Because people love power.My thing is this, and I have said so from the beginning. Is the juice worth the squeeze, is the risk worth the reward? We've had multiple assaults and murders around the globe over confronting people not wearing a mask. It isn't like confronting someone is going to change their mind, and it opens you up to risk. So there is literally zero reward, but at least some risk. So why do it? Especially now when we are finding out exactly how useless they are.
(Most) people love making others toe the line and do as they are told.
There are dozens of little Hitlers in every crowd, just itching for a chance to make someone else bow down.
This entire pandemic, and the attitudes it has exposed, has shown us just how easy it is to become a totalitarian state.
I used to wonder at how easily the "Good Germans" embraced the Nazi party. I don't any longer.