No masks allowed: stores turn customers away in US culture war

[IronLionZion]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/22/us-stores-against-face-masks

Shops around the US make headlines for denying entry to those wearing masks as protesters argue against preventative measures in the name of freedom

In the last few weeks a spate of American stores have made headlines after putting up signs telling customers who wear masks they will be denied entry. On Thursday, Vice reported on a Kentucky convenience store that put up a sign reading: “NO Face Masks allowed in store. Lower your mask or go somewhere else. Stop listening to [Kentucky governor Andy] Beshear, he’s a dumbass.”

Another sign was posted by a Californian construction store earlier this month encouraging hugs but not masks. In Illinois, a gas station employee who put up a similar sign has since defended herself, arguing that mask-wearing made it hard to differentiate between adults and children when selling booze and cigarettes.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump finally caved and wore a face mask yesterday – something he didn’t want to “give the press the pleasure of seeing”. But while it is gratifying to see the emperor finally forced to wear clothes, you’ve got to wonder to what extent the virus will spread thanks to the actions of citizens insisting on protecting their “freedom” over the right of others not to get sick.

Anti-lockdown protesters have argued that it is anti-American for the government to curtail people’s freedoms in order to reduce deaths as a result of Covid-19. Meanwhile, store owners tell customers what they can and cannot wear before entering, and customers cough in the faces of workers in the name of freedom.

Link to tweet

Back in March I thought living in the downtown of a major city might finally kill me since there are lots of people around. But videos like the above show what will kill us are MAGA COVIDiots, who are mostly in red states and rural areas. These people think slight inconvenience is comparable to real discrimination. They wouldn't know what to do if they experienced what many black, brown, or even gay people have grown up with.

[hlthe2b]

1. Time for Governors/Mayors to get tough. Pull their F..ing buisness licenses!

[RVN VET71]

37. Certainly.

These businesses should at least be shut down until the virus miraculously goes away.

As for the vermin spitting at store workers, they should be put down like the rabid dogs they are. I am absolutely serious about that. Kneel on the tarmac, say a prayer to your lord, Satan, and ka-blam. They have no right to be alive and out amongst people who were only doing their jobs and trying to get through the day. I cannot imagine what I would do in a situation like that, but it would not be pretty and I would be fired and jailed, but the applause of my coworkers would keep my spirits up.

[irisblue]

52. Wow, did you mean to imply extrajudicial murder is an appropriate thing?

That is pretty extreme RVN VET

[RVN VET71]

58. Nah. Hence the conditional "should".

I also think that every Wall Street punk ass executive and young'un who looks down their ugly noses at the working stiffs outside their comfortably air-conditioned offices should be required to work in soup kitchens either on weekends and/or for a solid week or two, to teach them humility and give them a chance to experience the underside of the society they are maintaining in their greed.

But should ain't will. In either case, though, I think justice, in an oddly pure form, would be served and, in the case of the Wall Street dweebs, maybe a soul would be saved.

And the last sentence is a bit harsh but I found myself thinking what I'd do, what I'd really do, if I happened upon a scene involving a person spitting and coughing on my daughter or my son. And to that, yes, without doubt, I would go to jail for what I'd do. Doubt if the spitter/cougher would be dead, but I think they'd be removed to an ambulance in a gurney.

Shorter clarification: I wouldn't execute anyone, even spitters and coughers, but it was a not unpleasant thought.

[Phoenix61]

2. There's a reason the Darwin Award exists.

The tragic part is the number of innocent people who will get covid due to others stupidity.

[ewagner]

3. I feared a civil war...

I just never expected it would be over wearing face masks..

Damn you Trump....

Damn you to hell!

[HAB911]

5. wait long enough, maybe they will die off

[RVN VET71]

40. Thank you George Taylor!

Best and most iconic post-apocalypse movie scene ever -- and an image most appropriate for the slide and crumble of America into its current state of aimless chaos.

[Tech]

4. These idiots may find out survival of the fittest does not include them. If it were not so

dangerous for the rest of us I would encourage them.

[abakan]

42. Survival of the fittest is not just physical fitness.

It is mental fitness also and this group are too stupid to survive.
The thing they have in common with their dear leader, is abject stupidity.

[R02091201]

6. They are the MINORITY, and they are mainly hurting THEMSELVES. LET THEM GET THE VIRUS!

They will mainly just infect themselves and their own loved ones. Ah well. The results of stupidity.

[Mosby]

11. They are putting workers at risk

Remember, the mask mostly protects other people from you.

I work in a big box store, and am exposed to about 12 thousand people per work week, I would say 70 percent are not wearing masks.

I think a lot of stores are afraid to require customers to wear masks, because of the conflict that can ensue. They would rather take their chances with sick employees.

[IronLionZion]

21. Sacrificial workers are easily replaceable

which is the attitude of many of these "job creators" who think high unemployment and recession means a steady stream of increasingly desperate applicants. It's a bad time to be laid off since there are fewer workplaces hiring.

[R02091201]

53. The local authorities need to do their job.

If the store owners don't have the guts to enforce safety rules and are in fact defying the rules and the authorities are allowing it then the blood is on all their hands. Don't shop there and don't work there.

[Ms. Toad]

51. No. They are not mainly hurting themselves.

A church in Arkansas that was the epicenter of an hotspot that was fatal to 3 people: 35 people who participated in the event contracted the virus from the pastor and his wife. They spread it to 26 others whose only contact with the virus was through these 35 people.

43% of the peope who contracted the virus spread through a church service did not attend the service. 33% (1/3) who died from the virus did not attend the service.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/cdc-covid-19-arkansas-church-contagion-trump-010357081.html

It really is not "mainly . . . themselves"

[R02091201]

54. Were the people they infected close friends or relatives?

I hear you. What I meant was themselves or people in their own families and communities. And if a person is not hurt by knowing that he or she is responsible for infecting and possibly killing someone else close to them they are entirely hopeless. Might as well try to reason with a dining room table. Also if local authorities are going to tolerate their stupidity they are equally hopeless and will have to live with the carnage they are allowing to occur. Costco isn't putting up with it, nor are many others. People will just have to decide if they are going to tolerate the death cult or not.

[Ms. Toad]

55. No further information -

aside from testing positive and being linked to one or more sick congregants through contact tracing.

But you can't assume that even close friends or relatives share political or religious beliefs.

And you can't assume that those who become ill were "local authorities and business owners." They may simply be residents who needed food or medicines to survive - and who are unable to protect themselves absent restrictions on other people's behavior.

We have to get over this "Let them kill themselves off," mentality - because, as this case study shows, they are not just killing themselves off. They are killing us off too.

[R02091201]

56. So what is your solution if authorities allow it???

I said that if the local authorities allow it and if people tolerate it they have to own it. There are other places that enforce the rules. It seems you're citing a problem but are offering no solution. We can't go around and around the mulberry bush. Either they are willing to enforce the rules or must suffer the carnage they are choosing to help create.

[Ms. Toad]

60. What I am reacting to is the notion that they deserve the karma they get,

that it mainly hits them, Trump is shooting himself in the foot by opening the church doors. That it is just fine - because they are only hurting themselves.

That is, in the literal sense, ignorant of how this disease works. We need to stop promoting the idea that it is OK because the good/smart/progressive folks won't be impacted.

What we do is to continue to counter nonsense among progressives like the above that suggests we can let them be infected and not be harmed ourselves. We talk to friends/relatives/etc. to try to pound it through their thick skulls that they need to start caring about everyone else and, if they are engaging in risky behavior they need to self-isolate after each such enggement, we call/email/write the governor and health departments to demand they revert to safer policies, and we report entities or individuals who are violating what few orders there are left.

But most of all, we stop promoting the dangerous idea that they are only hurting themselves.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I wouldn't want to shop in those stores anyhow.

Don't like my mask? You don't get my business, now or ever - if you even survive.

There is now a requirement in my city, Minneapolis, that everyone wear a mask in all places of public accommodation because there has been an increase in cases recently. But I'd still rather live here, where most people are likely to comply, than someplace where idiots think refusing to wear a mask is a proudly defiant political statement.

[OMGWTF]

30. 'zactly! I don't shop at stores where they post Republican campaign posters either.

Business owners who do are stupid, but I appreciate them telling me not to spend my money there.

[MineralMan]

8. I'd be happy not to patronize such a business.

[bluestarone]

19. EXACTLY!!! and

FOREVER!!!!

[ananda]

20. Lol

same

[dalton99a]

9. Kick

[LisaL]

10. Those would be the stores I would never go into.

[IronLionZion]

12. Hugs and handshakes, not masks!

Some people are aggressively trying to spread it to own the libs. If they don't get sick or die, then liberals are stupid and weak. If they get sick or die, it's because of those damn foreigners and diversity.

[zentrum]

13. "I have the right...

….to kill you, if the mood strikes me".

[dchill]

33. But we already knew that...

...from their open carry.

[Botany]

14. These idiots are Putin's playthings.

Through social media, hate talk radio, and channels like Fox, OAN, and News Max they
are fed misinformation about their free-dumbs, guns, and their Jeez us churches are
being taken away from them. And Vlad Daddy is stroking their fears in order to help
Trump.

[Tipperary]

15. And then there were the shootings.

The one at Dollar Tree and the one at Waffle House.

[milestogo]

16. Great way to lose business.

[world wide wally]

17. Simple solution; Change your signs to read "No shoes, no shirt, no mask, no service"

[IronLionZion]

24. Those signs never say anything about wearing pants

[FakeNoose]

45. That lady in the tweeted video

... needs a bra more than anything. But yeah, a mask would have been nice.

[stillcool]

18. nothing to do with covid-19

all Trump all the time.

[Marcuse]

22. Their minds have been hacked.

[IronLionZion]

23. Many retailers are playing a dangerous game

since there is plenty of competition for customers. Depending on the type of business, people could easily shop elsewhere if they choose. This goes for customers who want to wear masks or the ones who don't. Not the best time to be losing customers. There are always online retailers for many items, who would be happy to take business away from some brick and mortar stores.

And we are in the golden age of grocery shopping, with more options than ever before. So it's usually not hard to find a different grocery store.

[theaocp]

25. All these folk coughing and spitting on people on purpose makes me wonder

if laws will change to reflect this as something dangerous like assault. It's the new way to bully people, that's for sure. Wait until kids work this magic in classes.

[IronLionZion]

46. Several have already been charged with terrorism

if done in grocery stores or other similar settings because they are exploiting peoples' fears. And if the store has to throw out food because a problematic person willfully ruined it, then there are fines and other property related charges.

[NYC Liberal]

26. Which proves that their true intention is not "freedom" or "choice" but rather

just being contrarian assholes.

If they supported the "freedom" they claim to, then they would have no problem with someone choosing to wear a mask.

[Tarc]

27. Well, if businesses are allowed to require masks, others also have to be allowed to forbid them

Can't have it both ways.

[Marrah_Goodman]

28. Thank goodness masks are mandatory here

[tinrobot]

29. Why does EVERYTHING have to be "us" versus "them"

Seriously, it has gotten to the point where, if a Democrat says "Hey, be careful, don't fall off that bridge", we get people leaping into the abyss just so they can "own the libs" or whatever.

It really has become absurd.

[Kaiserguy]

35. Good Afternoon Right-Wingesr

In spite of that fact that you want to own the libs, I would hate to see you get hurt. . Please take this libs advice, don't take a deep breath and wear a mask around sick people.

[IronLionZion]

47. Don't go to the local hospital to hug all the COVID patients

and lick all the doorknobs. Liberals/CDC/WHO/etc. are always telling you what to do. Youtube knows better.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

38. +1

[nilram]

31. Lots more dangerous to those working in the store than to customers.

The clerks, and hopefully owners, are breathing the exhalations of even Jimmie- and Jane-Bob that comes in. They’re most endangering themselves.

[LiberalFighter]

32. People in the local communities need to keep track of stores encouraging not wearing.

[MiniMe]

34. Just tell the guy you want tampons and stop being a jerk

Or whatever feminine hygiene product you want to buy.

[eppur_se_muova]

36. Those who lose this "culture war" could wind up on ventilators, or worse.

Among "worse" is seeing their family members die of COVID-19 when they could have easily prevented it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

39. My solution is to stay home, away from ALL stores.

It will be interesting to see if MAGAts can "burn it all down".

[louis-t]

41. I'll gladly give a big Fuck You to any store

that tells me I can't wear a mask. It's like God is weeding out the assholes. It's like the end of a Twilight Zone episode where the maga asshole tells everyone it's ok to eat the canned food that is radioactive. Then the episode ends showing all of the magat bodies laying in the street and one guy shaking his head and walking away.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

43. I assume that "Cartman" wouldn't wear a mask either.

[superpatriotman]

44. Vote with your money

Don't patronize these shitholes.

[IronLionZion]

48. GOP governor offers emotional plea to the anti-mask crowd: Stop this senseless culture war

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/23/doug-burgum-masks/

“If someone is wearing a mask, they’re not doing it to represent what political party they’re in or what candidates they support,” Burgum said, before his voice began breaking. “They might be doing it because they’ve got a 5-year-old child who’s been going through cancer treatments. They might have vulnerable adults in their life who currently have covid, and they’re fighting.”

[roamer65]

49. "The meek shall inherit the Earth."

Keep up with your personal stay at home where u absolutely can, folks.

Your life depends on it.

In October to November, you will see why I say this...1918 redux.

[IronLionZion]

57. So right around election time

I hope we can vote by mail from home. Turnout is not going to be great at polling places.

[roamer65]

59. October 1918 was horrible from what I have read.

That’s when that flu kicked into hyperdrive.

[Brainfodder]

50. Average in the U.S.A. must be below average everywhere else?

That or smart people understand TMI and keeping things to yourself, or treat others as you wish to be treated or..... yadda yadda yadda.

But, you can't fix stupid?

Some are in jails and prisons all over the place.

Catch-22 of the demented kind, indeed!

[drewchas]

61. Do I need to wear a seat belt in New Hampshire? No. Every other state? Yes. Everybody gets this.

I find it vexing that folks want to get bent out of shape because they have to wear a face mask when they are in a store around other people so they don't unintentionally kill other people, either directly or indirectly; because COVID can be asymptomatic, everyone should assume he or she has the virus and can give it to other people and kill that person or someone related to that person by doing so. There are all kinds of things we have to do in our daily lives that no one is complaining about. Cell phones are involved in 1 out of 4 auto accidents, so, in order to try and protect us from those who don't know the statistics, want to ignore those statistics, or don't believe the statistics are true, states had to start passing laws about using a cell phone while driving. Everybody gets this. A similar thing happened in the '80s when Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbied to bolster the laws about drunk driving. Despite those efforts, today, about 33 percent of all road fatalities are accounted for by drunk driving, which is why, in 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended lowering the blood-alcohol level for being legally drunk from .08 to .05 in all 50 states. The idea is to eliminate drunk driving. Everybody gets this. The same thing with car seats for children: a child shouldn't be crippled or killed simply because a parent didn't want to use a child seat. Everybody gets this. The list goes on. Having to wear a mask during a pandemic being characterized and an infringement of one's freedom is laughable, and requiring others to not wear a mask during a pandemic is retarded.

[IronLionZion]

62. Their guns can keep them safe

they can just shoot the virus

[KentuckyWoman]

63. I am fine with this in my neighborhood but not in places with limited options.

I have tons of other options to shop. If a store here decides to be that stupid then I take my business elsewhere.

The concern is in areas with limited options. Forcing people who don't want to risk their lives to do so in order to purchase necessities is a real problem.

[IronLionZion]

64. Texas County GOP Chair Claims COVID-19 Is Democratic Hoax

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2020/05/texas-county-gop-chair-claims-covid-19-is-democratic-hoax/

Because MAGA is real. Everything else is a hoax conspiracy by those dangerous socialist globalists who like to see sheep muzzled and led around by signs on the floor and locked at home like in a 3rd world dictatorship.