link to original reddit post by /u/relgrenSehT
We’ve been at this coronavirus thing for over a year now. People have died, tears have been shed, and people are deeply mired in their positions on public duty versus individual liberty.
In the US, most people don’t care if you are barefaced outside - just like if you don’t wear a shirt or shoes. This checks out - what others think of you alone has no objective impact on their well-being.
However, in most US workplaces (especially corporate and/or service-based jobs) employers are coerced to make their employees wear masks at work. From a regulatory standpoint, some might compare this to state-imposed safety measures when using mechanical equipment (which I know many on this sub would oppose, but I’ll show why it’s different anyway).
This comparison doesn’t work, because measures taken to do a specific task are analogous to traffic laws, which control a privilege, not a right. You make a choice to do a task, and your full understanding of the strings attached is assumed. Whereas, regulating gainful employment squashes something upon which our livelihoods must be able to depend.
Furthermore, working a paying job does not necessitate any particular activity, yet masks are mandated across the board. Though it seems trivial to some, never before have we so aggressively limited human free will over what amounts to a passive threat. (Though that threat is admittedly multiplied by lifestyle choices).
Continually I see arguments for people with breathing problems to get an exception, or people who work outside - but I say that on principle, mask mandates are inhumane. There are methods of protecting yourself from the coronavirus such as face shields, frequent hand washing, and self-isolating, yet these are rarely seen or encouraged. Instead we must rely on surgical masks, which for those who don’t know, are only intended to contain aerosolized contaminants, and not as a shield (or security blanket, for that matter).
Perhaps we seem crazy to some, but some of my coworkers and I think that mask mandates are simply a government test of authority, before moving on to something bigger. Few seem to notice the rapid transition to government-controlled corporatism that is already rampant in China, and those who do incorrectly label it as capitalism. I sincerely hope my fears are immaterial, implicit schizophrenia notwithstanding.