Some people express strong dislike at seeing others wear face masks, which reminds me of the anti-social punishment.
I am talking about situations where some people wear face masks voluntarily, for example in mass transit (if the situation in your country is different, imagine a different situation). In theory, if someone else is wearing the mask, even if you believe that it is utterly useless, even if for you wearing a face mask is the most uncomfortable thing you could imagine… hey, it’s other person paying the cost, not you. Why so angry? Why not let them do whatever they are doing, and mind your own business?
One possible explanation is that whatever is voluntary today might become mandatory tomorrow. If the mask-wearers see that there is a lot of them, they may decide to start pressuring others into wearing the masks. The mere act of wearing the mask publicly creates a common knowledge. “There are people who are okay with wearing the masks.” You need to quickly create the opposite common knowledge, “there are people who are not okay with wearing the masks”, and merely not wearing the mask does not send a sufficiently strong signal, because it is the default. It does not distinguish between people who strongly object, and those who are merely lazy or nonstrategic. So you have to express your non-mask-wearing more strongly.
Another possible explanation is that even if you do not believe in the benefit of wearing the masks, those other people obviously do. Thus, from their perspective, you are the kind of person who defects at social cooperation. And even if from your perspective they are wrong and silly, being labeled “uncooperative” could have actual negative consequences for you. The only way to avoid the label, without wearing the mask yourself, is to make them stop wearing their masks. So you punish them.
Face mask prevent people from reading emotions of other people. I would expect that there are some anxious people who are more afraid when the people around them are masked.
Some people express strong dislike at seeing others wear face masks, which reminds me of the anti-social punishment.
I am talking about situations where some people wear face masks voluntarily, for example in mass transit (if the situation in your country is different, imagine a different situation). In theory, if someone else is wearing the mask, even if you believe that it is utterly useless, even if for you wearing a face mask is the most uncomfortable thing you could imagine… hey, it’s other person paying the cost, not you. Why so angry? Why not let them do whatever they are doing, and mind your own business?
One possible explanation is that whatever is voluntary today might become mandatory tomorrow. If the mask-wearers see that there is a lot of them, they may decide to start pressuring others into wearing the masks. The mere act of wearing the mask publicly creates a common knowledge. “There are people who are okay with wearing the masks.” You need to quickly create the opposite common knowledge, “there are people who are not okay with wearing the masks”, and merely not wearing the mask does not send a sufficiently strong signal, because it is the default. It does not distinguish between people who strongly object, and those who are merely lazy or nonstrategic. So you have to express your non-mask-wearing more strongly.
Another possible explanation is that even if you do not believe in the benefit of wearing the masks, those other people obviously do. Thus, from their perspective, you are the kind of person who defects at social cooperation. And even if from your perspective they are wrong and silly, being labeled “uncooperative” could have actual negative consequences for you. The only way to avoid the label, without wearing the mask yourself, is to make them stop wearing their masks. So you punish them.
Face mask prevent people from reading emotions of other people. I would expect that there are some anxious people who are more afraid when the people around them are masked.