I think generally the mask thing is just policy makers desperate to do something, anything that seems to be helping so they don't look woefully incompetent and powerless. Do they have any affect? Well I guess if you are in a crowded bus or something they might stop people from spraying you with their snot when they sneeze a bit better, but then again so will a good tissue or handkerchief, will they keep you from getting sick? Eh doubtful.

I think Americans have by and large been unable to choose their battles around this sort of thing, I hate wearing a mask but I'm not going to waste time and effort fighting everyone over it. If a shop wants me to wear one I'll wear one in the shop. If the FAA requires me to wear one on the plane I'll do it without a fight but that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea but if wearing masks is the kind of security theater we need to keep random dumbasses from freaking out and shutting down flights entirely, it's the lesser of two evils.

I think the very strong anti-mask sentiment you see in viral videos is a very uniquely American response to authority. You saw something similar when the TSA brought in the backscatter X-ray scanners and patdowns and people started stripping to protest. Americans really really don't like being told what to do and will fight you for it. They just aren't so good at picking and choosing which battles are worth fighting.

Like most things in American society now though it quickly became very politicized. Rather than simply ignoring the guy that is not wearing a mask, American feel the need to virtue signal and "confront evil when they see it" which of course just makes more people annoyed by it and less likely to wear the mask and it becomes an identity and a movement. The opposite also reigns true, if like now most people don't wear the mask, you'll get people confronting the odd person who does. It used to happen to Asians sometimes pre-covid visiting the west and getting confronted about it. I don't think it was America but in the UK some old lady called the cops on a bunch of students from China for terrorism when they were just wearing masks in the store. Wouldn't be surprised at all if similar things happened in the states.

Asia is an interesting case with this as the masks have been highly normalized for a while. There were some anti-mask type protests I saw footage from in Tokyo but unlike America nobody seemed to want their tick tock moment and just ignored them so they didn't get much traction. In that same vein though Asians believe the masks work but they are so culturally normalized now nobody uses them in a manner that would even approach effectiveness. I think their main benefit is that you can get away without doing your makeup and nobody will notice, which pre-covid was why most people wearing them were women.