Using personal protection equipment (PPE) to protect ourselves and others from transmission of the covid-19 virus sounded simple and noncontroversial for a while. Why would anyone not want to take precautions against spreading a terrible, sometimes fatal disease? Medical and other endangered workers use long coverall garments as well as N95 masks and gloves. For the rest of us, the CDC recommends simpler masks (even cloth bandanas) as a backup for social distancing (remaining six feet away from anyone not in our own household), frequent hand-washing, and other simple hygienic measures.
For some reason, using the masks has become a line in the sand
for some people. Shouting “liberate” or “freedom” as if they were charging the
Bastille, they tear off their masks and refuse to wear them. They are mostly loyal
Trump followers; he has refused to wear one himself, saying that he can’t greet
heads of state wearing a mask. Some others have more murky reasons that seem
based on their belief that someone is conspiring to deny them a Constitutional
right to go wherever they want to, breathe on anyone they please, even carry
guns into the Capitol of Michigan. They cite dubious claims by “experts” that
the masks do little to protect wearers and may even harm them. They may confront
security guards and clerks violently and have even killed some of them.
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| Actor Clayton Moore wore this mask (now in the Smithsonian) when he played the heroic Lone Ranger on television. |
What is it about the masks that enrages these people so
much? Surely they don’t worry about looking like bandits, for they are joyfully
acting like criminals. Masks are slightly uncomfortable, especially if ill-fitting
or worn very long, but that doesn’t seem like a sufficient explanation for the
fury. A Facebook friend has proposed an amusing hypothesis that they associate
wearing a mask with wearing a condom, which might explain some cases but is too
gender-specific to account for others. Judging by their signs and statements,
many of the mask haters seem to be right-wing Christians. Could they be afraid
of looking like Muslims or some other religious group they dislike?
While many refuse to wear masks, and some of us wear them
merely as a sensible precaution like wearing boots in snowy weather, a few
liberals have happily embraced them as an obvious political statement that has
actually added some fun to the controversy. Democrat Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the
House of Representatives, wears color-coordinated masks to match her fashionable clothing and proclaim her support of using masks. (Melania
Trump has done the same, presumably only as a fashion statement. It must drive
her husband crazy.) In Paris, some Muslim women who wear burqas have pointed
out that formerly the face-hiding burqas were illegal in France, but now not wearing a mask is illegal. What are
they supposed to do?
With any luck, this whole subject will seem quaint by the
end of the year. We will look at photos taken during the early pandemic stages
and smile at the foolishness, just as we look at clothes in old movies. At
least, I hope that’s how it turns out.
Copyright © May 21, 2020
by Carol Leth Stone (a.k.a. RovinCrone)
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