Face Masks
Out of context: Reply #84
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- Nairn12
Had a chat with someone I've considered one of my best friends for at least 23 years now, even if we now live on opposite sides of our wee Isle here and have our own families and lives to be getting on with, so don't much get to speak to each other as regular as we should.
I've mentioned on here beforehand a best friend who voted for Brexit, well, this is the same guy.
He announced, with no small amount of pride, that he refuses to wear masks in shops. After a few ponderous moments of silence as I mulled this over and listened to him prattle on about it being unthinking drones kowtowing to The New World Order (or somesuch claptrap) I had a go at him.
At this point, it's not even like I give a fuck about the absolutes of the science behind it or otherwise - at this point it's just about fucking manners, respect for others and social decency. Wear a mask in a shop in 2020 for much the same reason you don't spit on a shop's floor in 1920.
I'm not long back from Italy - a country which through an arrogant lens of British superiority is borderline dysfunctional because of latin ego and intransigence - but actually, is a country where I did not see ONE person break the rules in all the shops I went to. I was genuinely humbled by how respectful and deferential people were to each other. In no small way down to how badly they were affacted and (as described by an Italian friend who has more of a right to cynicism about his own people than I do) possibly due to the threat of fines. So what.
I took a plane back to out of London, then a train into London, then a bus from the station to my house - by the time I'd spent five minutes on that bus I was ready to baseball bat 60% of the people who got on and didn't bother in any way with a mask. Like I in any way wanted to have spent the previous five hours or whatever wearing one? I'm not going to go into the guilty demographics here - it's certainly been easy for me to pick out patterns in the type of people who simply don't give a shit about anyone else, but that doesn't matter. Italy has its share of demographic dickheads too, and all of them were compliant.
Brexit and now this. I really don't think I have any common platform of understanding with him any more. Given his background, he should be (*and indeed once was*) one of my most open-minded friends, but nup - now he's just some UKIP-thinking provincial prick. Oh well.
- oop, christ that was long. sorry.Nairn
- deathboy postutopian
- I totally get your predicament and it's tough going. But this just proves that people we once tolerated are now unjustifiably not worth our effort.Ianbolton
- My friend can't wear a mask due to health reasons and somebody screamed at her, in her face, making her reluctant to now leave the house. She's terrifiedIanbolton
- a goth woman walked up to a lad in the queue in the shop yesterday - only two people in the shop without masks. started talking to each other about how painfulkingsteven
- it was to get swabbed. both mid to late 30s, i guess they work together. i am still confused.kingsteven
- The truth is, you are appalled your friend doesn't think like you.Hayoth
- People change, situations change. It's okay to let go of toxic relationships no matter how long they've been in your life. Period.sea_sea
- I just don’t understand the ‘my freedoms’ stance. It makes zero sense to me.Gnash
- @hayoth - yes.. i mean.. yes?
Someone I've known for years who's a friend because he thinks a certain way and then.. becomes an idiot.Nairn - Like - imagine if one of your friends turned around one day and started exhibiting empathy. You'd probably shoot him in the face.Nairn
- @sea_sea - it's not in any way a toxic relationship - I love the guy. Just.. I can't compute how he's ended up thinking as he does.Nairn
- oh for the love of fuck, i need to start setting my tedious shit to nsfw. We need pretty pictures on the homepage, not wearied old men whingingNairn
- #humblebraghans_glib
- Always thought how Hayoth's extremely tolerant of differing opinions and things he doesn't understand. Very levelheaded.Fax_Benson
- You should prolly end the friendship. No point in having anything to do with people who dont match your view on things.cannonball1978
- obv there's been more depth to my interaction with him than I'm stating here - it's not that there's a diff of opinion, it's that he's... just fucking wrong.Nairn
- Separate.AQUTE
- Divide & ConquerAQUTE
- I haven't worn one mask so far. It's still not required (Norway), although they are recommending masks on public transport (which I won't use till November).drgs
- And if it becomes a culture wherein everyone expects each other to wear one? What will you do then?Nairn
- I kinda get where my friend comes from (a little) - I'm amazed by how quick The West has programmed mask-wearing and nM population quarantine measures.Nairn
- I think I said as much back in march that I couldn't envisage lockdowns as they had in China at the time, yet here we are.
A new world order of some kind, sureNairn - I'll wear one, not a problem. Seriously no one is wearing them in Norway (for now)drgs
- lol. I say 'The West'. I mean that in increasingly archaic terms. I mean - 'the bits of America that still function, and the rest of the civilised world'.Nairn
- .. he says, cast adrift on his increasingly irrelevant little isle.Nairn
- Get yourself a snazzy one, drgs.
We should all post masked 2020 pics.Nairn - It's not hard. 95% of people in NYC now wear a mask. Infection rate remains low, even if we're connected to the TITANIC that is the rest of the USA.DaveO
- Does he actually vote UKIP now?jagara
- I guarantee your 'friend' didn't go on social media and cry about how you think different. You should both be open to changing your minds.Hayoth
- How can you guarantee that, Hayoth?jagara
- @Hayoth and also his friend is wrong and stupid. You're one of those contrarians that gets all screechy when called out on your bullshit.garbage
- lol of course hayoth is taking 'that' side. our own in house karen boomer.inteliboy
- Covidiots Worldwideutopian
- As a kid I was told not to discuss who or what I vote for with anyone. It astounds me that people publicize their positions so openly. Always leads to rubble.ayport
- Maybe your now old friend is deathboy !i_was
- Hayoth is going to die from a stroke, a gun in one hand and a copy of ISIS Asian Babes in the other, covered in old man's mayonnaise. FREEDOM!face_melter
- If only TPTB hadnt flip flopped on the efficacy of masks early doors. Back then (when there was a shortage) they only worked in a clinical setting, mindPhrenological
- Then they told us a strict protocol re placement/removal/di... had to be followed.Phrenological
- placement/removal/di...Phrenological
- disposal. why cant I write disposalPhrenological
- ah, there's a limit to word lengthPhrenological
- anyhow, inconsistent advice and good old fashioned 'fuck you authority' has led us here.Phrenological
- re: People with differing opinions - I made friends with an honest to god Communist last year. Lovely chap. i completely and utterly disagree with him.Nairn
- I've even argued with how 'wrong' i think he is, and him me. All Good! Makes us both consider our positions better.Nairn
- But having a friend choose to hold positions that - by his own argumentation - are completely misguided is incredibly disappointing. I respected him once.Nairn
- Silly me for rising to your bait, hayoth.Nairn
- @ayport - you're not wrong.
At the same time, you'd want to know if a friend was a genuine flat-earther, right? :)Nairn - in the end wearing masks is and will be controversial. maybe you better judge him by another topic where he can fail your expectations ;)api
- first week mask was a mix of feeling weird, mental policing and rage against others. week 3 meanwhile. i like the mask. idgiveafuck bout the others.uan
- i dont even take it off when i can. i got used to it. and with headphones (that i put on first time in like 3years) it‘s a pretty cyberpunk feel.uan
- @Nairn LOL true!
Being raised by an old school brit, he always said someone would beat the crap outa me for voting differently than them...ayport - So u don't care about your fellow pals rights to exercise liberties u find scarydeathboy
- And if your friendship is so shallow to be based solely on political leanings than its probably not a friendshipdeathboy