Thanks for the Masks

Happy Thanksgiving, people in America. Looks like global society's been transformed this year, doesn't it? I wear a mask every day here in Japan and so, probably, do you, wherever you are, if you do go out every day. Over the course of approximately eight months it's become normal. So I've decided to be thankful for masks this year.

It already feels strange to see a naked face, even of acquaintances. I get to know someone over a few months before I see them without a mask and then suddenly my whole impression of them changes. Their head has a slightly different shape than I thought, they smile more or less often than I thought, they're older, younger, fuller cheeked or gaunt. Usually masks make people look younger which brings an added surprise when I see a student remove one at the junior high school where I work. Suddenly this cute little pillow face is a budding adult capable of nuanced reactions. Some people are better at reading expressions through the masks but I imagine everyone's a bit less capable under the circumstances.

People making masks are getting more creative. I've already seen a few of the designer veils in real life.

These remind me of the controversy in France about anti-veil laws. Those decrying the threat to religious freedom from such laws were countered by those who said a society where people hid their faces all the time would lead to increased crime as perpetrators would be harder to identify. I wonder if it has indeed led to more crime. It might be hard to tell with everything else going on. Obviously France has a problem with Islamic terrorists whose intolerance for the land who gave them safe harbour has led them to commit horrific acts of violence, like the recent beheading of a school teacher. But most of these crimes are committed by men, not the women who would normally be veiled.

I have had the opportunity of seeing a few beautiful women remove their masks and I must say I can see why they appeal to some Muslim denominations. We're effectively creating a new level of nudity and with it a new form of titillation. I wonder how long it would take to make ankles exciting again. The face has a unique set of attractions, though. Baring the face makes the viewer privy to more of the involuntary or irrepressible thoughts and emotions that flash across the complicated muscles of the expressive human countenance. The mask is now a shield, perhaps, in some ways like the internet. Does the mask carry some of the anonymity that makes people more comfortable expressing themselves online? There's less of a chance of one's carefully crafted rude remark being spoiled by a blush or twitching lip. There's still the eyes, though. COVID provides no excuse for covering them though some people choose to. Maybe it will become fashionable.

I often think about how the radical social changes effected in response to the pandemic would not have happened in the 1970s. Although many people are starving and dying due to the catastrophic job losses incurred by the pandemic, such people are by and large invisible to those empowered to influence and impose radical change. And now that many more of this privileged class have confined themselves to working at home, the outsiders have become more invisible. If these sufferers could be persuaded to wear their masks more often, another portion of their humanity would be decently concealed. I suspect this is the cause of some of the hostility I see in some of the memes aimed at shaming the bare-faced.

To suggest that these psychological motives underlie some of the decisions being made is not to say that the masks are of no use in attempts to curtail the virus. Although it's difficult for the naturally contrarian human mind to hold two such ideas at once, it's a perfectly simple matter for reality to manifest them.

No meme or bumper sticker has ever quite been able to account for life's complexities, except maybe the ones with Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. Life finds a way. And life is often inconveniently amoral.

Twitter Sonnet #1417

Confusing pips described a swooping spoon.
Advancing ships removed the chance of salt.
We all remember steps we gave the moon.
A set of brains remained in mental vault.
An ample serving turned beyond the tea.
We never wore a uniform to fight.
To steeply part resilient leaves was key.
The river bore the cuneiform to light.
Arriving bats present a birdish shape.
The flapping wings resembled hands across.
The moon became a giant, dripping grape.
The waning moon presents a cheesy gloss.
A turkey dream dissolved in gravy fear.
The evening feathers wreathed a starry beer.