After acquiescing to wearing a mask upon entering the grocery store on more than one occasion, I decided I am no longer going to do it. The first time I encountered a store request to wear a mask was when I went with my daughter to Costco. My daughter is 21 months old. I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t want to not get to shop, so I wore it. The look on my daughter’s face was one I never want to see again. She looked part confused, part scared. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t see my face. And she seemed to be upset about it too. This is, I think, the proper reaction to have. I told myself then and there that I would not take her to a shop again if masks were required (and I haven’t). But I have shopped again at Costco. And I have worn a mask that they provided me upon entry again (I don’t have my own mask and I have no plans to get one). Another local grocery store started to “require” masks and I found myself agreeing to wear one when I shopped.
Each time I have worn a mask, I have felt a deep sense that I am doing something wrong. I have told myself that I will wear one because I simply don’t want the hassle of an altercation… or because I am in a hurry and I just want to get the groceries and get home, but I know none of these are good enough reasons. I know that mask wearing doesn’t feel right because I am obeying a command for no other reason than I am being commanded. I don’t believe mask wearing helps the spread in the way that it is now claimed to (you may recall that in the early covid days, people were advised not to wear masks). The science on mask wearing is sketchy. No one should be breathing in their own CO2 and bacteria. I am not stating that there is no effectiveness whatsoever in wearing a mask, but rather that wearing a mask is, all-things-considered, not necessary.
Beyond this, I think we should all be deeply troubled about the dehumanizing aspect of mask-wearing. By wearing a mask, you no longer get to interact with other humans in a normal way. You cannot read each other’s facial expressions and you are deprived of being able to share a smile as you pass each other by. This is no small thing. Humans read emotion and behavior by being able to see each other’s faces. We are altering our social dynamics at a fundamental level and people don’t seem to be worried about it in the least. It is also very difficult to hear any person trying to talk with a mask on. Most of the time, at least one of you has to repeat yourself in order for the other person to hear. On top of all this, the use of widespread mask use communicates the idea that we are all dangerous and to be feared. Who knows who is infected? You had better keep your distance… You had better stay home… Except people don’t. People strap on their masks and they go out out into the world ready to admonish their fellow humans if they dare not wear a mask. Apparently, those who choose to wear a mask have taken it upon themselves to condemn the rest of us. Which is another reason people should be weary of the mask mandates—it is turning us against each other. People are shouting at those not wearing masks and even calling the police on them (this happened to a friend of mine while visiting the beach in WA… before there was even a state mandate to wear one). What in the world is going on here?
The dehumanizing aspect of wearing the mask is troubling for adults, but it is absolutely unforgivable when applied to children. Adults have had the benefit of growing up in a world where they developed interpersonal skills in a normal way. By being able to get close to other people and see their faces. Children who are required to wear a mask and exist in a world in which everyone around them are wearing them are deprived of normal human interaction. This is happening while they are developing their sense of self and learning how to interact with other humans. But everywhere they go they cannot see anyone’s face properly. And the reason they are told that they can’t see people’s faces and why they have to cover their own is because there is this lethal virus out there and there is no way to know who has it. Imagine what this is doing to their psychological development. Being raised to be fearful of other humans… to be fearful of their friends. I am told that parents tell their children that they are just doing “their part”. But what does this even mean to a child? Their part to … stop spreading a virus they might have… to “protect” others…? Parents should not be normalizing mask wearing to their children. At best, if parents feel compelled to make their children wear masks and take them places where everyone else is wearing them, they should be teaching them that it is not normal and it should be temporary. It is one thing to follow the mandate for pragmatic reasons, it is another to support the mandate for idealogical reasons and teach these reasons to your child.
I can’t help but wonder about the mask wearers who have gone to some length to obtain a personalized mask. I find the desire to express your individuality while conforming to a rule (law?) that should have everyone skeptical rather disturbing. I know it is more likely that a person is thinking if I *have* to wear a mask, I might as well make it one I like. But I think this is the wrong attitude to take to the mask mandates. I think it is an indication that people are too comfortable being obedient. It also appears to signal an idealogical embrace of wearing the mask. All of this normalizing of the mask mandate is very troubling. Where is the resistance? Why are people so comfortable wearing a mask when the science is sketchy and the virus is nowhere near dangerous enough to justify this level of infringement on our freedom? It would be one thing if covid was like the virus seen in Contagion. But I don’t think you’d even need laws at that point. No one would be risking leaving their house to pick up some milk. You wouldn’t just put on your mask and slather on the sanitizer. You’d be in self-isolation and barricading your house off.
So I decided I had had enough. I wasn’t going to wear a mask if the store required it. None of the reasons I had told myself were sufficient to lose a part of myself each time I went to the grocery store. So the other day, I went to the grocery store and I didn’t wear a mask. And you know what? I felt free. I felt like I had done right by myself. I felt like I was communicating to everyone in the store that they don’t have to wear a mask either. I am certain that most people didn't interpret my lack of mask wearing that way, and that some people were upset seeing me without a mask, but not one person confronted me about it.
I am sure that most of what I have wrote will strike a lot of people as insensitive and callous. Some may even think my decision to not wear a mask is “killing people”. It isn’t, but I am also fairly sure that the media has done such an excellent job of scaring the beejeesus out of everyone that nothing I could respond with would convince them otherwise.
I have wrote this post because I am genuinely worried about what is happening to humanity in response to a virus, that while deadly in some small amount of cases, is nowhere near harmful enough to justify the violations to our individual liberty and the complete economic shutdown of the economy (why is a liquor store considered “essential” but not a small, family-owned restaurant?). And maybe, someone out there will read this and it will resonate. Maybe it will give them the strength to resist and reclaim their freedom. Maybe if enough of us do it, the government and businesses will have no choice but to repeal their mask mandates or “conditions of entry”. And maybe… we can get back to a place where people smile at each other at the store and don’t try and have people arrested for going to the beach with their kids.