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Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 31, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I think it might ironically be an example of American individualism. Some folks still call maskwearers sheep etc, but if you wear a mask at this point, you’re obviously bucking a great deal of indirect and sometimes direct societal pressure to just take it off and rawdog the air.

Lots of Euros wore a mask when the societal signal was to wear one and took it off when the society (I’d say the government, but there are still ‘formal’masking decals in public buses and so on, nobody just gives a shit) signaled that they should be taken off. A 2023-turning-2024 masker is resisting societal pressure - not to the same degree as 2021-turning-2022 antivaxxer, but still.

The Japanese soldiers who think the war is still going.

I think this explains most of it.

Americans really want to express themselves. The N-95 on the bus is the mirror image of the "Let's Go Brandon" t-shirt.

If I remember correctly, bumper stickers aren't really a thing in Europe either.

If I remember correctly, bumper stickers aren't really a thing in Europe either.

I see them on about 1 in 500, maybe 1 in 200 or 1 in 1000 cars in Poland.

Not sure is it making it a thing or not a thing.

Rate is much higher in the US. 1 in 10 maybe?