The Social Mask

Far from a Measure for a Healthy Public

This is a reader contribution from Carson Babich.

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Scrolling through social media during the COVID-19 pandemic has been interesting to say the least, especially the shocking videos on how people acted with the mask issue. First inclination would be to suggest I am discussing the people not wearing the mask, but I am referring to the opposite. From the lady in the Walmart blasting the ear drums of a man with a medical condition; to the Costco employee who assaulted an unmasked man, on video, who paid for his groceries and left; to the man who pinned up an older gentleman against a wall while another took groceries out of his bag. Now, I am not a legal expert, but I don’t think any human can assault another human over a medical mandate. I think it would be an easy case for any junior barrister to win an assault case on these unidentified individuals harassing people. This has been by far the strangest phenomenon to unpack with the mask debate on what pushes someone to act like this to their fellow human?

In the book: The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt discuss the framework of common enemy politics which leads to call-out culture and the public shaming of others for misdeeds. They point out the black bloc tactics used by anarcho-communist groups dating back to the Weather Underground and the Hippies of the 1960’s and 70’s. They would use black clothing and masks to hide identity; but in addition, to display a militant vision pointing out individuals that did not belong. Unfortunately, we see the same tactics being used by the maskers who parade around militantly shaming people who do not wear the mask as the common enemy to public health. This is a very unfortunate circumstance of our time. One can objectively look at the masks and say: what data reflects the benefits of a mask in society? In society, none really, a deeper question to observe is what impact does masking have on our psychology and what does covering a face in public do to anxiety?

Out of the many articles related to face coverings or facial response and anxiety, one study dating back to 2004 found that neutral faces – similar to a mask – triggered an amygdala response in anxious individuals more than a face with emotion. Furthermore, a study on the wearing of a niqab in Belgium reflected signs of anxiety in individuals both – wearing and non wearing – during conversation, but comfort once the veil was lifted in face-to-face conversation. Other studies conclude the need for understanding emotion comes from many areas of the face, to which humans are adapted to observe and codify. One study conducted during the pandemic reflected:

“Lower accuracy and lower confidence in one's own assessment of the displayed emotions indicate that emotional reading was strongly irritated by the presence of a mask.”

Recently, a study reflected that there may be some implications with different physiological and psychological responses that may lead to anxiety, depression, and premature mortality. The study also concludes that governments start to look at the variety of science around the safety and efficacy of masks for future policy decisions.

What we can conclude is that studies reflecting a clear anxiety presented by wearer and observer is found in the literature and reflected in society. However, billboards, signs, commercials, and television shows masks are still signalled as a main protector of people. It makes you wonder why this is still going on? Returning to the black bloc tactics of protesters – it is more of a uniform to go into battle rather than a public health tool. The shaping of ‘us vs. them’ is a strong catalyst to give masked people this sense of power both socially and pseudo-legally, one can think of the individual who maybe works at a low-paying job, insular, with no real social capital, the mask not only hides their original identity, but it also allows them to create a newer and stronger identity to be used to ‘shame the other’, to shame the enemy in the war against COVID-19.

The war narrative is nothing new given the retching of it during mainstream media newscasts culminating in the Dr. Sanjay Gupta special “COVID WAR”. This gives individuals a social power that they have never felt before, at the grocery store, in conversation, even on social media; why do you think you see so many profile pictures include facemasks? I don’t think a biological virus can travel through a computer.

It is all about showing your team colors in the fight against x or y. Masks are used as a militant tactic for ‘war points’ as the masked person shames the public and gains a sense of self-respect and moral conformation through virtue signalling. The irony is that they earn the self-respect through the indignity of wearing a mask hiding their true narcissistic and bilious predispositions. The one positive, and this is a personal estimate, is that the tides are changing, people are changing to the sentiments of COVID through reason, data, logic, and further understanding of the virus and – most importantly – the vaccination of vulnerable populations. I wonder, do the vehemently pro-mask see it too, and are they using the fear of public health to deflect their realization for a return back to the old normal, back to the insular lifestyle of previous, a come back to earth moment commonly seen in Faustian tragedies where the start is the end, and the high is over.

Rising – a show hosted by The Hill TV anchor Krystal Ball – said one of the most important lines that ties all of this together: “People have made their whole identity around pandemic compliance”, and it’s true. It is a shift from a public health tool to a signal, to a religious practice of faith given the rhetoric about still needing to wear a mask after vaccination! Moving forward, people must stay vigilant and welcoming to individuals who overcome their fear about getting back to our old normal.