Most people who’ve made it through the past year have had to get used to quickly throwing on a mask when entering a public space. In fact, by now it’s become almost second nature before you walk into a grocery store, at least if you live in a fairly civilized area.
Paul Krugman, writing for The New York Times, starts his essay Thursday evening by comparing the so-called “right” to not wear a mask to the “right” to take a piss in public. Both are potentially health-threatening, offensive behaviors, but for some reason there isn’t a raging outcry about local municipal governments passing restrictions on relieving yourself in a public space.
Although we take these restrictions for granted, they can sometimes be inconvenient, as anyone out and about after having had too many cups of coffee can attest. But the inconvenience is trivial, and the case for such rules is compelling, both in terms of protecting public health and as a way to avoid causing public offense. And as far as I know there aren’t angry political activists, let alone armed protesters, demanding the right to do their business wherever they want.
Do we like wearing masks? No. Do we do it? Yes. Is it killing us? Is it an intolerable burden? Hardly. It’s more like a tiny sacrifice for the greater good and protection of people we interact with.
As Krugman describes it, wearing a mask in a pandemic is “an act of basic human decency.“
Wearing a mask in public, like holding it in for a few minutes, is slightly inconvenient, but hardly a major burden. And the case for imposing that mild burden in a pandemic is overwhelming. The coronavirus variants that cause Covid-19 are spread largely by airborne droplets, and wearing masks drastically reduces the variants’ spread.
Imagine that: a simple act of human decency that actually helps the society around us. Seems like a pretty worthwhile sacrifice to make, especially since after a year of living with this unprecedented pandemic, the light at the end of the tunnel is looming, brightly.
But then, how to explain what’s happening in Texas right now? Gov. Greg Abbott just gave the green light for everyone in the Lone Star State to throw away their masks, as early as next week. He gave everyone the okay to congregate in bars and restaurants (the first place people will go after this ordeal), and spit and breathe all over each other. Maybe they’ll even piss on each other, for good measure.
Who cares if there’s a resurgence in infections? Who cares if more Texans die as a result? Apparently the very bold and insouciant act of discarding one’s mask is worth all the lives it will destroy.
So Krugman logically asks, why in the world would you try to spike the ball before you’ve even stepped into the end zone? It makes no economic sense, concerning how many people will likely become infected as a result. As he points out, Economics 101 tells us “that people should have incentives to take into account costs they impose on others.” And it costs virtually nothing to wear a mask, for chrissakes.
But he already knows the answer. In fact, we all know the answer.
Of course, we know what’s actually going on here: politics. Refusing to wear a mask has become a badge of political identity, a barefaced declaration that you reject liberal values like civic responsibility and belief in science. (Those didn’t used to be liberal values, but that’s what they are in America 2021.)
And we get it, Abbott. We understand that “owning the libs” (by “libs,” of course, we mean anyone smart enough to heed the science and medical professionals) is the only important thing to you and your right-wing, Trumpist ilk. Nothing is more important than showing you have no respect for anything that “liberals” might support—even if all it amounts to is saving your dumb ass (it also helps if it makes people forget that you let your own constituents freeze without power for a week). We understand you have your priorities.
These days conservatives don’t seem to care about anything except identity politics, often expressed over the pettiest of issues. Democrats appear to be on the verge of enacting a huge relief bill that embodies many progressive policy priorities. But the Republican response has been remarkably low energy, and right-wing media are obsessed with the (falsely) alleged plot to make Mr. Potato Head gender-neutral.
So you go ahead and open your state, Abbott. You pound your chest about how you’ve ”owned the libs” one last time. ‘Cause we all know that’s what it’s all about.
And we’ll just tiptoe around the stink of your self-righteous pool of piss, still wearing our masks.