I know that everyone’s sick of COVID. God knows I am. But there is a growing sense, at least online, that it’s offensive for people to continue to take precautions even though they’ve been vaccinated. In fact, the consensus is that they should be ashamed of themselves. This is wrong for all the reasons Dave Roberts laid out in this tweet thread:
These guys are so instinctively repulsed by the idea of inconveniencing themselves on other people’s behalf — the idea that someone would do it when they *don’t absolutely have to* just drives them mad.
When people behave unselfishly, it is an inherent challenge to the worldview of those who believe everyone is as selfish as they are. They have to render it false or fake somehow. That’s what the whole “virtue signaling” thing is about.
People who denied, downplayed, or refused to take basic precautions to prevent the virus are responsible for more than a half-million American deaths. People who wear or call for masks even when they’re not absolutely necessary are responsible for…what? What justifies the fury?
For my part, I take lots of walks. I approach lots of people — they pet my dogs, their kids pet my dogs, I pet their dogs, I talk with their kids. They don’t know who I am or whether I’m vaccinated. The mask is just a little pro-social gesture. It puts people at ease. Why not?
Originally tweeted by David Roberts (@drvolts) on April 19, 2021.
Seriously. It’s just a generous communal thing to do until we get through this goddamned thing. What is so hard about that or, at the very least, if you don’t want to wear one, shutting up about other people doing it?
And, by the way, if people wear masks going forward in various situations everyone should just assume they are immunocompromised, coming down with something and don’t want to spread it (thank you!) or are trying not to catch anything. It’s fine. It’s not “virtue signaling” or some kind of shaming of other people. Relax.