I've tried presenting a pretty simple "what if" to see if just maybe someone will see that maybe wearing a mask is not "the first step towards communism". (Yes, one of my neighbors tried that line)

How about I walk into a Costco, barefoot, shirtless, sit in the middle of the store and light up a big cigar? When I'm dragged kicking and screaming from the store bellowing about my "constitutional rights being violated" and then spewing all over social media about the "nanny state telling me how to live my life", and "I can assess the risks on my own", before ending with "think for yourselves, you weak sheeple" - how many would support me? How many would make this a hill to die on?

I've decided the answer is "depends on what our *president says about it". I guarantee you that within 30 minutes, Costcos all over the country would have shoeless, shirtless men sitting on the floor smoking cigars and playing the victim because the damn liberals were politicizing it.

My real answer is exactly like yours.

I wear a mask because it shows that I care about others as much as I care about myself. My mask is a symbol of the belief that we are a community and we need each other to thrive and succeed.

For those that push the opposite agenda (while claiming that I'm the one politicizing things. With science) - they think it makes them look like rugged individuals who live (and die, in theory anyway) on their own terms. I see the asshat on the floor of that hypothetical Costco...