[ExI] for Henry

spike at rainier66.com spike at rainier66.com
Thu Aug 6 20:37:02 UTC 2020


 

 

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Dan TheBookMan via extropy-chat



 

>…Non-conformity is context dependent, no? So with masks, non-conformity would have to be judged on the basis of the social context, no? In other words, let’s say I live in a small rural community that is solid red and mainly populated by White evangelicals. Wearing a mask would be seen there, back in say early June, as going against the grain.



Regards,

 

Dan

 

 

Dan it really doesn’t break out that way.  Everything isn’t politics.  Everywhere is a mixture.  There is a general trend toward those categories you mentioned in rural communities, however those communities are also naturally more socially distanced, because they are less densely populated.  Places which are less densely populated have less access to masks and less need for them, regardless of their political persuasion.

 

Where I live, outdoor masks are about half, possibly not quite half are wearing them.  The governor demands it, but there is no legal requirement.  Inside a shop or business, the business owner demands it (to keep her doors open) and she does have the authority to throw you out, so you wear it, regardless of your attitudes on conformity or compliance with the governor’s wishes.

 

Dan I have some observations for you from my travels.  In Mount Rainier National Park, that is federal property, so you can be arrested for marijuana there (illegal at the federal level) but not for refusing to wear a mask (congress never passed a law requiring them.)  The trailheads demand masks, but don’t actually claim it is a legal requirement (it isn’t.).  They just say “Masks required.”  Around half wear them there while hiking, possibly slightly more than half.

 

I had a pleasant visit with a Mt. Rainier ranger, who is a federal employee.  He wore a mask, I did not.  We talked about a bear I spotted, the trail condition, the snow, for perhaps 10 minutes.  He never did say a word about masks, but kept his on the whole time.  We never came within about 3 meters of each other.

 

On the way back, we were camping at a state park in Oregon.  We were sitting at our campsite, park ranger came by on foot, she was wearing a mask, we were not.  We visited for several minutes, she never mentioned masks.

 

On that trip, one of my father-in-law’s neighbors expressed surprise we were able to come up there at all.  They assumed it was illegal to travel with stay at home orders. Well, OK sure those exist in California.  Had a Cal State trooper pulled me over on the way out and explained there was a stay-at-home order, I would point out the obvious: We are at home.  That camper is my temporary home back there.  

 

What is she going to say?  We weren’t breaking any laws.

 

A camper is a completely self-contained unit.  It has a refrigerator and a freezer (both cram full of food) and every cavity we could find in that camper was stuffed with food.  The only thing we ran outta (twice) is water, but we stayed in commercial campgrounds and I refilled, so on we go.  We never had to go to any stores in nearly 3 weeks, we were socially-distanced the whole time, other than passing people on the hiking trails.  But there are exactly zero known or even plausibly suspected cases of transmission outdoors on hiking trails.  So… no surprise we never caught anything that way.

 

Very little of this has anything to do with conformity or otherwise that I can see.  It has a lot to do with how much one thinks covid can jump from one person to another outdoors.  That number is apparently low, which is why we didn’t see big outbreaks after the rallies and riots, where people were packed closely and most did not wear masks.

 

Conclusion: mask wearing outdoors is not political or an indication of conformity, and they generally are not necessary or even advisable.

 

spike

 

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