Obviously The Man tells us what we can and can't do in lots of ways, but I guess psychology is such that status quo bias means that being told to do so some new thing, especially when you think The Libs Are Making You Do It, is intolerable. That a nontrivial number of people are driven into genuine - not performative - rage over very minor inconveniences is, I guess, not surprising. Everyone has a road rage story, and everyone has seen the red faced ham man apoplectic because the service worker gave him the wrong sized fries.
It isn't as if governments are generally enforcing mask requirements with jack booted thuggery. I suppose there are some fines happening in some places, but basically getting chucked out of a store (private property) is about the extent of the "tyranny" you are about to experience.
Literally everything about covid at all levels of government could have been handled better, but I don't even know how to overcome a culture of Spreading The Plague To Own The Libs Even If My Kids Get It Too.
I guess we had a good run.
