Mask mandates imposed by governments and employers: Persecution or protection?

You live in a community. Do your part to protect it and yourself. Mask mandates are a part of that

unpopular opinion here, I agree with wearing masks but being forced to take the jab and facing pay cuts, getting fired or even jail time is absolute persecution for me. I understand the concept of the common good but what about having a choice?

Both

On the government end;

Wouldn’t need mandates if people complied with reasonable requests.

On the business end;

Negative brand image and litigation can kill a business. Mandates are designed to protect the business which in turn funds peoples’ lives.

Protection, but probably not how the survey means it.

Government Mandates- With some exceptions, they exist to try to get the economy back on track not for the good of the people. This does not apply to every country, but the countries willing to take an economic hit for the sake of their people are few indeed.

Work Mandates - Protection of the company itself. Practicality and PR. Again, virtually no job in the capitalist world gives a flip about any of their employees' well-being. If it was cost-effective for them to let staff die and replace them, they would be doing that instead but it would look bad for their brand.

In both cases, they do have beneficial side-effects of saving lives, but I don't for a second think that is the driving force.

My goodness. Look at the votes. Good see reason prevail.

A person who decides to vaccinate themself and also wears a mask is at very low risk for catching Covid. And if they DO catch it, chances are their symptoms will either be quite mild or non existent. So what is the purpose of the mandate, if not just to punish those who don't wear them?

@Addfwyn ... I think you're right. It's all about money. Just look at CDC in the U.S. They changed their isolation rules from 10 to 5 days to appease businesses (who are the real bosses of the country).

Anyone who believes wearing a face mask, in order to a) protect others from you potentially spreading harmful germs and b) protect yourself from breathing in others potentially (in a pandemic) dangerous germs, is oppressive is either a) self-serving or b) scared because it symbolises the real danger present. It's very clear that the UK and USA have large populations seeing mask-wearing as oppressive, ergo, self-serving or scared people.

ToshihiroToday  08:56 am JST

unpopular opinion here, I agree with wearing masks but being forced to take the jab and facing pay cuts, getting fired or even jail time is absolute persecution for me. I understand the concept of the common good but what about having a choice?

If you can not get or keep a job, get on a plane or enter a theater or restaurant because you chose not to be vaccinated, then that's not "persecution". It is your choice. Everyone is responsible for the consequences of their own choice.

AttilathehungryToday  11:33 am JST

A person who decides to vaccinate themself and also wears a mask is at very low risk for catching Covid. And if they DO catch it, chances are their symptoms will either be quite mild or non existent. So what is the purpose of the mandate, if not just to punish those who don't wear them?

The purpose is to get these people lacking in common sense and unable to comprehend the logic of your first sentence to wear masks and get vaccinated for their, and society's own good. They aren't being punished, all they have to do is get vaccinated like most people.

What I don't like is when people get vaccinated and then stop wearing masks.

Ossan, yes a mandate IS punishing them. And the result will only be more stubborn people. If you truly want to increase the vaccination rate, a moderate approach is the way. Insulting people for their choices, even if you don&t agree with them, won't achieve the result you seek.

Plus, think about it. How much safer is a masked and vaccinated person if those around them are also masked and vaccinated? What level of protection is sufficient? There is no 100% risk free answer. I say that masked and vaxxed people are protected enough that they need not worry about what other people do. Life always involves a certain element of risk. You protect yourself to the level you want and get on with it. No need to be bossy or insert yourself into the medical decisions that other people make.

AttilathehungryToday  07:10 pm JST

Ossan, yes a mandate IS punishing them. 

Nope, If they think it's a punishment, it's one that they brought upon themselves. It was obvious from mid last year that mass vaccination was the way the entire world was going. Not my problem if they didn't think that they might get inconvenienced by "resisting" medical advice.

Anyone who loses a job by defying a vaccination/mask mandate is free to go get some other job where that isn't required. Employers have the right to set employee requirements. Employees have the right to seek other employment. Claiming being "punished" or "discriminated" for putting themselves above the welfare of the society is both selfish and puerile.

I wear masks all the time even before the pandemic but I disagree with it being made law.

We don't have absolute freedom in society, you can't just go around walking naked even it doesn't technically harm anyone. You can't choose to take on unnecessary risk like not wear protective equipment when participating in activity and sports like ice hockey.

Good to see reason prevailing.

Should be a no-brained. You think medical staff wear them for the look??

You can choose not to wear a mask or get vaccinated, your employer can choose not to employ you, businesses can choose not to let you in to their premises.

Your choice but you have to live with the consequences of your actions.

Having said that I still do not think it should be mandated by law, it should be your choice and society has the right to make you live with the consequences of your actions, you have no comeback.

I understand the concept of the common good but what about having a choice?

and what about the choice of the super majority not having to work with those that increase the risk

of infections, nobody is complaining that its your right to increase your risk of hospitalisation or death

WTF Japan, I have yet to see any actual data concerning the increase in risk. If you are vaccinted and masked, how much extra risk is posed by people who don't wear masks? Aren't vaccinated? Both? Until we know that vital information, there is no ethical way to make policy or law.

Masks are pretty much useless if.........A) You don't have the virus, B) You are asymptomatic and C) it's anything but an N95 standard mask.

Some people on here are pro-mask but anti-vaccine....LLF...that is the biggest upside-down view of this whole mess. I'm happily vaccinated and happily I rarely wear a mask.

Both

On the government end;

Wouldn’t need mandates if people complied with reasonable requests.

On the business end;

Negative brand image and litigation can kill a business. Mandates are designed to protect the business which in turn funds peoples’ lives.

Perfectly said.

This is something that East Asians can understand. Hence, half the people in the west have been infected.

Masks have their place but mandates do not. Alienating the people you are trying to convince is dumb.

Japan doesn't even recommend wearing them outside when social distancing can be maintained, yet 99% of people do anyway. And several deaths from heat exhaustion due to it last summer too.

I dont understand why there is any talk of a necessity to mandate it, other than a bunch of virtue signalling politicians trying to score points "because that's what they do in the West and it was popular there".

Masks are pretty much useless if.........A) You don't have the virus, B) You are asymptomatic and C) it's anything but an N95 standard mask.

Sorry but the personal opinion of nameless people on the internet is not enough to disprove the mountain of evidence that shows masks are effective as measures to reduce the risk, specially when used togheter with other measures.

N95 are better? of course, but this is not a "100% or else useless" situation, a simple 3ply mask can help reducing the exposure both of the person wearing it and those around, just saying this is not true is not enough to prove it.

Some people on here are pro-mask but anti-vaccine....LLF...that is the biggest upside-down view of this whole mess. I'm happily vaccinated and happily I rarely wear a mask.

Rejecting a proved safe and effective measures like masks just for personal convenience would also be deeply illogical, unless of course replaced by for example choosing not to be in any situation where a mask is actually recommended, lots of people that do not need to leave their houses can live and behave responsibly by not wearing masks.

Masks have their place but mandates do not. Alienating the people you are trying to convince is dumb.

Mandates can be justified when enough members of a population reject a valid measure and importantly reduce the value of that measure, in Japan with the almost universal mask wearing the mandates are not necessary, but in places where people take pride on acting irresponsibly using whatever excuse they can find the mandates can be justified, as much as mandates not to smoke in certain places or to drive after drinking, alienating people that have demonstrated not being able to be convinced would not represent any loss.

Collectivism has never concluded peacefully.

Collectivism has never concluded peacefully.

Most societies have a sense of shared responsibility for each other and for the greater good of their society. That is one of the hallmarks of civilization. Individualism has a place but not when it threatens the prosperity or even survival of a society as a whole.

there is constitution.

lets follow that path.

no mandatory masks,no mandatory vaccination.everyone is equal with equal rights.

get it right.

no mandatory masks,no mandatory vaccination.everyone is equal with equal rights.

No mandatory zones free of smoke, no mandatory maximum level of alcohol while driving either? I mean those are also examples of measures inteted to lower the risk towards others because of people's decisions.

Being equal do not mean being free to expose others to higher risks, it means everybody being subjected to the same responsibilities.

I am one who feels uncomfortable if I know a person I work closely with is not vaccinated. I prefer not to know. Anyway that is personal information which I also want no part of. I dislike working with a person or people not vaccinated but I will die defending his democratic right to be unvaccinated.

I hope the readers here do realize that everyone will come eventually down with a weaker variant of COVID. It’s been shown that masks won’t stop it. They are just a way of governments saying “We’ll keep you safe.” The vaccines have largely done that.

You live in a society so do your part, people always want the benefits but scream

and carry on when asked to do the simplest thing … like getting a vaccination so you don’t get sick or worse

Real talk, those unvaccinated who feel punished for wearing protective masks are but a bunch of selfish people who only think of themselves while potentially putting at risk the lives of others. And mind you, most of them are the same people who do not believe that COVID-19 exists. Just imagine their audacity to challenge governments. 

I do not know why vaccination has come to a point of being politicized. The idea behind it all along was to give immunity to people from certain diseases. So, in a nutshell, it's all about public health. What part of it is hard to understand?