Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
1–10 of 45 posts
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#2The normally extremely anti-racist newspapers in Sweden have some very weird racist thoughts about the use of masks in Asia. It's just plain idiotic.
The thinking tends to go something like: "Oh, that's just asians doing things without any scientific grounding out of group think. I know that because I read an article in The Guardian which said that wearing a mask is not a 100% protection against getting infected, so because of that they are ignorant."
The messaging has also become confused by journalist-activists attempting to do some public good by saying masks are meaningless, just so that the public doesn't hoard the masks that the people in healthcare needs.
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#3The normally extremely anti-racist newspapers in Sweden have some very weird racist thoughts about the use of masks in Asia. It's just plain idiotic. The thinking tends to go something like: "Oh, that's just asians doing things without any scientific grounding out of group think. I know that because I read an article in The Guardian which said that wearing a mask is not a 100% protection against getting infected, so…
> wearing a mask is not a 100% protection against getting infected
Most things are never 100% safe. Wearing a seatbelt does not guarantee you won't be injured in case of an accident, it's still something everyone recognizes it's a good thing to wear. I wonder what the tipping point is in terms of something being silly to do vs. it makes sense to do it for the general public. I would guess that social stigma plays a big role in it.
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#4A lot of the mask usages in Japan are to help with allergies
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#5The normally extremely anti-racist newspapers in Sweden have some very weird racist thoughts about the use of masks in Asia. It's just plain idiotic. The thinking tends to go something like: "Oh, that's just asians doing things without any scientific grounding out of group think. I know that because I read an article in The Guardian which said that wearing a mask is not a 100% protection against getting infected, so…
> wearing a mask is not a 100% protection against getting infected Most things are never 100% safe. Wearing a seatbelt does not guarantee you won't be injured in case of an accident, it's still something everyone recognizes it's a good thing to wear. I wonder what the tipping point is in terms of something being silly to do vs. it makes sense to do it for the general public. I would guess that social stigma plays a b…
It's an example of fallacious thinking, "if it's not 100% effective, that means it's 0% effective".
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#6Isn't this the epitome of causation vs correlation? I'm not saying masks don't help, but this site doesn't say or link to why masks are the way.
For example, Japan has over double the population of SK, yet SK has ~9x more cases. Yet both are "high mask-wearing culture".
And of course, China, which is "medium", breaks this model heavily. Masks didn't help. Lockdowns helped.
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#7Here is a growing list of 30+ papers that back up the efficacy of masks: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HLrm0pqBN_5bdyysOeoOBX4p...
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#8Isn't this the epitome of causation vs correlation? I'm not saying masks don't help, but this site doesn't say or link to why masks are the way. For example, Japan has over double the population of SK, yet SK has ~9x more cases. Yet both are "high mask-wearing culture". And of course, China, which is "medium", breaks this model heavily. Masks didn't help. Lockdowns helped.
And both have situation under control compared to Italy or Spain. Even if they're literally next door to China and were exposed much earlier.
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#9I think you're confounding a lot of variables here... the way that Japan and South Korea have dealt with the virus are in many ways different than the way that it was handled in Italy and the US. Masks aren't necessarily as important as some of those other factors, including general cultural tendencies, such as listening to government advice or willingness to adhere to limits on movement.
It's also misleading to include the Surgeon General's tweet on this subject. This is in very specific context to having a limited supply of masks and trying to reserve them for the most at risk populations.
Re: Show HN: Japan's mask culture saves lives. The West needs to adopt mask culture
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
> wearing a mask is not a 100% protection against getting infected Most things are never 100% safe. Wearing a seatbelt does not guarantee you won't be injured in case of an accident, it's still something everyone recognizes it's a good thing to wear. I wonder what the tipping point is in terms of something being silly to do vs. it makes sense to do it for the general public. I would guess that social stigma plays a b…
It's an example of fallacious thinking, "if it's not 100% effective, that means it's 0% effective".
Yet test-test-test mantra is beloved even if it's far from 100% either.
I've a feeling that West may prefer to externalise work vs Far East taking personal responsibility. Someone has to do tests, but god forbid I wear mask.