And here I thought California would at least be a little better about maskers.

I don’t mask, but that’s largely because the state I live in here in the US is overwhelmingly non-mask. If there were even, idk, a few businesses in the area that did it, I might - but there’s not. Me wearing a mask around when nobody else is feels more like virtue signaling than anything. Damn near nobody else is wearing them, so few in fact that I can count the times I’ve seen them in the past year on one hand. If the idea is to wear the mask to reduce to spread, then it doesn’t make any sense because the overwhelming majority aren’t doing it.

But your situation is likely different. Perhaps you live in a more sensible state, where politely asking someone to mask isn’t met with a tirade about how masks are Nazism.

What’s funny is that I remember the original conspiracy they’re referring to. It was told to me as a funny story, about how a doctor found the best way to convince anti-vaxxers to get vaccinated was by telling an even more ridiculous conspiracy theory.

And then this dipshit immediately admits they’d believe the conspiracy theory, then proceeds to edit it with a dozen other conspiracy theories to justify sinophobia. The lack of self-awareness is astounding.

Omg, that analogy is perfect. I think I’ll start using it.

I’d add that it’s not just a lack of quality scientific education, but an intentionally-taught distrust of academics and intellectuals. At least here in the US, there’s a trend in politics and media to encourage distrust and contempt for scientists. Typically the ringleaders are Christian fundamentalists who dislike scientists whose research validates concepts that contradict their teachings, and believe that Christian “scientists” who concoct conspiracy theories are unfairly shunned and censored by a cabal of corrupt, godless scientists. Most of the anti-science crowd here supports older, discredited sciences that align with Christian theology - at least the racist, colonial-settler flavor of Christianity.