I’ll start off with a personal anecdote, partially to vent and partially to set up an example for the topic, block quoted so you can skip if you wish as I tend to ramble on a bit (TLDR afterward). If this fits better into another topic (Masks? One of the many existing “Trump” ones? Studies with obvious results?) or does not merit a topic I’m happy to move or remove.
I live and commute in a blue county within a blue state. This morning I was taking public transit to work and wearing a mask, as I have every commute since lockdowns ended. I approach a bus stop and briefly look up to two buddies having a conversation, then I turn and stop to wait for the bus. One of the gentlemen changes the conversation to start talking to his buddy about masks—how it doesn’t make sense to wear them, how they’re dumb, how I’m wearing the mask because I’m scared, how he’s scared of me because I’m wearing the mask, how masks aren’t necessary because “the mountains cleanse the air” (he knows since he’s been here 20 years, if I were more confrontational at that point I would have welcomed him as he’s a relative newbie to the area), etc. His buddy is mostly just passively agreeing, though he does at one point mention he didn’t get any vaccines, only for the main heckler to say he does have vaccines. At no point do they mention the election or other politics. I do not look at them or engage in any way. After about 5 minutes of this, the bus comes and I board. In 4 years of wearing masks I’ve never once been heckled, I figure it was bound to happen sooner or later and it’s finally happened. I think nothing else of it.
The heckler and his buddy sit at the front of the bus, and I sit in the far back row (no one else was in the row). I’m on my phone, not really paying attention as over the next several stops several people board and deboard. After some time I become aware of a gentleman now sitting on the other side of my row muttering to himself about masks. I do not look at him at any point, but I assume it is not the same person as earlier, unless that person moved seats without his buddy after several stops just to sit closer to me. Over the roar of the [engine? forced air? idk how busses work, whatever’s loud and in the back] and road noise it’s hard to make out what he’s saying, but he clearly does not like masks. Eventually he escalates to saying to himself that I ought to go back to Japan (??? I don’t look even slightly Japanese). After several minutes, he escalates more and starts describing to himself how badly he wants to punch me in the face as hard as he can.
Now, I’ve been punched in the face on public transit before, years ago for unrelated reasons. In retrospect there were clear signs it was going to happen, but I was too dense to see them until it happened. Even I’m not dense enough to miss that things might go badly if I sit with this gentleman for another half hour though. The next time someone signaled for a stop, I deboarded and waited for the next bus.
It was at this point that it hit me (pun intended?)—this is my first time commuting since the election. Did I just have terrible luck, or is it related to the election, or something else? One person heckling me I could imagine, but two on the same day after 4 years of nothing? I may try wearing my mask on the way home tonight (for science), but perhaps after that it will be time to retire the mask.
TLDR, two (presumably separate) gentlemen heckled me for several minutes each this morning for wearing a mask, and I wonder if the recent election is the cause or just coincidence.
I don’t post much in politics here because I don’t do well with confrontation and because I don’t usually feel like I have much to add, but just so you know where I’m coming from: I wasn’t going into this week looking for things to pin on President-Elect Trump. I’m a republican who hesitantly voted for VP Harris in the election, but I’ve been optimistic that a Trump Presidency will not be so bad as many believe. This experience has tempered my optimism.
So questions for the topic: Have you noticed people suddenly speaking or acting differently toward others since the election? If so, is this a temporary spike in people acting “MAGA”, or will things normalize (or get even worse) as time goes on? All anecdotes are welcome, but especially those with offline situations, not because acting poorly online is okay, but more because in my (very limited) experience people generally seem more able to act reasonably toward each other offline than online. It’s my sense that online discriminatory rhetoric has picked up, though I don’t have any traditional social media so haven’t really experienced that.
If they had been more in my face I probably could have come up with a reason or two that would be palatable for them, as I have several reasons (some I imagine more palatable than others)