Comment by amluto
6 days ago
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.
> 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
The problem, as it were, is that most of these "problems" are invented by "news" agencies and then repeated over and over until people believe them.
For example, in this conversation, there is literally no fact I could mention, no study I could cite, that would convince you that any one of these things might not actually be a real problem because you didn't use facts and science to develop them in the first place.
I do think the answer isn't to play defense to made up problems but talking about reality is always harder and more complicated than emotive sound bites.
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