I think you underestimate American willingness to tell authority figures to go fuck themselves.
I don't have a better way of phrasing that.
This is, perhaps, both the best and worst part of our culture.
On the one hand, it gives you rebels that challenge the status quo. That don't take "no" or "that's impossible" for an answer.
On the other hand, it gives you a population that would slice off their own noses if the government told them that having one was mandatory.
I think our best course of action would have been to just... ask.
Across the board.
Republicans and Democrats, carnivores and vegetarians, people that understand that the toilet paper needs to go over the top of the roll and inhuman monsters bent on the destruction of all that is good in the world... all of them needed to agree that Masks Probably Couldn't Hurt And We Should Just Wear The Damn Things.
Do everybody a solid, and wear a mask. No, we won't fine you, or shoot you.
There's nothing to rebel against when people just sort of shrug and go "okay, whatever".
Also, work overtime to make the masks cool.
I think we'd have a higher rate of mask use with the Carrot and the Meh, as opposed to just the Stick.
I admire your ability to see the silver lining. I see it as selfishness to the point of toxicity.
I think the ship has sailed on asking people to wear masks. These people--whether they have a borderline ODD tendency to "question authority" and "stick it to the man" for the sake of "personal freedom" (read: selfish masquerading as principled), or if they just can't care about how their choices affect other people anymore because we are n months into a pandemic with no end in sight--have made their choice.
They are not willing to do the bare minimum such as wear a mask or not attend giant parties. I have to say, as far as measures to slow the spread go, these two requirements are incredibly fucking easy to abide by.
So I say shut the power to their party so it sucks, and make it harder for them to spread the virus even faster. Fines based on a percentage of income would be better.
The late Randy Pausch, in his Last Lecture[1] at Carnegie Mellon University, offered up... well, a lot of great advice, but the piece that jumped into my mind was: "It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible."
This thing looks awfully like a pissing match, and it's not just with the one homeowner in Hollywood -- it's with every person that feels the same way.
I would lay good money the cardinality of that set is not a small number.
Doesn't matter whether or not it is a pissing match. It looks like one.
Were I running the state, I'd rather spend my time and energy on doing things that would actually Get People To Wear Masks, as opposed to another round of Pissing Match: San Andreas.
Yup it does look like a pissing match.
Its not hard to get around shutting off the power. Its not hard to have secret parties.
People have been using illegal drugs for decades, despite the massive punishment that comes with getting caught - punishment that is far worse than illegally shutting off power.
So why would this actual work?
It's actually a little easier to notice and cut off power to a large conspicuous party than it is to notice drug deals are going down to do busts. It's not like all the dealers are screaming YEAH WE LIKE METH and dancing under a stream of cocaine with 20 other people clapping their hands while Billy does a kegstand.
And the action taken to shut down someone's power is to call the power company and tell them to do some clicky clacks on a keyboard.
So definitely an apples and oranges comparison. That said, it probably would be a pissing match ultimately as that person said.
Speaking as somebody who sees friends posting party footage on Instagram Stories, I would not be so confident. There are many places to host parties. With the mayor giving them attention, people will be afraid they are missing out.