Sanity Returning as Walloping Percentage of New Yorkers Want Masks Banned

New Yorkers are overwhelmingly in favor of banning mask wearing in public, a development which comes in the context of crime and harassment perpetrated by individuals concealing their identities.

A poll from Mercury Public Affairs conducted on behalf of #UnMaskHateNY found that 75 percent of residents in New York state want a mask ban, according to a Monday report from the New York Post. Another 23 percent said people should be able to wear anything they would like.

Support for a ban on masking among the 800 respondents to the poll was seen across demographic lines.

Some 68 percent believe that “although protecting free speech rights during protests is important, it must be balanced with public safety and does not extend to someone terrorizing others by engaging in hateful or harassing behavior,” per the Post.

The majority also say they have noticed an uptick in discriminatory behavior: 60 percent concur that harassment based on race or religion has worsened, while only 12 percent believe discrimination has fallen.

Jewish respondents were very likely to say that harassment has worsened, with 74 percent agreeing that the problem is increasingly severe, a sentiment d by two-thirds of respondents over 65 years old.

Those findings come after an elevated number of incidents involving harassment or even violence targeted at Jews, especially those who wear religious clothing.

The Post reported on one such incident in October, which involved a black man berating a Jewish customer at a kosher cafe in Brooklyn.

The man was filmed demanding that the customer give an opinion on the war between Israel and Hamas, asserting that “Hitler was onto something.”

He also claimed that Jews were behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy and that Jews are “killing babies,” predicting that “something bad is going to happen” to Jewish people.

These incidents do indeed seem to be more common after the events of Oct. 7, 2023, and the war in Gaza which followed.

Jews are unfortunately an easy target for public harassment, especially when they wear religious garb.

This survey also comes amid a broader crime spike in New York City and other major urban areas. Masks can slow down the police as they try to locate criminals and hold them accountable for robberies, public harassment, or much worse.

Then there is the starkness of this overwhelming pivot in sentiment away from masking.

Just a few years ago, health officials in New York City were lecturing the public about the need to wear masks to avoid the spread of COVID, an order with which many seemed to comply.

But now those masks have not only outlasted their utility, if they had any in the first place, but have instead managed to get on the nerves of people in the Big Apple.

The masks, in other words, are coming off.

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