Isn’t it already illegal to cover your face from above the nose downward in NC? I went there on a business trip a couple years before COVID, and wore a respirator while outside. A cop stopped me and told me that it’s against statute to cover my face in public places. I explained to him that I’m not from there and pollen in that state, at least in Charlotte, was horrific. He was understanding, but highly recommend I find another way. I thanked him and we parted ways. I was leaving the next day, so I didn’t find another way.

This article makes it sound that they’re not going to make it illegal, since it already is, but are, instead, going to make it a higher crime if you commit one while wearing a mask. What I’m gathering, is basically “wear one if you want. But if you commit a misdemeanor while wearing one, it’ll be a felony” (or however the scales increase). Did I misunderstand?

Yeah Lemmy is just really left and uninformed, mask prohibitions have existed in almost every state way before covid (talking 17-1800s) for exactly this reason. And frankly, even in NYC, outside of say health settings, the only people I see wearing masks are those who are actively trying to not be identified, and sometimes it nothing like yourself but more than likely theres a reason they don’t want to be identified and its rarely good.

That may be the law, but the law is bullshit. Why should I be required to show the world my face when I go outside? Why aren’t I entitled to privacy?

more than likely theres a reason they don’t want to be identified and its rarely good.

Source in on this, or are you scared of people in hoodies too?

I’m fairly certain that the source for this is bank robbers of yore. But this goes under “we do this, because we’ve always done it that way”, and it’s the absolute worst reason to keep doing something. I, for one, enjoyed and supported my right to wear masks for the sole reason that it hid a good part of my face. Didn’t do much for facial recog, as we saw, but humans have a hard time identifying and remembering faces without seeing a mouth. I knew the masks weren’t real respirators and weren’t nearly as effective as they could have been (the reason I wore an actual respirator pre COVID and during), but I very much enjoyed the added privacy for everyone nonetheless.