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You got some of those virusesses?


Ms. Spam
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There's a school district in my area that's being sued by a parent who's kid died by gunfire in his home. As in they came home and found out he'd accidentally shot himself or committed suicide using the gun that they kept in a bible under their bed. They're suing the school district because they say bullying is the reason he shot himself. During the ensuing investigation it turns out their kid was a bully and the school district has really lax policies about how to get bullying under control. But there's no WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STORING A GUN UNDER YOUR BED IN A BIBLE WHERE YOUR 8 YEAR OLD KID CAN FIND IT? questions. Trying suing yourself, Mom.

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  • 2 weeks later...

How do you guys feel about the mask mandates ending? California and Oregon are ending theirs soon, and now that they've signaled, our governor said he will start thinking about it, and the state education director said he would support making them optional in schools.

I think I'm most nervous about it at my daughter's school because there are a lot of anti-vax people there. I feel like cases are on the decline but I am still anxious. I totally get that kids probably suffer the most from wearing masks. I just also think the same people won't bother with an at-home test and will just send their sick kid to school because it's their God given right. 

On the bright side I'll probably save $80 a month not buying my kids KF94 masks.

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Mask mandates here are mostly ignored and only can be enacted by local ordinance - ie city council. I do it because I’m going to do what I’m asked/told, but so many people don’t that I’m ready for it to end.

I don’t think wearing a mask has been a problem for my kids at all, except for the 3 year old who hates maskeses 

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We dropped all restrictions around social distancing and mask wearing a few weeks ago. It was a pretty obvious ploy buy Boris Johnson to regain some kind of public favour since he's been subject to scandal. That said, all it did was highlight how arbitrary the rules around all that were in the first place. Scientific advice versus government response and mandates rarely aligned in the first place here.

I'm glad to not have to wear a mask all the time. I will if I'm in a confined space like public transport, or in a small poorly ventilated space with lots of people.. but for the most part I don't wear a mask anymore. I'm a lot less worried for everyone since Omicron has become the dominant strain here since it's a lot milder.

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I'm still wearing masks and the schools still requiring them. 

Have you guys seen the nonsense up in Canada where the truck drivers/protestors are blocking the major port in Canada over masking? I mean I get it. We're in freakout mode but honestly this is the new reality. Just accept and move on. 

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So I had a protesters the last two mornings.  Our district sent out a parent survey.  In a district of 2000 students, we had 50,000 responses...guess what happened.  The irony is that we are going to be dropping maks anyways at the end of the month.  

I had a bunch of protestors this morning--none of the people actually have students at the school.  The closest is a former parent who pulled her student out and has her kid in a private school.  I went out and was super cool and said to GTFO in the most laid-back, reasonable way ever.  They refused, so I called the police (which are like 200 yards away).  They got their Facebook/ TikTok fodder.  

I just wish these people cared as much about their children knowing how to read as they did about not vaccinating their children.  

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And then post the YouTube link/Facebook post with your soundbite here so we can all cheer.

There has definitely been more protests lately. Is there some sort of nationwide semi-organization? I'm about to leave our local school district discussion Facebook group because of all the dumbass anti-mask posts. And the governor is making an announcement today anyway. So I'm guessing end of the month or next month.

The most vehement anti-mask teacher at my daughter's school announced she is leaving and moving to a more fundamentalist school next year.  No tears were shed at our house. She is actually an amazing teacher but she has become so toxic over the whole situation, and her kids are jerks, too. I'm hoping she takes a few friends with her.

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Our school just went mask optional, so we let our kids make the call. A lot of people on either side would probably disagree with that decision, but our case numbers are going down and we got vaccinated so we could start to get back to normal. We’re still wearing masks when asked (or ordered) but I’m willing to risk a little more right now, especially because Louis already has some social issues related to his ADHD and I don’t want it to become worse because he’s one of a small minority wearing a mask.

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I'm actually becoming more supportive about dropping mask mandates but I think we should wear masks when transmission rates are high. And there's a lot of really unfortunate data around social development. But the anti-mask and anti-vax people are just continuing to be really disruptive. I feel most bad for the parents of kids under 5. They still don't have a vaccine and child care and social-emotional development has been so disrupted by COVID.

When it comes down to it, if someone asked me to wear a mask because they are worried or immunocompromised, I would. We decided to give the choice to our kids as well, since we are all vaccinated and Q hopefully has hybrid immunity. I'm pretty sure they will choose no mask. Q has been complaining about mask acne on her nose. For E, I know he's really annoyed by it but he follows rules because his 1st grade teacher made it really clear that it was to protect each other as well as yourself. She appealed to their compassionate side, which I think a lot of kids get.

That said, I am really not looking forward to increasing pressure to go back into the office once masks are dropped. Leadership finally let it go for about the last 6 months, but yesterday's meeting it came up that they hoped we would consider coming in more often soon.

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My sister’s employer is insisting on a hybrid model, and eventually a full return to the office. They also can’t get quality applicants for their openings, especially call center openings. There are a ton of call center openings that are fully remote, so you’re not going to get quality applicants to come into the office unless you’re willing to super step-up the hiring. Gotta increase that salary by a decent amount to get people to give up another hour of their day for a commute. 

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Well we got our date, March 21. Masks are still mandated on public transportation including school busses because apparently its a federal requirement? They are also allowing businesses to require masks (which I think is totally fair).

And I agree with you on the cubicle farm view. They like being able to corner someone to get information, too. Also because management jobs mostly include having meetings to make decisions instead of doing work, that is their measure of productivity. And honestly, it's a measure of control, too. I can see you doing work so I know you're doing work.

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I think masks are a fact of life now. I like not getting sick from other things too. I think this is the first time since I started teaching I haven't gotten something from one of my students because of masks and handwashing. What is it with peoples anti-vax but pro let's give all the viruses to everyone stance? I bring that up EVERY TIME someone at a school meeting brings up no longer wearing masks. I go soo how long has it been since someone got the flu in your household?

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2 hours ago, Ms. Spam said:

I think masks are a fact of life now. I like not getting sick from other things too. I think this is the first time since I started teaching I haven't gotten something from one of my students because of masks and handwashing. What is it with peoples anti-vax but pro let's give all the viruses to everyone stance? I bring that up EVERY TIME someone at a school meeting brings up no longer wearing masks. I go soo how long has it been since someone got the flu in your household?

Do you find it difficult to understand your students with masks? I hate masks at Cub Scouts because it’s so hard to understand them.

 

Unrelated to what Spam said, I also think it’s weird that we’ve decided to call people anti-maskers. It created a weird narrative. I don’t know many people who are pro-mask, more that it’s a necessary evil. Masks are uncomfortable, it’s hard to understand people who don’t project, they fog up my glasses, and in general I hate them. But I’m also willing to wear them when necessary, but I can’t in good conscience say anything that makes it seem like I’m pro-mask.

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I get what you’re saying, but the complement of being anti-mask is not being pro-mask, but rather just accepting of the reality of masks, or “not anti-mask”.

It may seem to be just a slight change in words is a critical difference in logic that dramatically shifts what is being argued.  Very few people fall into the category of wanting to wear masks, but have been accepting of the reality that they have helped lower the spread and/or help reduce the initial viral load people are infected with.

This is the exact same sort of logical fallacy that pervades many other issues, too.

It pops up all the time in abortion debates where “pro-life” proponents (and I won’t touch upon that choice of terminology, itself, here) argue that disagreeing with them means that a person wants abortions to be performed, while the mainstream opposition is recognizing that there may be at least some circumstances where abortion may be necessary for some reason.  As such, it is a completely different argument from what is claimed.

Such distinction are also important in other issues, including racism.  The complement of being racist is just not being racist.  However, that does not mean one is trying to help people affected by racism or countering it.  People who are actually doing that are more correctly labeled as anti-racists. They are certainly included in the group of people who are not racist, but hardly make up the full group.  Being in the larger group, itself, is not necessarily making the problem worse, but  is not doing anything to help solve the problem.

To bring it back around to Covid, we do also have the same issue with vaccines.  Many label anyone who has not gotten vaccinated as being antivax, but that’s not the case.  Being antivax involves truly being against vaccination while just “not being in favor of getting vaccinated” includes people who don’t understand the importance of getting vaccinated for themselves or others, may just be actually skeptical for some reason, don’t care either way, or just have not gotten around to it yet.

The distinction is critical in all of these because it alters how we try to have discourse with others and frame arguments to try to effect others’ stances.

 

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On 2/17/2022 at 11:26 AM, Destiny Skywalker said:

And then post the YouTube link/Facebook post with your soundbite here so we can all cheer.

There has definitely been more protests lately. Is there some sort of nationwide semi-organization? I'm about to leave our local school district discussion Facebook group because of all the dumbass anti-mask posts. And the governor is making an announcement today anyway. So I'm guessing end of the month or next month.

The most vehement anti-mask teacher at my daughter's school announced she is leaving and moving to a more fundamentalist school next year.  No tears were shed at our house. She is actually an amazing teacher but she has become so toxic over the whole situation, and her kids are jerks, too. I'm hoping she takes a few friends with her.

A school's collective efficacy is far more impactful to student learning than a single teacher--in fact--it is the single most important thing.  

 

2 hours ago, Fozzie said:

Do you find it difficult to understand your students with masks? I hate masks at Cub Scouts because it’s so hard to understand them.

 

Unrelated to what Spam said, I also think it’s weird that we’ve decided to call people anti-maskers. It created a weird narrative. I don’t know many people who are pro-mask, more that it’s a necessary evil. Masks are uncomfortable, it’s hard to understand people who don’t project, they fog up my glasses, and in general I hate them. But I’m also willing to wear them when necessary, but I can’t in good conscience say anything that makes it seem like I’m pro-mask.

Agreed.  I accept the reality of wearing a mask, but I am happy the mandate is being lifted.

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