Idealistic Pragmatist 
Last week I attended a Zoom hangout for a science podcast I support financially. The host is a regular journalist and the two reporters are science journalists, both with strong backgrounds in biology and health sciences. I don’t want to evoke the wrath of whomever, so I won’t tag them or identify them more than that (other than to say that the podcast is not in English, and the team that makes it are in a country where #masks were once mandated but no longer are). /1
Anyway, as the group got to chatting, one of the questions from the supporters was about how the team is personally handling the fact that the world has moved on from #masking. And ALL THREE members of this smart, exceedingly science-knowledgable team said that they themselves were mostly not wearing #masks anymore. They even discussed at length the psychological disconnect between KNOWING that it works and yet seeing the world around them stop masking. But they themselves STILL stopped. /2
I was so upset I almost left immediately (and almost discontinued my financial support too). In the end I did neither, but I was really pretty shaken by it. Still am, to be honest. /3
As I’ve said before, I can say VEHEMENTLY that I've NEVER experienced whatever feeling gets people to stop #masking whenever people around them aren't masked. Quite the opposite, in fact. But what I DO experience is a kind of heavy exhaustion that comes from being exposed to all the constant pretending the pandemic is over. So hearing these sciencey people who I admire, who clearly KNOW better, casually talking about joining in with the pretence…well, it was hard for me to take. /4
One of them even told a story about having been on a train that crossed over from their country into another country without a mask mandate, and there having been an announcement that people could now take their masks off. And the person SAID it was silly to then be breathing in whatever viruses all the people in the train car around them were now spewing into the air. But they STILL removed their mask…because the people around them had. /5
I’ve certainly witnessed this behaviour in the world enough times, so the behaviour in and of itself doesn’t shock me. But the fact that all three of them were talking about the psychological disconnect between knowing that masking would help the world’s current predicament and no longer masking as if it were just normal and the way things have to be? And without saying: “You know, this is dumb, I’m going to start wearing mine again!” Well, that DID shock me. A lot. /6
And they’ve all had COVID at least once by now—I mean, of course they have. But it’s not even that, because lots of #StillMasking people have had it too. But to KNOW the science behind why you should be masking, and to intellectually recognize that not doing so is nonsensical, and to have actually HAD the experience of not masking impacting YOU PERSONALLY adversely...and yet STILL take that mask off? How the hell does that even HAPPEN? /7
Anyway, I guess what I’m looking for here is comments from anybody who feels similarly. Because it’s starting to feel a little lonely over here on this island that still feels incredulous about and horrified by all the pretending.
Thanks for reading/listening. /8fin
La'an 
@IPEdmonton I've never been more grateful that I didn't comprehend the whole peer pressure thing growing up. I haven't stopped masking, haven't had COVID that I know of, and have no plans to stop masking because I don't give a damn what other people think about me masking. It's horrifying that people who know better just give up so easily and accept it.
Nicole ParsonsThe anti-vaxxer and anti-masker groups have morphed from a funded malign influence campaign into a stochastic social bullying campaign.
A mask is to prevent disease and isn't meant as a silent condemnation of Republicans anti-social political views.
It's agonizing watching red state voters self-harm and kill themselves by the inch like Diamond & Silk have, but there seems little alternative but to model appropriate covid mitigation strategy. Wear masks!
@Npars01 I’m not in the US, so I’m missing a bunch of the context here, I think. Diamond and Silk?
Diamond & Silk are funded right wing disinformation influencers favored by Trump.
Diamond passed away from covid, aged 51.
https://apnews.com/article/diamond-and-silk-dead-lynette-hardaway-7ba302111687a71e7686dad3b0f57a43
'Diamond,' of pro-Trump duo Diamond and Silk, dies at 51
Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway of the conservative political commentary duo “Diamond and Silk” has died, according to former President Donald Trump and the pair’s official Twitter account. She was 51. Hardaway’s cause of death hasn't been released. Trump called her death “totally unexpected” and “really bad news for Republicans” in a post Monday night on his Truth Social platform. Hardaway and her sister, Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, rose to prominence during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle when they stumped for Trump, calling themselves his “most outspoken and loyal supporters." They later went on to become prominent television personalities on Fox News before landing at Newsmax.
NerdShinobi@Npars01 @IPEdmonton they were so disgusting. I'll still stop short of cheering a death, but I can say it's no surprise. Deliberately catching a serious CUMULATIVE disease over and over while thinking it's "just a cold" is chasing death.
The willingness to court death in service of a fraud is the very definition of a cult.
I sympathize with the circumstances that create such weak-minded amoral greed but deplore the loss of life they caused.
@Npars01 @IPEdmonton well expressed!