I have noticed an alarming trend, especially in the last few years, of some of my fellow Americans equating “Making Allowances for the Good of Society As a Whole” with “Sacrificing My Freedom and Becoming a Sheep!”

I am an American and I don't understand it anymore than you do. I am a delivery driver and if I was ordered by my employer to wear a mask on my deliveries, I would do it without question. Our restaurant is delivery and pick up only right now and some people are upset about this. One of my sister's Facebook friends said she is having dining out withdrawals because she can't go into some restaurants.

Americans have been slowly convinced over the last few decades, by both the left and right, to not trust government, which means not trusting rules, which means not obeying rules, b/c, hey, y'know, LIBERTY! FREEDOM! ... And then they forget "justice" and come to equate "common sense" with COMMUNISM. Since my mom's family escaped the Soviets (well, some did...)... Yeah, this ain't communism, but try telling Americans that. Hell, it ain't even socialism. I was in the trenches for COvid locally for months. The rhetorical points repeated (sheep-like, I add) about masks, etc., all gleaned from such good shepherds as cable news... Horrifying.

It really is ironic, the ones who are loudest about not wearing masks are all for screaming ”freedom,” ”its unconstitutional,” but forget about others' freedom to live and our freedom to be healthy and safe. How quickly they forget their favorite quote: ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. The right to life and health will ALWAYS win over the right to be comfortable.

Well, we have a leader who is saying we don't need them and this is all a lie. Granted there are always people that will claim protecting others infringes on their freedom. I was yelled at by a woman and I had to clarify that we aren't making a political statement. Fortunately my state has requirements.

It's a division tactic used by trump. He keeps saying our health and well being is undermining his chances of re-election and the truly violent horrific people that follow him believe it. They think the virus is a hoax orchestrated by the liberals and Democrats. The White House continues to push racism misogyny and conspiracy theories allowing the truly hateful people to crawl out from under their toilets

All of the idiots refusing to wear masks also voted for Trump. I hope this explains it for you.

They’re people who are not critical thinkers, so are incapable of seeing further than their own little bubble. They rant and scream about their rights without understanding that those rights come with responsibilities. Yes, they have the right to not wear a mask, but they also have the responsibility to do what is necessary for the common good. No one enjoys wearing the damn things. I wear glasses and every time I exhale they fog up, regardless of whatever mask style and anti-fog trick I’ve tried, and is just unbearable. But I still wear it and practice social distancing, and so do the rest of us when we’re going to be around other people in public, because we see the sense in keeping an incurable and highly contagious disease from spreading further

Hi Balaska! I understand your confusion. You need to realize that the same people who think masks are a plot to steal their freedom are the same people who believe that PCP was created by the CIA to unlock the latent human mental power to mind control dogs. Sadly, I did not make up a single word of that. It's a radio show called "Info Wars". I thought it was a joke, but people actually believe this stuff is real.

All these other posts are correct, Balaska. Allow me to add: "You're not the boss of me!" said every American over the age of 18. The notion that our history is of people who could not or would not get along with others, they immigrated here (my European ancestors included). Thus, our laws have few compel requirements, and there are always loopholes. It is not just what the law says, it is how they are applied (by police), interpreted (by lawyers), and affirmed (by judges). As all three are imperfect, the citizen has a pass to get away with almost anything, and 'blaming the victim' is our real national sport. -Rev Dr M, retired history professor

It's not just in America, surely, but it comes from that person's belief that her opinion about something (the pandemic) and the need to express it, regardless of consequences, is her fundamental right. Where the logic fails is that she expects others to comply...she can have all the freedom she wants, but she forgets that others are also free to disagree with her.

America is an INCREDIBLY individualistic society, and has been since its inception. The common good has no sway over their decisions. So many people in that country were raised only thinking about "how does this affect ME", and since masks are slightly uncomfortable for the wearer, people decide it's their "right" to not wear them. Doesn't matter that they could be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, and they could be saving someone else's life by wearing a mask. I live in Canada, and work in customer service in a store that requires people to wear masks, and the only people who have had a problem with it so far are old white men. They aren't used to being told what to do, they are used to pushing people around and getting what they want, because they have been the centre of the universe for so long. I think America is a country that is made up of the old white man mindset. Of course there are exceptions, but the massive new outbreaks in the US show that the majority are probably jerks.

It's the result of propaganda campaigns which some people seem to be really vulnerable to. :-(

Some people are just stupid, but a lot of those stupid people (especially those who think they are independent souls and won't accept anyone telling them to do something) happen to live in the US....(I'm American btw)

I'm not an American. We have people in my country not wearing masks from a weird combo of egotism, inflated self-importance and ignorance. Since Americans do everythign bigger than everybody else, it applies ot these three things, too. They live in a banana republic but they convince themselves it's 'god's own country' and the greatest place in the world, so I guess they become very good at lying to themselves.

Unfortunately, there is a subset of the population that is being brainwashed. It is heartbreaking because these are people that are my friends and family. These are people that I love. The divides in society that are being pushed by extremists, internet trolls, and Facebook get larger by the day - which is the whole point. People are pushed further and further into their corners and can't see the way out. And whole industries feed off of these divides, the same way that companies profit from war.

As an outsider (Australian) living in America, here's the deal. The conservative political machine (as distinct from the actual voters) has to paint all conservatives as victims of an oppressive 'left wing culture' in order to justify not giving up the things it knows are wrong. Racism, capitalism, evangelical politics etc. By painting themselves as the victims, they can continue to reject change without having to acknowledge that the change is needed. These things are being "forced" on them and therefore are bad. As opposed to recognizing that these things are bad and they're the ones perpetuating them.

Us US Americans are a funny people. We like our freedoms yet can be coerced easily into freely giving them up. However, if you try to tell us to do something we dig in our feet and fight it tooth and nail, even if it's obviously good for us. The number of people who always wear a seatbelt but oppose seatbelt laws is ridiculous. Don't even try to understand us, we don't even understand us!

This is a consequence from replacing Civics class with Social Studies.

Wearing a mask in the USA has become a politicized mess. We have a leader who is trying to paint the COVID-19 pandemic as a plot by the democrats. It's ridiculous. Wearing a mask is just decent behavior - it has nothing to do with politics. It's a freaking pandemic! In another post, someone suggested to those folks who don't like masks that they ask their surgeon to not wear a mask during their next surgery.

Americans are idiots.

He said he will put it towards his dream, a career in dancing iirc.

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