There's a general thought that driving without a seatbelt endangers no one but yourself. That is false. Some years ago, Car and Driver (I think) did some "evasive driving" tests with and without seatbelts and the results were clear. You are significantly less in control of your car in an emergency if you aren't belted in than if you are belted in.
About masks . . . . I don't like to wear one. But when I go into a place of business I put one on, even though I got vaccinated twice way back in February. I don't know who's been vaccinated and who isn't (Oklahoma has a fully vaccinated rate of 49%), and I don't even want to get a mild case of it and bring it home to my wife, who got vaccinated at the same time I did but is immune-compromised.
I guess what I don't understand is the virulence and anger of the anti-masking sentiment. (Not alluding to anyone here.) Since 1900-ish, we've gone from a society that prided itself that prided rugged individualism to a society where the federal government tells us how many gallons of water our toilet tanks can hold, how much water our shower heads can flow, and how many miles per gallon our motor vehicles have to average. A society where the federal government monitors our bank deposits to make sure that we aren't racketeers. Where the federal government sets de facto racial and sex quotas on a plethora things from the composition private businesses' workforces to promotion rates in the armed forces. All of this we accept without violent, without even angry responses. Most of us accept it without a peep.
But now, during a pandemic that has killed far more Americans than it should have, refusing to wear masks is the hill upon which red-blooded patriots want to make their last stand against tyranny? I don't get it.
And I really don't get it when the anti-maskers are very often also anti-vaxxers, who, if they would get themselves vaccinated, could make it so that neither they nor the rest of us would be having to worry about when and where it is necessary to wear masks.
