Which path forward "pleases" you the most? I can't believe this needs asking but: How many deaths are you willing to tolerate before you are no longer "pleased" by this approach? If one approach "pleases" you but "kills" someone else, how should we balance that tradeoff?
They haven't made a good-faith effort. This isn't what tyrrany of the majority looks like, this is what the end result of a cynical propaganda campaign looks like.
The fact that a public official felt comfortable calling masks a "personal choice" tells me that this district isn't a big fan of masks.
I am positive that this school has a dress code. For some reason, though, they feel that they can prescribe what students can wear, unless it's a mask..?
If they're virtue signaling then by definition they're showing support for whatever the locally accepted opinion already is.
They could have made this decision the other way, and your arguments, when used in defense of it would be just as sound.
It's quite possible to be virtue signaling to a minority. Just because you're an administrator in a public service doesn't mean that you are actually doing what the community wants you to do - especially when there are limited ways of removing you.
It's even possible that the minority you are virtue signaling to is politicians and insiders - who actually have ways of removing you. It would be incredibly stupid of you to not do what they want.
You're not technically wrong but it would be monumentally stupid to do for this particular opinion.
>It's quite possible to be virtue signaling to a minority.
And it's moronic for an elected official to do that if the nature of the signal will absolutely enrage a majority or a different larger minority which "a mask is a personal choice" most certainly does.
Which is exactly the view that politicians want to foster with this pandemic. Unfortunately, they're politicians and not infectious disease specialists.
But of course thinking about the incentives and mechanisms that lead to this outcome is uncomfortable and clutching our pearls is comfortable and easy so what we'll do is a forgone conclusion.
Edit: I'm personally no fan of the policy the school chose but asinine or not they didn't choose it for no reason and it's worth exploring what lead to the people making the decisions to choose what they chose.
Edit2: Some of you would do well to read only the words I am writing here and not assume any unwritten meaning or motivation. I am specifically trying to avoid debating whether this particular instance of public policy is good/bad/right/wrong and some of you seem to be very eager to do just that.