Wearing a mask

In FrontPage Magazine, Daniel Greenfield writes in part,

...Against an intangible virus and the fear it spreads, masks are a protective fetish and a badge of moral superiority. To wear a mask is to say that you are a responsible person who obeys public officials.

The mask is a badge of citizenship in a lockdown society. And is instinctively rejected by opponents of it.

It’s a dirty piece of polyester choked with bacteria, but somebody’s gotta wear it to save the world.

...The whole point of caring about things isn’t just the ego boost, it’s to look down at those who don’t. What good is gaining a higher social status by wearing a status symbol if you can’t look down at those who aren’t wearing that thing which conveys to everyone passing by that you are better than them?

Wearing a mask was initially discouraged. The public was told that masks were reserved for health care professionals. And then it was not only encouraged, but mandated. Now every urban hipster cheering vicariously for our ‘health care heroes’ can wear a mask and sneer at those who just don’t care.

The only problem is that it’s hard to sneer while wearing a mask. That’s what the customization is for.

Fetish objects of social responsibility cause more problems than the ones they claim to be solving.

Electric cars are worse for the environment than regular cars. Reusable shopping bags spread disease. And it’s not unusual to see mask wearers clustering together outside artisanal coffee shops and hip eateries, chattering in the certainty that the magic of their masked moral superiority will protect them.

...Governor Cuomo, who lectures non-mask wearers on respect, cares. Not enough to protect the 5% of New York’s nursing home population who died of the coronavirus when he ordered these facilities to accept coronavirus patients. But he cares enough to constantly talk about how much he cares.

...Wearing a mask is about appearing to be a better person without being a better person. That is what the fetishes of social responsibility, whether it’s farm-to-table food or flying on carbon credits, are about.

Read more here.