4 types of mindsets of people who chose not to mask

Y'all I have been mad. I keep asking WHY! Why aren't people masking?

Eventually I came to and realized there are actual reasons, and I don't need to keep spinning my wheels about it.

Whether I agree with the reasons or not is irrelevant, because the reality is a large majority of people are actively choosing not to mask.

We (me too, part of this writing is self accountability) need to be creating digestible resources and spaces for us and our neighbors to learn and grow together. We need to ground in the reality that neighborhood level education and solidarity building is going to be a necessity if we are ever going to topple this empire.

An idea I have is regularly walking around my block to get to know folks. I'll bring a print out or show folks on our phones resources like the one from Hazel Newlevant titled "What’s up with Covid and how to protect yourself, 2024", as well as reports from the the People’s CDC like Safer In Person Gatherings Guide, and make space to chat about it with each other!

What ideas do you have to engage your neighbors in a meaningful way? What's going to get you to take the step to do it? What are you already doing? What other mental blocks do you find people have?

<3Until liberation and return<3

Laila

4 types of mindsets of people who rarely or never mask

1. Sometimes compliant

These people understand intellectually the dangers of passing along airborne illness, and may be willing to mask in certain conditions. For example, folks with this mindset may mask when they are sick.

Compliance can be done resentfully, indifferently, with love, and can carry various other motives or feelings. These people may also mask when asked by a loved one, or are required to by work or something similar.

Sometimes compliant can sound like:

“Fine, if I have to mask while I’m sick, I will.”

“Yes, I’m happy to mask on the plane!”

“I’ll mask indoors while I’m sick, but I’m not quarantining or masking outside.”

2. Centering individualism

Generally, this mindset does not center collective impact (i.e. death, severe illness, mass disabling). Those who carry this mindset are expecting others to take care of themselves, and they will do the same.

If they get sick, they may see it as their fault, and put that same attitude onto others. Generally, individualist mindsets also prioritize personal comfort over impact on others.

Individualism can sound like:

“I did my time and I’m over masking.”

“If vulnerable populations are barely masking, why should I?”

“I’d rather be comfortable, not wear a mask, and risk getting sick.”

“If I’m the only one in the room wearing a mask, why bother?”

3. Unaware

These people may be trusting of government institutions like the CDC. They may operate under the impression that the risk of COVID-19 is similar to a common cold.

This mindset stems from relentless gaslighting & misinformation from the government and Hollywood that has virtually erased the pandemic from day-to-day life, despite the mass death and hospitalization it is still causing.

These people may talk about the pandemic in the past tense, or reference CDC guidelines as a reason not to mask or quarantine.

Unaware can sound like:

“The CDC says I don’t have to mask.”

“The pandemic is over.”

“It’s just a mild cold.”

“I got the vaccine so I don’t need to mask.”

4. Having to prioritize different types of safety due to race, gender, or disability:

These folks are having to choose to decrease hostile responses from others by not wearing a mask.

Wearing a mask for Black, dark skinned, disabled, and trans folks, can lead to increase risk of violence, anger, and annoyance from others in a culture that is already intolerant towards folks carrying these potentially intersecting identities.

There can be genuine dangerous consequences for wearing a mask for these folks.

Having to prioritize different types of safety due to race, gender, or disability can sound like:

“It is not safe for me to be Black and wear a mask in this town.”

“My community isolates me when I wear a mask.”

“I have to choose between my safety as a trans person and wearing a mask.”

So, what do we do about it?

There is no immediate, quick answer. This stuff is at a population wide level, and many folks have numerous or all of these mindsets. Even folks who mask or want to mask are navigating these mindsets with themselves and others in their life who care about masking.

My hope is that we can stop running ourselves in circles with anger that so few people are masking (valid, I have done a lot of that).

Instead, we can engage the *why* with curiosity and compassion, and develop legitimate strategies for how to educate & resource our neighborhoods in a way that is engaging and inspiring. All with the goal and intention of building systems of collective care and ending our reliance on capitalism. And instead, deepening our reliance on each other to keep us safe.