It’s not possible for these people to simultaneously be so stupid that they can easily be manipulated by Donald Trump and conspiracy theory memes on Facebook, yet also either TOO stupid or not stupid enough to be influenced by propaganda from the pro-safety camp.
NO human being is immune to being influenced by messaging. The messaging just needs to be on point, and delivered by the right influencers.
Maybe they’re all a bunch of stupid sheep. Maybe. But if you can’t corral the sheep, it’s your fault for being a shitty shepherd, not the fault of the sheep.
All this is to say - it’s clear that the safety messages consisting simply of “Wear A Mask” and “WEAR A MASK!” and “JUST WEAR A FUCKING MASK!!!” are not making headway among the contingent of America that continues to disregard safety and continues to jack up the number of new cases every day.
So what COULD actually make headway? There has to be something, I just don’t know what it is. There have got to be at least a handful of real-life Don Drapers who could concoct the right public safety campaign that would ACTUALLY accomplish its goal. I’m positive of it. But whoever they are, wherever they are, they’re not being utilized properly.
Talk about blaming the victim. The anti-maskers know why masks are reasonable to end this pandemic, protecting them and everyone else. It appeals to their political agenda to refuse to listen and cooperate. No matter how clever or brilliantly crafted the message, they will refuse to hear it.
At this point only laws and meaningful consequences ($$$ or house arrest) will have any effect on them. Of course this will require a drastic replacement of politicians and national public will. I hope everyone is still alive by the time that happens (Jan 21, 2021, 12:01pm, Washington, DC?)
How about a whole panoply of he-men, burly, admired, amateur and professional athletes riffing off the Nike theme of Just Do It!
In fact, maybe Fauci or someone with his gravitas could persuade Nike to get behind this.
I don’t think laws or consequences will have any effect on the anti-maskers. They will love being persecuted martyrs (like their hero).
Wearing a mask has to become the cool, in, trending, Thing To Do. Or maybe it has to be pitched as the ultimate “counter-culture” or “anti-mainstream.” I’m so far out of popular culture that I don’t know what would appeal. I know that logic and reason will NOT appeal.
The fact that you think a campaign of pro athletes representing Nike would be the ideal delivery vehicle for the message…I’m sorry, it says that you don’t really understand what’s going on here. And I’m not trying to be mean by saying that. Really. I mean, to be fair, you said yourself “I’m so far out of popular culture that I don’t know what would appeal.”
But Nike is now inextricably linked with Colin Kaepernick, who is inextricably linked with EVERYTHING that the anti-mask people hate. Because they’re stupid - no denying it. The message has to come from something they wouldn’t immediately write off as liberal propaganda!
All right all right all right. Holy shit, man, reel it in. Put down the fucking bludgeon. And keep your disingenuous “sorry” to yourself.
I did say:
I meant something with the impact of the original Nike campaign. One would have to find the current equivalent of a single message campaign promoted by some group that these buttheads would listen to.
It takes a butthead to know a butthead, so a butthead should design the ad campaign.
The anti-mask (and anti-vax, and “all lives matter”) crowd has the inherent advantage that they are on the side of laziness and entitlement. It’s not, “one side says I need to do X, and one side says I need to do Y, so let me pick”. It’s, “one side says I need to do X, and one side says I don’t have to do anything I wasn’t going to do anyway, and I get to feel smug about how much smarter I am than everyone else”, and the latter option is always a much easier sell.
If you want to convince them to wear masks, you’d have to convince them that it prevents them from getting sick. IMO, that’s the problem. They refuse to wear a mask because most masks won’t prevent them from inhaling the virus and they really don’t care if you get sick.
I was just wondering how much of an overlap there is between people that refuse to wear a mask because it doesn’t do any good and people who, three months ago, were buying up all the masks because they thought that was the only way to prevent themselves from getting it.
I mentioned to an anti-masker, just this morning, that they’re more than welcome to wear a 3M respirator or N95 mask if they want. Even though those won’t go as far to prevent them from spreading it, at least it’ll help prevent them from getting it (which means they won’t spread it either).
When people bring up the argument that republicans will carry guns ‘for protection’ but won’t wear a mask for protection. Again, IMO, it’s the same thing. They carry a gun to protect themselves, they refuse to wear a mask because it only protects others.
If you want the anti-maskers to start wearing masks, you’re going to have to do one of two things, again, IMO. Either Trump & Co need to wear and promote them OR they need to given masks that will protect them.
Hand an anti-masker a mask and say “this will help people around you from getting sick in case you have the virus and don’t realize it yet” or “this will prevent you from getting it”. Which statement do you think is going to convince people to wear one.
In the end, it’s not going to matter. The more they don’t wear masks, the further behind they’re putting us and the more cities/counties/states/private establishments are going to require them. Eventually they’re not going to be able to do much more than wander around their house if they continue to refuse.
As mentioned, the only way to get Trumpers to wear a mask is if it is perceived as something Democrats don’t want them to do.
You need several Democrats to loudly complain in the media that MAGA masks should be banned, a YouTube video of liberals crying because such masks trigger them, that Trump mask-wearers should be banned from stores, and those masks will sell like wildfire.
Yep. That’s what I’m thinking. Make masks that themselves are a way of flipping off liberals, and some people will replace flipping off liberals by not wearing masks with wearing offensive-to-liberals masks.
Those people will be ones who know deep down that a mask will protect them and others, and would like a way to do it while still maintaining group cred.
Another portion of the non-mask-wearers don’t believe there is anything to protect against, so it won’t work on them. Maybe a new conspiracy theory that coronavirus was a hoax, but now that people have been sorted into mask wearing and non, a pathogen really will be released, which would be thwarted by a simple mask, which they have tricked you into not wearing.
Yes, this. Looking at the sheep herding analogy, it’s a lot easier to herd sheep in a direction they already want to go than it is to get them to go somewhere they don’t want to go.
It doesn’t matter what the issue is, really. The “You need to do X” side will always have an uphill battle when compared to the “You don’t need to do anything” side.
Seems like MAGA masks would fit the bill nicely. That’d be fine with me. Granted, it’s a little more in-your-face than the hats, but it’s not like it changes how you feel and at least you’re wearing it now.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, a solid Republican who once was practically the definition of “tough guy,” has been out there promoting masks.
The non-mask wearers have chosen to die on this hill.
