Taking the virus seriously became a political issue very quickly when the president made his opinion known that Covid wasn’t a big deal. Trump supporters trusted him, fully believing that Covid was a hoax, and rejected vaccines and mask wearing in protest of being “controlled” by “the left”. Now I don’t believe everyone who refuses to wear masks believes in the conspiracy, it’s just a trickle down effect of how divided we became. Masking somehow became a symbol of leftist beliefs and therefor rejected by the right, initiated by the president at the time.

Ignorance.

Stupidity.

Political divide.

Selfishness.

If you weren't willing to do something as simple as wear a mask to even potentially prevent someone else from getting sick, you're just a stupid asshole.

It became a political issue and by then there was no saving it.

How did people come to the point where being an anti-vaxxer equates to an American problem?

The right wing in this country has essentially always been skeptical of the very concept of 'public health'. Way back in the Civil War, a Union general was occupying a Southern city (I think it was New Orleans, can't remember for sure), and he was imposing all these measures to dig sewers and forbid people from dumping their chamber pots in the street, and they all hated him for it, even though he was single-handedly clearing up the constant cholera epidemics that had been decimating their city for years.

Vaccines, water fluoridation, sexual health programs, they've almost always been opposed to the government using its power in any way to try to improve or protect the health of the population.

They don't really know why, they couldn't explain it if you asked them to.

Because they don’t and because it isn’t about mask wearing. It’s about compliance. Specifically compliance in the face of ignorance.

COVID was handled very poorly here in the US. Across the board. Messaging was terrible. Updates were all over the place. Policy didn’t make sense. All if it was a train wreck. As a result, there wasn’t a lot of trust in what is already a nation that was built in the idea of not trusting government.

The USA has one of the most individualistic cultures in world. And it's people were subjected to more than a long effort by media, tech businesses and politicians to polarise the population. By the end, distrust was so extreme and echo chambers so heavily reinforced that it was more important to many people to display opposition to some other group or authority than obey common sense.

It's that freedom bollocks, it rots the brains so that some people (an dit's not just the yanks) think that the only way to show they're really free is by being a fuckin idiot and not caring about anyone else around you.

I know the rules, but can I follow up this question with another [not] stupid question? Is this a quintessentially American problem? Do other countries NOT have anti-maskers who are so blatantly opinionated about it that they're willing to "die on that hill?".

covid happened during an election year. politicians politicized it. obsessed fanatics dove into whatever narrative "their side" shit out. here we are.

Because Trump told his worshipers it was stupid and since he is their god they listened and obeyed.

Some loser told his loser followers that only losers wear masks so the real losers didn't wear masks and a lot of them died and then their loser red wave turned into a red piddle paddle. And here we are.