#dont call yourself leftist if you dont mask

[huldufolk]

being covid conscious/still wearing a mask in 2024 is sexy

[drakey-wakey]

something i really really dont understand about anti mask folks (mostly on the left bc lets face it most right wingers have no empathy or community care drive) is just.. why would you choose against doing something that makes your community safer? why would you choose the option that makes life harder and worse for some of the most marginalized folks out there? it is genuinely such a nice feeling for me to just be wearing a mask because I do when i go most places and for someone to come up and tell me that theyre glad I am or that it makes them feel safer going out. why would you choose against community care and safety and still call yourself a leftist? if you constantly talk about mutual aid and caring for your community but refuse to even wear a mask I don't really want to hear what you have to say tbh

[myownprivatcidaho]

dont call yourself leftist if you dont mask up btw

[uiruu]

you know, i think the whole covid/mask “debate” shows one of the fundamental differences between the right and the left. the whole time that the right has been saying “it’s fine, it’s not as deadly as the flu, masks aren’t necessary, just go about your business and stop whining!”, ive thought to myself that i really hope theyre right. you know? if it did turn out to be nothing, and we were all fine, that would be great!!! 

and isnt that much easier to let yourself believe? dont you just want that to have been the case? that’s the difference between the right and the left. the thought will occur to both sides, and then both sides will be presented with the reality that no, indeed things are very, very serious and our lives are going to change a lot as a result. we’ll be uncomfortable with that reality, and we’ll do one of two things... we’ll either pretend that the things that make us uncomfortable arent true, and go back to the easy falsehood that everything will be okay since it’s more comfortable to believe, or we’ll swallow our pride, swallow our sense of normalcy, and face the facts head on, no matter how scary they are. 

the right, when confronted with feeling weak, small, or scared, seeks to minimize it, rather than dealing with it. if it’s inconvenient, it’s not true. 

the left, when confronted with feeling weak, small, or scared, seeks to accept it, learn from it, face the challenges, and see what can be done about solving the problems. 

this goes for things like right-wing politicians fucking up, being rapists, racists, etc, and the right unconditionally dismissing every allegation no matter what, because they dont want their beliefs challenged. they looked up to that person in power, so anything that threatens to besmirch their reputation must be untrue or overblown. when leftists see public figures fuck up like that, even if we liked them the previous day, we take the allegations into account and our views about the person in question change. the right is baffled by this response lol. they call it cancel culture, or bring up public figures when arguing with us who we have no allegiance to... like saying “oh yeah? well obama did xyz”, because they cant conceive of the idea that leftists dont unquestioningly support people in power. 

this of course also goes for things like racism, homophobia, transphobia, police brutality, etc... when you point out that something is fundamentally wrong with the society that they feel comfortable in, it’s dismissed and downplayed immediately, because dealing with the reality would challenge their entire self-centered worldview. but when leftists are presented with something like that, it makes us just as uncomfortable and scared as it makes them, and we dont want it to be true either, we also wish the world was peaceful and everyone got along and there was nothing wrong with society, that would be great if it were true. but we have to accept the hard truth that that’s just not how things work. we have to adapt, and we have to address the things that scare and horrify us, not pretend theyre not real. many leftists of course have never felt comfortable in this society, so that comfort isnt threatened by the existence of police brutality and racism (because like... those things are why many leftists have never felt comfortable in this society. their worldview isnt threatened by the idea that something they saw everyday could be unjust, because everything they saw everyday has always been unjust), but still generally speaking the same instinct to confront uncomfortable truths head-on is there. 

the right pretends weakness isnt there, while the left acknowledges that all of us are weak, but we can do things to help each other and cover each other’s weaknesses. we dont run from the idea that we’re weak, we confront it. and imo, that’s actually just what strength is.