Just going to share a quick story. I'm not a leader, I'm definitely a follower. When I have had to lead, I've done the job well enough, be it at projects for work or otherwise. However, I would rather be a good worker bee than the queen so to speak.
That said, I tend not to be confrontational. I've still been wearing my masks despite the mandates in Texas. I went into an Albertsons, wearing my mask. and I saw two older gentlemen in their 50's. Neither of them where wearing their chin diapers, and they both had an air of strength and power, as in do not approach us about fucking masks. It inspired me.
I immediately took mine off. Nobody said anything.
Today, I went to the same Albertsons, this time without my mask completely. Nobody said anything once again. Then another man looked at me while wearing a mask himself as I walked past him.
When I checked out, I saw him again, this time without the mask.
The point is this: there are a lot of folks like me out there who aren't the leaders, or necessarily the ones who will pull the trigger. That is NOT a bad thing. We all can't be leading the charge. However we WANT to do the right thing. It just takes a spark to push people like me to act. If you know you are an alpha leader type, remember that next time you enter a store, and pull off your mask.
Today, for the first time, a woman ranted at me because I wasn't wearing a mask in the supermarket. "I'm at risk" she screamed at me. "I could die because of my COPD and your uncaring attitude." I hadn't recognised her because her face was completely covered in a cloth mask apart from the eyes. But, when she shouted, I recognised her as an acquaintance, whom I haven't seen in ages.
I started to explain that a mask didn't provide any protection and she was merely giving herself a false sense of security and increased risk of pneumonia. But she simply screamed "GET OUT!" repeatedly. So I jumped ahead of her, paid the cashier and left.
Trying to discuss things logically in a situation like this simply "fans the flames" so it's not even worth bothering.
If she'd done even a modicum of research, she'd had discovered that people with COPD and similar should never wear a mask because it restricts breathing AND you are breathing in germs that your lungs just got rid of (and probably bacteria from your fingers). Not only that but the virus gets in via your eyes, anyway. (Observe any mask-wearer - how often they touch the mask and their eyes.)
But it's the Darwin syndrome: stupid people will die by their own hands.
My new reply is ‘don’t be angry with me because you have been lied to’