[arthur_sav]

Such a relief to live in Sweden. No one is pretending to wear masks and we're doing just fine. If i wasn't reading the news i wouldn't even know there was a pandemic.

As opposed to the rest of EU where everyone is pretending to wear masks but only as chin diapers.

[13415]

You get used to wearing masks very fast and it's no big deal. They can be inconvenient. So what. Independently of the question whether masks are needed or not, it's bizarre and unreasonable that people still get heated about this topic. There are plenty of things worth discussing other than minor inconveniences like wearing masks or washing hands.

[jeofken]

Absolutely not. I’m Swedish and lived in NO and DK during the last 2 years. Every time I went home and could live life like normal was godsend.

[fvdessen]

I personally don't think wearing masks are a minor inconvenience, and never got used to it. I like to see people's faces.

[13415]

Blessings to you, all that tells me is that you've never had a real inconvenience in your life.

[aakresearch]

I wonder if someone dares to say the same thing to a victim of any crime.

[13415]

I'll assume you replied to the wrong comment and didn't intend to insinuate that mandating the wearing of masks is a crime.

[spookthesunset]

Wearing masks are huge deal. They are depressing as fuck and make everybody look ugly. We aren’t doing heart surgery… masks are silly rain dances.

I really hate mask religion. Especially the branch of it that likes to gaslight and minimize the idea that masks suck.

[aakresearch]

Is tattooing a religious symbol on one's forehead "a minor inconvenience"? How about less visible part of a body? What if said symbol is a Hindu swastika? What if it's just a washable decal of a Hindu swastika? What if it is mandated under threat of a fine and imprisonment?

Maybe we have to agree to disagree on "inconvenience" of mask wearing. It is, clearly, an irrational but very powerful standoff. Masks have a marginal effect on protection (11% relative reduction in transmission, according to best recent study? So the abs risk reduced from, say, 20% to 18%) while having an enormous symbolic meaning, made even bigger by turning into political token. Washing hands is not even in the same league of religiousness. We'll see how it goes when it is made mandatory with govt-appointed "hygiene inspectors" at every workplace and fines up to a few grand...

Surely, fogging glasses and alike are minor things, but instinctive revulsion, panic, "brain shutting", "blood boiling" and suicidal tendencies aren't something to dismiss. I'm not particularly proud to be having such reaction, and I honestly tried to rationalize myself out of it, but to no success. At this point I also try to avoid seeing masked faces. I close articles or posts where author's photo is masked, blacklist YT channels and switch off TV when masked reporter or anybody pops up. That's the only thing I can do to keep some sanity before it overcomes me. And it will, because the mask mandates are looking to be with us for years...

The analogy you don't have to accept, but may help to illustrate how we (people, resisting "minor" inconvenience for "greater good") feel. Consensual physical intimacy is a great thing, very pleasant, absolutely harmless if practiced with proper care and contraception. People always sought it and it is still very much a driver of life, and will be forever. In wild nature our close relatives, bonobos, practice it widely and casually for stress relief, and it works great for the cohesion of their society! They known to have much less aggression than their bigger bros or humans. Surely the solid rational case can be made that adopting such practices could improve human society as well, maybe in major way. How would you feel if such "minor inconvenience" is mandated, with proper rules and protocols, of course? It must bizarre and unreasonable that the foolishness of "muh freedumb" standing in the way to "Greater Good"? How foolish it is of humans to make non-consensual intercourse a crime, sometimes worse than murder!