I do, because I'm used to defending the position that "common sense" isn't always correct

I mean, in security in general we should all be used to the idea that doing something, when you aren't completely aware of all side effects, can have non-obvious harm, sometimes catastrophic

In my case, I've argued for years against mandatory bicycle helmet laws

Because, contrary to "common sense", making bike helmets mandatory increases harm to cyclists

Bicycle helmet laws dramatically reduce the number of adult cyclists anywhere they're introduced. The result is the remaining cyclists are at greater risk of injury, because there is less money spent on infrastructure for them, and less awareness of cyclists as legitimate road users by motorists.

Wow, massive storm here, I lost power for a few minutes

To finish my thought, bicycle helmets are actually a great analog for masks

There has been a correlation found between bicycle helmet usage and increased cyclist mortality, just like a lot of other safety equipment. Using a helmet can lead to more risk taking behaviour, however the helmet doesn't make you proportionally more likely to survive an accident.

Similarly, the one sound argument against masks is that they will encourage people to feel like "covid is solved!", drop all social distancing, start going to bars and clubs and sporting events, etc. Meanwhile they're far from perfect, and certainly don't make you completely safe.

So, the solution, as with bicycle helmets, is education. People have to be aware that they may unconsciously take greater risks and they need to consciously fight that urge.

@MechMK1 there have been studies that have suggested that wearing a mask can increase the chances of becoming infected if exposed because, for most people, masks often make you touch your face more. Personally I suspect this is correct, although presumably it is balanced by the slightly decreased risk of being exposed in the first place. Still, if someone wanted a "fact" to grab into to justify a mask refusal, the basic story is there

The mask thing bugs the crap out of me. Our governor recently have an executive order requiring masks everywhere in public. I don't recall anywhere in the US or our state constitution giving him the authority to make such proclamations. Given my long standing dislike of any perceived power grab on the part of the government, I have no choice but to dislike this one too. So do I complain about it? Yes. Do I wear a mask when required though? Yes

@ConorMancone my reasoning is simple

Masks suck.

Dying sucks more

the penalty for it here is somewhere in between ._.

@meagar Though I would argue that the mask, just like the helmet, are not by themselves endangering people. I personally always wear a helmet when riding a bicycle and feel like I would not act differently or "more cautiously" if I were not wearing a helmet

@MechMK1 Yes, I agree completely, and a lot of people will make the same claim when presented with this idea, but the numbers disagree.

@meagar How do you factor education into this? I mean, as you yourself said, education is an important factor, and so is infrastructure

In a country where cyclists are highly educated, have good infrastructure and were required to wear helmets, I would assume that the number of cyclist deaths would be lower than a country where cyclists were equally highly educated with comparable infrastructure and no requirement to wear any protective gear.

Education, as in, making people aware of their unconscious biases and decisions

That might be true on some level, but education and infrastructure are so important that helmet usage becomes an insignificant factor

This is why in say, the Netherlands, a huge percentage of the population commutes by bicycle but nobody wears helmets.

They have integrated cycling into every part of society, including education from an extremely early age, and they've built out a lot of their infrastructure with a "vulnerable road users first" kind of mentality

How well does this translate to other sectors? I mean, safety belts have been mandatory in cars for a long time now, and so has other protective equipment (e.g. air bags)

One would assume that that would make cars less safe too, wouldn't it?

@meagar Yes, but that's not something other countries can adapt to without significant expense

Well, no, because they more than proportionally increase safety, compared to the amount of additional risk-taking they encourage

@meagar How would one determine which safety measures overall increase safety, and which don't?

@JourneymanGeek There's always a "reason". That doesn't mean that applicable laws and constitutional precedent should be ignored. I would actually be less bothered if a law was passed requiring face masks everywhere. In the US at least, a governor shouldn't have such authority (correction: a governor doesn't have such authority)

I understand your reasoning for protest. Even if it may be for a good cause, laws must be respected.

@schroeder I do disagree with your view on what should go into a standard; discouraging homemade solutions may be a part of that. But that discussion is IMHO offtopic in the comment section, so I'll refrain from more comments on the post in question :) I also do believe we are discussing technicalities ;)