LogFAQs > #979834437

Yellow posted...

One time my coworker told me masks don't work because the virus can get in through your pores anyway. I calmly explained how it has to get in your lungs through water droplets.

He's not entirely wrong, he just lacked the understanding to express the actual point or draw the correct conclusion. Airborne/droplet-borne viruses can enter the respiratory tract through the eyes (specifically via the tear ducts), so masks don't provide complete protection. There is, however, a world of difference between "don't provide complete protection" and "don't work," which is something anti-maskers seem to really struggle with.

Yellow posted...

Plot twist: did you say anything? If not, I blame you.

Very often, saying anything doesn't actually change anything for the people speaking. If they're confident enough in their opinions to broadcast them on social media, then they're unlikely to change their minds regardless of how many facts are presented to the contrary. In many cases, people actually believe their falsehoods more strongly the more is done to prove them wrong, because humans are terribly silly.

Public argument, however, often isn't about convincing the people you're arguing with. It's about convincing the gallery. People who aren't confident enough in their opinions to broadcast them publicly are a lot more likely to change their minds if given reason to, and in cases where the public's opinion is important (like the response of the general public to the worst public health crisis in a century), that means it's often worthwhile to engage even with stubborn idiots who only double down on their idiocy when challenged. It is, however, exhausting to do that all the time.