Gloria Sanchez Aguilar. Peninsula 360 Press.
Amidst the confusion and chaos of a global pandemic, there is a significant group of people who refuse to wear masks despite established evidence of their effectiveness.
If their emphasis on personal freedom, their misrepresentation of science and their passion for defending their position is familiar, it is probably because the tactics have been used for years by another group: anti-vaccines. Both share important similarities.
First, there is the emphasis on personal choice, freedom and rights. "He's my son, I decide about him," in the case of the anti-vaccine, and "I have rights. You can't make me wear a mask," in the case of the mask. Both have taken root in the context of a cultural moment that emphasizes the individual over the community, self-interest over the common good.
It is no coincidence, then, that pleas to wear a mask to show respect and protect others, or to get vaccinated to achieve what is commonly known as herd immunity, have fallen on deaf ears. Both movements have also misrepresented and questioned scientific knowledge and sometimes even attacked health experts in an attempt to discredit them.
Antivaccines continue to claim that vaccines cause autism, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and anti-sniffs have claimed that wearing a snorkel makes carbon dioxide levels rise to dangerous levels - not true.
Both the anti-vaccine and the anti-smoking device have promoted behaviors, along with the misinformation and mistrust they've sown, that are dangerous, especially at a time when COVID-19 continues to cause thousands of deaths every day and the country faces an uphill battle to convince Americans to use a mask, as well as get a vaccine against the virus, which is sure to happen soon.
People's opposition to using the mouthpiece has to do with their personality traits, the individual way they react to each situation. Resisting its use can respond to multiple causes, fear, rebellion, confusion, vanity, ignorance, among others. For some, complying with these measures can mean the loss of their freedoms. Or feeling that they are bowing down to others, showing weakness according to their criteria. When people are told what to do, there is a tendency to question it and resist.
It's the psychological tendency to react to people telling you what to do. People who have conflicts with authority often oppose it, cannot follow orders, reveal themselves, and this is usually gestated from childhood. There is also the defiant negativistic disorder, they are individuals who oppose and challenge everything, nothing convinces them or satisfies them.
In these and previous ones it is totally predictable that they will oppose the use of mouthguards. People with antisocial personality disorder can be expected to refuse to use masks because they have no social conscience. Some are embarrassed to see that they are afraid of getting infected, they have a misunderstanding of personal weakness. Some more are those who, under any circumstances, put doubt, not reason, first.
A doubt that goes through the guts more than the brain. They are those who believe that the COVID-19 is an invention, does not exist and is used to control others. Some argue that mouthpieces are uncomfortable, being tubed will be much more uncomfortable. At this time the use of masks not only reduces the risk of infection, but has become an act of solidarity among people.
Specialists believe that the aggressive behaviour of some can be redirected with education to understand its importance in health matters, instead of considering it as an imposition. The pandemic is not over, we must not let down our guard. If we have already taken care of ourselves for so many months, why neglect ourselves now? Our life is the most valuable thing we have, along with our youth, the only thing we cannot get back.
Let's be aware of this, we are not immortal, the magic thought of "it won't happen to me" is a denial, there are no foundations to support it. The activation of scenarios to mobilize the economy has generated important outbreaks. Hence the need not to lower our guard. We need to take care of our lives and be in solidarity with our compatriots to stop the contagion.
Gloria Sánchez Aguilar has a degree in Psychology and works as a psychotherapist
