Mask Shaming: The New Way To Never Say You're Sorry

For some time, the social engineers of the Left have been trying to replicate their capture of cultural and academic spheres within the population at large. While hapless university presidents and craven film producers cratered without much trouble, the body politic has been stubborn about adopting the progressive agenda of empathy, compassion and vulnerability. (For themselves. Others need not apply.)

These deploreables and reprehensibles do things like elect Donald Trump and consume fossil fuels— even when their betters tell them otherwise. So while the schools churn out a new generation of emotionally correct soldiers for progress, the old folks refuse to get out of the way. Not only that, they’re impertinent, mocking the spiritual perfection of being a Blue Pill.

But the #StayAtHome scolds may have finally found their lever to open the entire society to their agenda. Masks. The facial covering associated with Covid-19 has become the buy-in to acceptance of a higher power. The converts even have their own name: Karens. And they’ll let you know just where you stand. Or should not stand.

What’s interesting is that a year ago, these same social engineers considered face covering to be de-humanizing to Muslim women. Hiding your face from the public was a seditious practice that needed to be stamped out. The Quebec government, always an avatar of civil liberties,  passed laws demanding that religious symbols be outlawed in public places. But we all knew it was about masks.

Fast forward to the pandemic-stricken present. No one is even remotely concerned about the implications of the burqa . Masks are now, in the words of New York State governor Andrew Cuomo, a symbol of love and concern for your fellow beings. And, value added here, smart! “When we talk of New Yorkers together and how smart we are, you know how to show love? By wearing a mask.”

There are several things odd about this masquerade. First, we were initially told that masks were useless for the purpose of protecting humans from Covid-19. In February, the U.S. Surgeon General exhorted, “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”

But then, just as suddenly, they became the symbol of the fight against the wily virus. Forget disease control. This was virtue masking. Dr. Anthony Fauci, member of the Trump task force, began wearing them to the president’s Royal Media Rumbles. You had Cuomo, the blue check’s blue check, urging for the love all that’s human, stitch up a piece of cotton over your yap to prove your don’t want to kill Nonnas. 

While millions rushed to heed Cuomo’s love embrace, writer Heather Mac Donald says they were showing something other than love or cleverness. “Wearing a mask outdoors is how you show scientific illiteracy. The CDC’s contact tracing guidelines target individuals who have been in close contact for at least 15 minutes with an infected person. A fleeting outdoor encounter on a sidewalk creates no risk of infection.” In other words, virtue signalling for no appreciable health reason.

 Still, says Mac donald, “in Manhattan, where outdoor mask-wearing is now about 95 percent, people press themselves against building walls if an unmasked walker is approaching on a distant vector; others semaphore angrily with their arms to keep death away. In Central Park, picnicking millennials scream at unmasked passersby that they are threatening precious millennial lives.”

Which has the Woke Folk thinking, “We may be onto something here.” No longer does the responsibility for enforcement  fall to the predictable Liz Warren or Beto O’Rourkes who’ve failed to move the mountain in the past. “Now the masses will govern on our behalf!”

So even though there is almost zero evidence for Covid-19 spreading in casual outdoor contact— a passing cyclist will not infect people under the age of 80—we have the spectacle of people wearing masks on beaches hectoring their fellow citizens to cover up. Using snitch lines to rat out people taking their kid to the park. And getting a warm feeling inside about their virtue.

In case that absurdity isn’t enough, you have Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, decreeing that, in addition to wearing masks on the beach, Angelenos must only walk on wet sand. Dry sand is verboten. And no sitting on the sand as well.

Why? Who knows? But getting people to do your bidding— no matter how foolish— is too exhilirating for people high on sniffing authority. To paraphrase Hillary Clinton, It takes a single person to think up a stupid idea, but it takes a village to put it into action.

How will the masked bullying be received come election time? Hard to say if the Big Brother act that plays so well to liberal sheeple will overcome the image of cops cuffing fathers throwing the baseball with their children. There are already demonstrations in many states-- most of them blue Democrat-- demanding that they be allowed their lives back.   

But we should never underestimate the staying power of the people who believe masks and shutdowns are what defeated Covid-19. When they adopt a narrative they’re loath to let go. Especially if they think it’s the springboard to their Brave New World of coercive democracy. They know that once they get their foot in the door— as they did with Obamacare— it will be impossible to dislodge them,. 

As a sage noted recently, “You vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.”

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of Cap In Hand which is available on BruceDowbigginBooks.ca