re: Kurt’s mask story
His wording was super cringey and wearing a mask IS the bare minimum. However, as an American, I can’t say it’s
tit-talk worthy. Back in March and April, my husband and I posted on social media about wearing a mask. I can’t think of anyone in my social circle who didn’t post something a little vain about their mask-wearing unless they were an anti-masker (and then it was selfies of them intentionally flouting requirements). I say this because, from other comments I’ve seen here, a not-small-number of Australians have kind of adopted some of our American anti-maskers rhetoric around “freedoms” and “handling it without needing to make unnecessary laws” and even some of you comparing regional mask mandates to fear mongering.
I’m not judging any of you who have spoken this way because you’ve lived a totally different reality from my own (literally 10 months of social isolation, having multiple exposures to positive cases at a job that mandated I be there in person, not being able to see my mom while she did rehab for a brain injury, not being able to get my own medical treatments because of COVID strain on hospitals, etc.). How could I expect any of you to NOT see mask mandates as overkill when you haven’t seen the very worst of what COVID can do to your communities? I just felt it needed to be said that I rather see Kurt stroking his own ego about wearing a mask, than all the low-key comments thst eventually create the kind of anti-mask, anti-preventative measure culture I’ve seen explode in my own community. Or worse, him actively bragging about not wearing a mask and encouraging their followers to view masks as annoying or unnecessary.
I also know that these sentiments don’t apply to ALL Australians. I know some of you have masked up since day one. I am so proud of you for doing that even when it might not have been socially “normal” in your community. It’s just dangerous for us to trash on Kurt for something like this. Anti-maskers and COVID-deniers love to latch on to sentiments like that. Kurt is a human turd. But bragging about mask wearing is cringey behavior we should encourage from influencers!
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk