There’s only two things a mask now signals
And neither is flattering
If you’re still wearing a mask, you’re communicating
that you’re gullible & unscientific,
OR
that you were one of the Covid collaborators that helped enable the government’s irrational, damaging, civil-rights-violating policies. (It would be like French Nazi-collaborators purposely identifying themselves once the tide had turned.)
i have a confession to make- a couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and i went to the farmers market on a beautiful saturday morning. sunny, breezy, not too humid, a perfect day to be outside. we saw an old couple wearing masks and i lost it. i started yelling at them as we walked by which wasn't very nice of me.
obviously, they're covid terrified and probably will be for the rest of their lives. they should be enjoying their "golden years," smiling at people, smiling at each other, feeling the sun's warmth on their faces. and yet they now have this thing hanging over them- if you breathe air through your nose, you'll die. if you smile, you'll die.
i don't want to be a non-mask nazi like all those mask nazis. i'm supposed to be better than them.
but it got to me and i took a hissy fit. these people- the whole masked mass of them- are the reason we almost lost our constitutional rights, the reason this dangerous game went on for so long, the reason those at the top were able to grab so much power so easily. they're the reason i was fired from my job of 40 years, the reason my BF had to retire, the reason we lost friends, the reason we feel uncomfortable in our own neighborhood where no one knows our dark unvaccinated secret.
it's funny because down here, we see black people all the time wearing masks. they might be outdoors, walking alone, biking alone, driving alone and we suspect that they haven't been vaccinated (fears of Tuskegee) and are just doing whatever low tech, not permanently damaging thing they can do to protect themselves without resorting to the vaccine. of course, i don't have the courage to ask them as part of an informal poll. but i guess i think they have some justification for hanging onto this bizarre and ineffective behavior.
The mask of public obedience - A self-regulated ritual of subservience.
https://johnbotica.substack.com/p/the-mask-of-public-obedience