The mask-refusing boomer generation has exposed its hypocrisy yet again. Who’s the snowflake now?

We millennials are told we're being oversensitive for insisting on security from abuse, hate speech and discrimination, while our parents continue to promote their own comfort above the right to life for others

With the recent announcement from Boris Johnson that wearing a mask in shops will be compulsory from 24 July, there has been an explosion of passion about freedom of dress from people – typically within the baby-boomer generation – who are apparently appalled by the idea of being compelled to wear something that will protect them and others.

The very same people who once shouted so loudly about how wearing a poppy should be mandatory each November – including friends and family members – are now opposed to wearing a simple face covering to protect their parents and other vulnerable people.

The entitled selfishness that has been exposed by the coronavirus pandemic appears to know no bounds. And the latest vitriol thrown at millennials and Generation Z, who now simply want our parents to protect themselves and our fellow human beings from a highly contagious and deadly virus, has to be the most hypocritical.

The word “snowflake” is overused and certainly abused by baby boomers to describe those of us who would like offensive statues to be removed, or think that wearing a poppy to mark Remembrance Day should be a free choice. Yet while wearing a poppy is a significant mark of respect for our war dead, those same purists – particularly those on the political right – apparently won’t don a mask of respect for the 44,000 (and rising) people who have died in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of these shirkers are using the argument that they have a condition which prevents them from wearing a mask; they “can’t breathe” with their face covered, they say. I am an asthmatic who, yes, has struggled with wearing a cloth mask, especially while my lungs have been irritated from allergies. But I’ve still managed to find a way to cover my face. Who is the real snowflake here?

The boomer generation has exposed its hypocrisy yet again: it tells us we’re being oversensitive about our own rights to security from abuse, hate speech and discrimination, while it continues to promote its own comfort and “rights” above the right to life for others.

Sure, the government’s contradictory and rapidly changing advice on when and whether to wear a mask has been confusing. It’s fuelled a thousand excuses for not doing the right thing. But some of us are still managing it.

If boomers think wearing a mask is an inconvenience, let’s question how they might feel with a ventilator strapped to their face – because we are certainly not out of this pandemic yet, and with a second wave now predicted by experts, we must do everything we can to protect each other.

If that means wearing a mask for a short period of time while shopping, then don’t be a snowflake. Just do it.