Comment by neaden
6 days ago
The mask obsession these people still have is just amazing. So angry at being told to wear a mask during a pandemic that they want to ban anyone else from doing it now. I would expect better behavior from a toddler.
6 days ago
The mask obsession these people still have is just amazing. So angry at being told to wear a mask during a pandemic that they want to ban anyone else from doing it now. I would expect better behavior from a toddler.
It’s unclear how much is residual anti-mask sentiment from the pandemic and how much is related to events like this:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68923528
One might reasonably interpret events like that as protestors engaged in activity that is not protected by the First Amendment, is criminal and/or violates other student’s civil rights and/or improperly interferes with the activities of others. And one might credibly imagine that some of the protesters knew this and were wearing masks to hide their identities. And one might further credibly argue that, in 2024, these students were not likely to be wearing masks outdoors for health reasons.
Of course, the letter to Harvard doesn’t really explain what kind of mask ban is imagined or why it’s appropriate to ban masks when students are merely going about their ordinary business.
One might argue that masks are necessary because the state is surveiling people and abducting them off the street based on viewpoint. If you're expressing views in public, it would behoove you to do so while obscuring your identity to the extent possible, lest you end up in a Salvadoran death camp for expressing views disfavored by the regime.
I absolutely think it’s valid to want to express one’s viewpoint anonymously.
However, I don’t think your argument really covers this particular situation. The events in question predate Trump’s reelection, and a lot of the things done by people, many whom were wearing masks, were approaching (or far beyond, depending your perspective) the line where free speech stops and harassment, vandalism and hate begins.
I think that one of the most self-defeating things that some of Trump’s opponents do is to ignore the fact that many of his actions are based on actual problems in the US. In my mind, bad things really were done on college campuses. Awful things really were done in the name of DEI. Cancel culture really was out of control. The US really does have economic deficiencies in the manufacturing sector. None of these excuse most of what Trump has done, but minimizing the real problems that he and his supporters latch onto doesn’t help.
6 replies →
They want to ban it for absolute facial recognition coverage, and pretty much nothing else.
It has nothing to do with the pandemic. The ban on masks is about whether or not protesters are actually students. Masks have been used to conceal identities when taking over buildings or shutting down classes.