Mask rage in a Cambridge ride-share car

Historians still don't agree on why the Roman Empire fell, so I doubt they will come to any quick consensus on the end of ours. Why do empires fall? The growing imbecility of the populace is always a favorite theory, especially among those who like to denounce the degeneracy of the young, but as a theory it lacks explanatory power. Were the Romans under Valens more stupid than they were under Augustus or Trajan? That seems doubtful. Did British intelligence decline between the 19th century and the 20th? To me it seems that it might have improved somewhat. At least by mid-20th century a majority of Brits had attained the wits to doubt that an empire was doing them any good.

What rampant, howling stupidity will destroy is the nation, not the empire. Historians won't agree about that, though, because many of them will be howling fools themselves.

At the present rate I wonder if the "American experiment" will even rate a footnote.

Is there a criminal law allowing the police to arrest someone on an allegation of non-masking based upon a driver giving a name to the police?

I'd wager. Not an excuse, but being separated from the ordinary everyday interactions inherent in living in a normal society makes some folks forget how to behave in the presence of others. I think the greater amount of time spent online and public masking also contributes -- because the sense of empathy one should feel when looking at someone in the face isn't necessarily there when interacting from behind a keyboard or when a mask is covering their face.

And there are a lot of people who are pissed off that mask requirements are back after many assurances that vaccines would mean a return to pre-pandemic normal life. You may not agree with their attitude, but it's real and it's not going away.

propaganda media outlets that have been undermining faith in medical science for years, and have particularly focused on casting doubt on vaccines and mask-wearing in recent months.

Fox News and its ilk are a deadly pox on the republic.

One of the major political parties in the country, comprising about half its voters, has spent the last 25 years waging war on the truth. Not specific truths, like ideas that are politically motivated (though it's also done plenty of that), but big-T Truth, the actual idea that things are knowable and that expertise is to be trusted. It's been a multi-front war, and it's been remarkably successful: you can now say absolutely the dumbest and most easily disproved things you want on camera, and it's not a liability in the slightest. People with advanced degrees in specialized areas are treated with exactly the same credibility as dudes in sunglasses driving pickup trucks and making Youtube videos telling you "do your own research." And now a significant minority of the population gets its news exclusively from places with an active interest in spreading politically convenient lies, and are so disconnected from objective reality that they think that a totally reasonable response to being asked to wear a mask inside a car they're sharing with a stranger is "attack this person and his car."

In the early 2000s, I have def sat in the front with the cab driver in a party of 4. Been in a cab of 4 on more than one occasion.

Seems like one of those arbitrary policies that are enforced/not enforced based on the whim (or the racism) of the driver.