Starbucks, Masks, and Narratives

Back on June 28th I wrote about sitting in my nearby Starbucks and enjoying the resumption of an old tradition of mine, sipping on an iced coffee with my laptop and writing and studying.  At the time I wondered whether, with this resurgence of the coronavirus in my home state of Florida and others in the country, Starbucks might close its indoors areas again.  But I've been in here a number of times since and have always found the dining room relatively empty with no trouble finding a "distant" place to sit.  Although it's acceptable to take off my mask once I'm seated, I find it more comfortable to keep it on and momentarily lift it while taking a sip...I've noticed some other fellow customers likewise keeping theirs on as well.  One day a young couple that had been sitting across the store from me without masks (which was fine with me) turned toward me as they were walking out with bug-eyed, hostile stares...no doubt directed at me for wearing a mask: they were complete strangers and I was doing nothing to them, yet they felt somehow justified at throwing civility out the window over this one issue. I keep seeing Facebook posts by deniers who act offended if others expect them to wear a mask around them and who NEVER acknowledge that their usefulness is not so much to protect themselves from others but rather to protect others from themselves.  These people have doubtless heard this point repeatedly but simply refuse to receive it because it doesn't fit their bias and narrative. So instead they keep pushing this bogus "it's my body and I'll do what I want with it" victim-complex argument which avoids the fact that they are in truth demonstrating callous disregard for the health of others around them.  But I've discovered a major truth, which is that once people get a particular narrative stuck in their brains, then no amount of facts, logic, or mitigating input will ever convince them to either dispose of it or even to expand upon it a little: they'll accept information, no matter how spurious, that props it up...and either reject or ignore anything broadening or contradicting it...