we had the mask thing in Thailand for a while and honestly masks already were pretty popular here anyway before anyone knew what covid even was. When they said we can go out and about if we wore masks most were happy to comply but a lot of it doesn't make sense such as at restaurants where you have to wear the mask all the time unless you are sitting and eating because i guess covid doesn't go after people if they are eating or something?

I agree with you about the polarization though. It's a bit nuts how literally anything can be made political.