COVID Masks are Gang Patches

May 6, 2020

By NZB3

One of the visible features of the COVID-19 crisis has been the waring of surgical  masks. These, like much of this political crisis, are not there for health reasons alone. It’s also about theatre and superstition. They signal to others that the waringer is serious about the political fantasy and that’s quite separate from any practical matters.

Superstition is another matter too. Reminds me of the primitive people who re-created the first aircraft they saw out of wood as an object of worship. For this woman, wearing the mask is donning a totem object not anything to do with health….

“Where did you get that mask from?”

“Well since we have to wear them and it makes it hard to breathe, this makes it a lot easier to breathe,” the woman replies.- Covid 19 coronavirus: Woman cuts hole in face mask because it ‘makes it easier to breathe’; Stuff

And don’t even get me started on the modern day version of sacrificing the things we love to pacify the gods’ wrath! This week we found out that the Canterbury A&P Show (or whatever they’ve decided to call it now) was another thing we gave up to keep the COVID-19 boogieman away.

“I wear mine in my car…because I have to tape the top part to my face so my glasses don’t fog up. …You aren’t wearing it so much to protect yourself from others, but, to protect others from you! I have to go get groceries…I wear a mask for your protection.”- FB commenter

If you were a confirmed case of COID-19 I’m sure you wouldn’t be going out for groceries at all. A mask would be no substitute for self-isolation.

So when you say you’re protecting others from yourself what do you mean? It must be that you self-identify as putting other people at risk even though there’s no material reason to believe that or else you’d surely do the responsible thing and not mingle.

So you self-identify as being a toxic person even though you aren’t and wearing a mask makes you feel as if you’re not one. Like the Kentucky woman in the photo above, it’s a sort of penance against a core idea of self-esteem that has no relation to physical health.

I say that you are not a toxic person, you are a caring person, and you don’t need to wear this ‘gang patch’ marker mask to prove it to anyone.

Removing the masks would be an act of Anarchism because it would show we trust the people around us and, perhaps more importantly, we trust ourselves.

Updates:

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