I am coming very late to the discussion but I just saw your link on the previous MM and wanted to share something I've been writing about, though will wait to post until the dust settles.
Masks stopped being about public health about two weeks after --and I like how you put it-- The McNothingburger hit worldwide. I knew this when I saw ads about sexy masks, sporty masks, colorful masks, anime masks, masks for couples, masks with memes on them, masks with a political agenda, designer masks; that is, masks that do everything but the thing they are supposed to do. This is because after two weeks the real danger went out the window, the end of doctors and scientists that are not stupid know this. If real danger was there would they actually have the time, or the headspace, to make all this nonsense? No. In times of danger survival is the key, not fashion. Fashion is way up on Maslow's pyramid. As with socio-political movements like environmentalism, which got hijacked; as with the defense of people of color, which got hijacked; as with feminism, which you guessed it, also got hijacked and many more. When the very thing they were supposed to do is no longer happening you know that it is just a façade to parade on the status acquired thus far by such movement, and this is crucial, of something that has already happened .
It is not only trendy to wear a mask today, it has become a symbol of status and whoever can't afford to follow or agree with these excessive norms is frowned upon and denied entrance, excluded socially and shamed publicly. Don't get me wrong, Kimberly and all, there is a vast gray area in the middle. People that follow out of fear, people that do it because they have someone at risk on their families (quite sensible, now and with the seasonal flu), people that just don't care, like me, and just do it to flow smoothly through my very modest social interactions and people that just don't know what the hell is going on but there is a very particular stench which smells of implanted thoughts, from the true believers and I find it quite distressing. It has become a way to easily identify their clan from The Other and most important of all, it has become a tool to provide the mindless a sense of security and social acceptance. I think that is why the propaganda is pushed so hard on it, because if the governments can still exert some form of control, peace of mind comes to the people that fear a shift in the status quo, which is of course, the well to do and the PMC...
That said I do think that wearing masks is sensible sometimes. Here in Mexico the panic is at least 5x more than in the US. Following the classical Mexican mindset of "If big brother is pushing x, we should do so with triple glee!" but I find it sad that people that do need to stay safe, as a friend of mine, which is the actual people that are thinking about the public health issues are left in the dark because the whole thing is now political. Aaaaah the nonsense of binaries. *Sigh*
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timeasmymeasure
Re: masks ... as a status symbol
Date: 2020-12-24 12:22 am (UTC)Masks stopped being about public health about two weeks after --and I like how you put it-- The McNothingburger hit worldwide. I knew this when I saw ads about sexy masks, sporty masks, colorful masks, anime masks, masks for couples, masks with memes on them, masks with a political agenda, designer masks; that is, masks that do everything but the thing they are supposed to do. This is because after two weeks the real danger went out the window, the end of doctors and scientists that are not stupid know this. If real danger was there would they actually have the time, or the headspace, to make all this nonsense? No. In times of danger survival is the key, not fashion. Fashion is way up on Maslow's pyramid. As with socio-political movements like environmentalism, which got hijacked; as with the defense of people of color, which got hijacked; as with feminism, which you guessed it, also got hijacked and many more. When the very thing they were supposed to do is no longer happening you know that it is just a façade to parade on the status acquired thus far by such movement, and this is crucial, of something that has already happened .
It is not only trendy to wear a mask today, it has become a symbol of status and whoever can't afford to follow or agree with these excessive norms is frowned upon and denied entrance, excluded socially and shamed publicly. Don't get me wrong, Kimberly and all, there is a vast gray area in the middle. People that follow out of fear, people that do it because they have someone at risk on their families (quite sensible, now and with the seasonal flu), people that just don't care, like me, and just do it to flow smoothly through my very modest social interactions and people that just don't know what the hell is going on but there is a very particular stench which smells of implanted thoughts, from the true believers and I find it quite distressing. It has become a way to easily identify their clan from The Other and most important of all, it has become a tool to provide the mindless a sense of security and social acceptance. I think that is why the propaganda is pushed so hard on it, because if the governments can still exert some form of control, peace of mind comes to the people that fear a shift in the status quo, which is of course, the well to do and the PMC...
That said I do think that wearing masks is sensible sometimes. Here in Mexico the panic is at least 5x more than in the US. Following the classical Mexican mindset of "If big brother is pushing x, we should do so with triple glee!" but I find it sad that people that do need to stay safe, as a friend of mine, which is the actual people that are thinking about the public health issues are left in the dark because the whole thing is now political. Aaaaah the nonsense of binaries. *Sigh*