, we can be forgiven for choosing to leave it there until the world feels like a safer place for everyone.

[DoodleBob]

Stevens grew up in Scarsdale, New York and San Antonio, Texas. She attained a doctorate in comparative literature from UC Berkeley in 2001 with a dissertation on Fernando Pessoa: A Local Habitation and a Name: Heteronymy and Nationalism in the works of Fernando Pessoa.

She joined Slate in mid-2003, writing the magazine's Surfergirl column on television and pop-culture. Before joining Slate she wrote under the pseudonym "Liz Penn" on her own (now defunct) website/blog called the High Sign. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post Book World, Bookforum, and The Atlantic and has appeared on several occasions on Charlie Rose and The Brian Lehrer Show. She is a regular on Slate's Culture Gabfest.

Stevens has described herself as "an atheist raised in culturally Christian milieu". She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

[Noumenon]

Choke on it, stupid. Because you will.

[MNnice]

I used to say that risk-averse people don’t deserve to live in a free society. Turns out they don’t want to.

[walkingdead]

The stupid in this one is strong

[Steely Tom]

Excuse MePlease Notice Me If I’m Not Ready to Unmask

[a fool in paradise]

>>Putting aside the hard science for a moment, wearing a mask in public spaces—especially indoors, where transmission is more likely—serves a broader social purpose: It says to those around us that, whatever our vaccine status, we value community safety.

Tell them that you won’t go anywhere where people gather who don’t use condoms either.

40 years later and AIDS, herpes, etc are still out of control.

[UNGN]

Mental Illness.

[Adder]

Creating issues where none exist. No one gives a great good damn if you want to rebreathe your own crap.

We are just glad you can’t demand we do it too.

[HamiltonJay]

Don’t I don’t care... I figured out you were a pu$$y long before you refused to take your mask off.

[blueunicorn6]

The Atlantic?

The Atlantic is filled with mud, sewage and dead fish.

It’s also the name of an ocean.

[a fool in paradise]

risk-averse people are against YOUR own personal liberty and have shown they are willing to clusterscrew the whole damn world for years on end.

[toddausauras]

“....blah blah community safety”. I’m so sick of everyone extolling “safety”. Boring! Women drive a lot of this stuff I’m telling you.

[Liaison]

If you want to keep your dingleberry mask on, keep it to your self next time. If people feel they need their mask more power to them but leave me out of it.

[jdsteel]

Cool.

Why don’t you go full Burka?

[conservativeimage]

Pavlov’s Masks

[rlmorel]

Good God. I would say to this woman:

“Who cares? Wear your mask if you want to! Wear it for the rest of your days. I won’t say ‘Boo” to you. I won’t even judge you! BUT STOP TRYING TO FORCE THE REST OF US TO WEAR ONE!”

[ifinnegan]

Response to this is, No one cares, you narcissist.

[Jeff Chandler]

Putting aside the hard science for a moment

Could somebody direct me to the "hard science" concerning the efficacy of mask wearing?

.

wearing a mask in public spaces . . . serves a broader social purpose: It says to those around us . . . we value community safety

In other words, VIRTUE SIGNALLING.

But we already knew that.

[FlipWilson]

She wants to see your manager.

[cdcdawg]

“I made a vow with my family that we would set a high standard for COVID-19 avoidance.”

Their standard for reality avoidance is even higher. Just plain crazy.