VACCINE- AND MASK-SHAMING IS ALL ABOUT THE EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF THE SHAMERS: What do my Facebook friends think they are doing expressing this kind of hostility? “Here are 2 memes I encountered the other day. I suppose the people who put these up think of themselves as funny and scientifically correct. The first one exults in punishment and the second one makes casual use of the Holocaust.”

Many people simultaneously need to feel that (1) they’re morally and intellectually superior; and (2) that they play an important role in the world. Mask- and vaccine-shaming allow them to do so easily and with no sacrifice. The price, of course, is making the world at large a nastier and worse place, while not at all advancing — and probably even setting back — the cause they’re allegedly in favor of. But it’s not about making the world a better place, it’s about feeling good about themselves.