Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by sellyme 1693 days ago
> The half that continued to wear masks after the CDC said it wasn't necessary?

If you posed the question I presume the CDC would say that it's not necessary to wear hats. I don't think it's a reasonable conclusion to then say that everyone wearing hats distrusts the CDC.
1 comments
brigandish 1693 days ago
Even if we accept that wearing a mask is equivalent to wearing a hat - it's not at all - but still, even if we were to, if the CDC initially said you should wear a hat and later said that you shouldn't wear a hat, and if no member of the public was wearing hats prior to these pronouncements, what else would continued hat wearing imply?

This Atlantic article[1] seems to imply that it would be "an expression of political identity". These Pew Research results[2] titled Partisan Differences Over the Pandemic Response Are Growing would seem to back that up. It's not the only research they've done of this nature[3].

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/liberal...

[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/03/partisan-diff...

[3] https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share...

link
Talanes 1692 days ago
>and later said that you shouldn't wear a hat

"Shouldn't" is very different than "not necessary." In a way that changes the entire premise of the discussion.

link
brigandish 1692 days ago
That's splitting hairs, no one was wearing masks before their guidance came in. For them to say you shouldn't wear masks or you don't need to has exactly the same meaning given their previous stance.

Maybe we should now quibble about my use of "no one"?

link
Talanes 1692 days ago
No it's not. The minute I start doing something, whether I continue to do it or not is a complex decision that comes down to many more factors other than why I started doing it.

The most common stated reason amongst my peers for not stopping mask usage during the short summer detente we had locally was a desire to get their moneys worth from all the masks they had already bought.

link
brigandish 1690 days ago
> The most common stated reason amongst my peers for not stopping mask usage during the short summer detente we had locally was a desire to get their moneys worth from all the masks they had already bought.

As that’s fallacious on its face, I’d have to assume that wasn’t the actual reason. Regardless, it’s still a quibble given we’re talking about actual guidance, if there’s a point to arguing about s hypothetical set of guidelines that will never be issued and would provide a distinction if they were , I might be interested. It wasn’t, won’t, and wouldn’t.

link