Mad about the new mask mandate? Blame Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson

[Initech]

Here we go again.

The new L.A. County mandate, thanks to a rise in coronavirus cases, is for everyone to wear masks indoors whether they’re vaccinated or not.

If you think this is unfair, I’m with you. People who have done the right thing by getting vaccinated shouldn’t have to pay a penalty because others have refused.

But as you might have heard, we are a county, and a country, divided.

Fox TV host Tucker Carlson — who has refused to say whether he’s been vaccinated — has called President Biden’s plan to save lives by getting more people vaccinated “the greatest scandal of my lifetime.” For me, the fact that people get paid a fortune to say dangerously stupid things on national television is the greatest scandal of my lifetime.

In Sacramento, 12 legislators surveyed by The Times refused to say whether they were vaccinated or not, and 11 of them are Republicans.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-16/column-mad-about-the-new-mask-mandate-blame-donald-trump-and-tucker-carlson

The LA Times gets it!

[PJMcK]

1. Why won't they admit they've been vaccinated?

By refusing to answer the question, one can make the assumption that they have been dosed. They won't admit it because they're hypocrites. And they won't lie because if they do, the truth will come out then they'll have to backpedal.

Asshats.

[captain queeg]

2. The fact that people get paid a fortune to say dangerously stupid things...

Irony is dead

[Ms. Toad]

3. We need to stop thinking about masks as a penalty (or a reward)

They are simply tools to keep us safe.

Are seat belts a penalty? Bicycle helmets?

As long as we feel we are being punished for bad behavior - when we have been behaving properly - that emotional entanglement with good/evil makes it much harder to make an objective, data-based decision about when there is enough risk that it becomes important to add masks as an additional layer of safety.