There are plenty of people out there who find it refreshing when others don't wear a mask. To see a facial expression/smile. Maybe I'm respecting them and consider it respectful to me to remove the masks. Just saying.

I feel like we are at a stage where the respect game is overplayed because how many people are we truly respecting even more? I feel like that number comes down daily

I won't wear a mask anymore unless I'm at the doctor. If asked to leave a store I will, haven't been asked to leave yet.

I'm vaccinated
I'm not sick
Masks don't work

It's theater to wear one.

fig96 said:

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coolerguy12 said:

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fig96 said:

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fightingfarmer09 said:

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fig96 said:

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Not a noticeable change in suburban Austin, everywhere I've gone is still requiring them.

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The secret is to walk right by the sign and ignore the person. If they are willing to take my money at the register, then they obviously didn't care about the sign.

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I'm weird and still respecting other people so I just wear one and don't throw a fit about it.

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Sweet virtue signal

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A lot of people here seem to like to advertise that they're *******s so might as well do the opposite as well.

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Serious question, when will you feel it's ok not to wear a mask in public? Because right now there are a bunch of people respecting each other just because other people are respecting them and I'm afraid they are going to continue respecting each other forever because everyone is afraid to be labeled an *******. Meanwhile people like my dad are hard of hearing and have a very difficult time understanding people without lip reading but I guess it makes him feel better that the cashier at HEB that hates her mask is respecting him when he has no idea what she is saying to him.


#respect

You guys are so fun, I love passive aggressive questions. Speaking of, when did you all get together and decide to use "theater" more than junior high drama teachers?

In any case, since you did ask, I'd expect things to open up more over the next few months as vaccinations go up and the risk in general continues to drop and see things getting back to normal by summer. I do feel for your dad as it can be tough to understand people at times, but as someone who I'd assume is in a higher risk age category and might have other health issues I'd think you'd appreciate others trying to lessen his risk. I have no desire to compare cherry picked data about whether that has a difference or not, but if it even helps to some small amount it's a small sacrifice to make.

And the question you didn't ask, I've been extremely careful in every respect because I have a wife who's eight months pregnant and COVID seems to be especially harsh on pregnant women including potentially causing things like preterm birth. So we limit our trips out and don't visit stores at peak times, order in, and have done a lot of social distancing while doing our best to also support local businesses and charities as best we can.

For the record I think this has been completely mishandled from the top down since the start. Both parties that have been in office have handled things poorly as have most local governments, and politicizing issues that shouldn't be political has turned this entire thing in into a contrarian mess.

But I get it, it's much more entertaining to throw around labels like "corona bro" and pretend that anyone who even leans a bit liberal (which, for the record, basically puts them in the political center compared to a lot of the crowd here) is unemployed and running around protesting things rather than the reality that lots of us are things like well paid tech workers making things like the software you're viewing this on.

As Ted Lasso says, "Be curious, not judgemental". Have a good night.

You say you wear a mask out of respect for others. Assumption being, people that don't wear a mask aren't being respectful, and per your words, an *******.

Will you always wear a mask? There will always be someone that's not comfortable out in public without a mask. This thing has fundamentally changed the psyche of many, many people.

So logically, if you ever stop wearing a mask, you're now being disrespectful to those still uncomfortable not wearing masks.

So instead of throwing yourself a virtue signal back patting party, remember, unless you intend to wear a mask out of respect for the rest of your life. One day, you'll be the *******.

Welcome!

fig96 said:

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I have a wife who's eight months pregnant and COVID seems to be especially harsh on pregnant women including potentially causing things like preterm birth..

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your post is blatant fake news. I say this as a dad with a 9 month old. And I have several friends who have had babies during Covid. If you and your wife are unhealthy/obese then I can see your concern. However please refrain from hysterics and try to be more grounded.

Wish your wife a healthy birth though!

Ocean Of Funk said:

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fig96 said:

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I have a wife who's eight months pregnant and COVID seems to be especially harsh on pregnant women including potentially causing things like preterm birth..

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your post is blatant fake news. I say this as a dad with a 9 month old. And I have several friends who have had babies during Covid. If you and your wife are unhealthy/obese then I can see your concern. However please refrain from hysterics and try to be more grounded.

Wish your wife a healthy birth though!

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How exactly does having a 9 month old make my post fake news?

(BTW, if your child is 9 months old that means he/she was born as we were figuring out this whole Covid thing sometime last summer and there were 2-3 million cases in the US vs the 30something million we've had now.)

There absolutely have been concerns about the effects of Covid on pregnant women, and their unborn children via a variety of sources, particularly when we first got pregnant and including discussions we've had with our own doctor. I'm also quite grounded (and in great shape) but we've chosen to err on the side of caution due to some other high risk factors related to the pregnancy. But thanks for the concern

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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You say you wear a mask out of respect for others. Assumption being, people that don't wear a mask aren't being respectful, and per your words, an *******.

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You assume too much, I was generically referring to those posters who love to share their (totally real, never embellished) stories where they think think it's cool to just be a dick to people who have different political beliefs than they do.

You can not wear a mask and not be an *******, I can understand reasons one might do so. There are also those that find joy in not wearing a mask with the intent of making others uncomfortable and being an *******. Two very different things.

I'm not aware of anyone wearing a mask that's doing so with the intention of hurting someone else or making them uncomfortable (though I suppose it's possible). If that makes for virtue signaling, whatever.

Oh, and I'll stop wearing a mask when places don't require them and I'm fully vaccinated. Now they do, and I have a few other factors to be concerned about, so I do.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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You say you wear a mask out of respect for others. Assumption being, people that don't wear a mask aren't being respectful, and per your words, an *******.

Will you always wear a mask? There will always be someone that's not comfortable out in public without a mask. This thing has fundamentally changed the psyche of many, many people.

So logically, if you ever stop wearing a mask, you're now being disrespectful to those still uncomfortable not wearing masks.

So instead of throwing yourself a virtue signal back patting party, remember, unless you intend to wear a mask out of respect for the rest of your life. One day, you'll be the *******.

Welcome!

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This. When does it end? Why do others get to arbitrarily decide when I'm a disrespectful as*****? Sorry, but if I'm going to change by entire behavior, culture, way of life, I need to know it's actually doing something helpful. I don't do things for optics. If that makes me disrespectful in others eyes, so be it. I find the opposite to be disrespectful to me being able to choose how I see fit to handle a problem. It goes against my entire way of thinking. Being shamed into something.

Never have and never will f*** other peoples time up. This hasn't even been close to happening in my real world circle.

Seems extreme.

We never were "all in this together".

The guy refusing to wear a mask outside is right and science overwhelmingly supports that. Fix the imbecile in charge of cancelling the game.

And yes, "all in this together" basically meant my way or the highway. It took any personal choice out of things. This country was built upon taking information as an individual, and utilizing that to make the decision you deem best for yourself, and you shouldn't' be shamed otherwise. Instead, the all in this together was used to coerce others into behaving the way you wanted them to, and to enforce more and more rules that no one has any say in.

Look, if they were required, then the guy shouldn't have thrown a fit, as dumb as it is. Test your luck and see? Okay, that's one thing. I do it at HEB. But when confronted by an official or manager, just suck it up and do it. I get that. But cancelling the game was ridiculous and overkill. What a power hungry loser. But this is supposed to be about charts so I'm done on this subject for fear of getting the thread locked.

amercer said:

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That would be the county executive. I'll vote against him the next chance I get, but that doesn't really do much for a bunch of 7 year olds who didn't get to play last week.

And the county I'm in is being stupid about ****ing everything, but it's a 25 minute drive north if you want to reach the next county and put your kid in a soccer league where you won't need to wear a mask to watch them.

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The county executive cancelled the game? Sounds like a busy job. Vote against that person when the time comes but disobey idiotic "orders" in the meantime. When people stop obeying their bull**** authority evaporates.

A petty tyrant empowering petty tyrants. One guy without a mask outside? Cancel the game! Blame him! Respect my authority!

Play the game. The county executive can't stop you from gathering to play freaking soccer. You don't need permission to have your kids play sports.

I'll comment one more time on it since this is the appropriate thread

Rules get implemented in a matter of a snap of a finger. They usually take forever to go away. If you are lucky enough that they go away at all, and I'm not going to live the rest of my life wearing a mask. It's just not natural, and a terrible way of life to me. Particularly in stupid settings like outdoors. I truly hope that in 3 months all of this talk looks silly and they are gone, but knowing the way people are when it comes to new rules, I have my doubts. So to me, sometimes the only way to get them to go away is to just start ignoring them

So yeah, I'll bend the mask rules as much as I can. IMHO, it's going to take more and more people just saying f*** it to get over them. If a manager actually confronts me about it, I'll put it back on. But if everyone just remains compliant for the foreseeable future, they may never go away. Businesses might just find it easier to keep the rules in place rather than remove them. It's human nature to just take the easy way out. Enforcement will become less and less over time, though.

beerad12man said:

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I'll comment one more time on it since this is the appropriate thread

Rules get implemented in a matter of a snap of a finger. They usually take forever to go away. If you are lucky enough that they go away at all, and I'm not going to live the rest of my life wearing a mask. It's just not natural, and a terrible way of life to me. Particularly in stupid settings like outdoors. I truly hope that in 3 months all of this talk looks silly and they are gone, but knowing the way people are when it comes to new rules, I have my doubts. So to me, sometimes the only way to get them to go away is to just start ignoring them

So yeah, I'll bend the mask rules as much as I can. IMHO, it's going to take more and more people just saying f*** it to get over them. If a manager actually confronts me about it, I'll put it back on. But if everyone just remains compliant for the foreseeable future, they may never go away. Businesses might just find it easier to keep the rules in place rather than remove them. It's human nature to just take the easy way out. Enforcement will become less and less over time, though.

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I used to do what you are talking about and kept a mask in my pocket just in case. Then, after a month of that I just quit carrying masks at all when I am in public. If they offer a mask I just say no thanks. I have not been refused service or asked to leave any business. I will leave if it ever comes to that, but I won't put on a mask.

amercer said:

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When is it disrespectful? Well for sure it is when if ****s things up for other people.

My friend was at his 7 year olds soccer game on Saturday. The county I'm in requires masks everywhere. This one guy wasn't wearing one, and when ask to do so threw a big fit about it. Game was canceled on the spot and everyone was sent home.

At my kids game the next day one of the dads didn't have a mask on, but was just sort of nonchalantly sipping a soda the whole time. No one seemed to care.

I think we are way way past people wearing them as a sign of solidarity, since we've decided that as a country we are 100% not all in this together, but at the very least when you decide to be a badass and make a scene about your political stance on masks, try not to **** up 50 other people's day.

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Wow, an outdoor kids soccer game was canceled because one guy on the sidelines refused to wear a mask and you are mad at the guy not wearing a mask. I think it's too late for you.