> Why didn’t these folks file this petition sometime during the 12 years since then where it likely would’ve gotten a more favorable reception?
Because then The Uniparty would look bad.
Instead, we can prop up the illusion of democracy and point fingers at "the other side" of good cop / bad cop while elites poison everybody more. We wouldn't want people living too far beyond their working years, after all.
> A - masks don't protect you, they protect others
This is flat wrong, but also a demonstration of how far the Back To Normal propaganda propagated, because it's a common misconception. They protect both; especially at an N95 level of filtration.
> B - what % of the population leaves the house when they feel sick enough that they should wear a mask?
For starters, ~40% of COVID infections are asymptomatic (and still carry the same aforementioned long-term risks).
> how many people come out of the wood work to make disparaging comments about people who use cannabis
It's actually not even just HN. I've noticed this with many people in real life (US).
It's especially strong with the subset of Boomers who never used it. They make it part of their personality to have not used it, while often fully embracing alcohol and ignoring all of the personal and societal risks it brings. Surely they pass this mentality onto their kids with a 50% success rate.
Maybe it's some kind of inferiority/superiority compensation mechanism for not being a hippy like their rival sibling was, etc.
If people are this concerned about heart health, they'd be wise to continue a zero-covid lifestyle into 2026 and beyond, since each re-infection (which vaccines don't prevent) increases the risk of severe health outcomes, including heart-related issues among lots of others.
Yet I only see about .5-1% of the population in my area these days wearing any kind of mask/N95 respirator in public.
> Because an individual can only positively influence one thing at a time when it's so far outside of their sphere.
Not true, but let's pretend it is: then pick the parent item that's affecting all of the child items: aforementioned faux democracy. Then everything else falls into place.
But based on your various comments here, you don't seem interested in solving the root issues.
> Yes, housing, medical, and college are outpacing incomes. Which item would you want to work on if you only got to pick ONE thing?
Why would we intentionally narrow the discussion like this?
That's something that pretend political parties do to prop up the interests of the uniparty of capital interests while squelching actual progress for the majority.
> The people on this site are, overwhelmingly, the people who already "came together" to build businesses like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and so on.
No conspiracy required. It's just corporations acting like one would expect. In fact, it'd be very strange if they didn't.
It's fundamentally a design problem (or for elites, a solution).