To Mask, Or Not To Mask

I’m sure William Shakespeare could never have imagined Hamlet’s infamous words, “To be or not to be,” given new context in a day and age where medical advancements are widespread, developments such as penicillin have played a massive role in the treatment of disease, and yet the question comes down to “technology” available back in the day: a piece of cloth. (Or cloth blended with polypropylene, because we’re soooooo New Age like that.)

“To Mask Or Not To Mask”... how VERY 2020. (Note my eyeroll, whose visual expression is NOT hindered by said cloth.)

Now to the literary followers among me, of course I know the quote was Hamlet’s pondering of to live or to commit suicide, of which he’d choose suicide if he was only secure in his understanding of what lies beyond death.*

But is it REALLY that different? To not mask in 2020 meant social suicide, both in being obliterated by a multitude of friends and family on Facebook, and also being ostracized from societal businesses. To some, it might even have been seen AS suicide, because although death rates officially never reached the numbers they anticipated, it was easily seen as either a death wish or, perhaps worse, a death wish upon your fellow man.

And so we come back to the question: To mask or not to mask? If you KNEW that you would survive the virus, that you would not spread it to others negatively affected, and that those around you would be completely fine...would you still mask? (Are you at least having a Hamlet pondering moment? Or are you super pissed at me by this point? I can see both.)

Look, I have no intention of turning this into a political piece. I know my views on it all, which are simple: I choose human kindness. Regardless of my personal beliefs, I understand the privilege I have in the demographics I fall into, so if it doesn’t hurt me, I’m going to help others.

Unfortunately, the media did it’s best to pronounce that we were a nation divided, and masks symbolized the root of it. Depending on your beliefs, you were either:

1) En masse with the sheeple and allowing fear as a weapon to strip you of your freedoms right in front of your eyes, or

2) A glorified “freedom fighter” who cared more about their temporary discomfort than the health and impacted lives of our global community.

“You’re either with us or against us” was the overarching theme of 2020, and rather than judging a person by the quality of the character you encountered, we were suddenly given this implicit permission to decide who they were ahead of time simply by the absence or presence of a face covering.

On paper, it’s not much different from the way women are perceived based on the height of their hem on a night out.

It’s not much different from the way black men are perceived should they “dare” to wear a hoodie and headphones at night.

It’s not much different from the ways we feel entitled to judge based on worn religious articles.

At the end of the day, it’s not the mask that’s the outdated fashion trend; It’s our inherent bias it represents.

Look back up at the examples provided above. Your knee-jerk reaction was likely “That’s not at all the same.” (I’m not a psychic, my friend psychology is.)

But let’s review:

All allow people within situations to cling tightly to their beliefs because their choice is the virtuous one.

-The woman wearing a short hem is practicing female empowerment.

-The man that encounters her decides she wouldn’t wear it if she didn’t want the attention.

-A black man should be free to wear whatever a white man could without fearing his life.

-The policeman quotes statistics or a perp that matched the description and also believes it’s relevant to his right to live and uphold his duty.

-A devout Christian holds the belief that God is the only way to eternal life, and those with other beliefs are thereby a threat to widespread salvation.

The common thread among these are objectification. As a society, if we can lump a person into a category, we take away their individual power and feel empowered in our beliefs.

It’s not a woman, it’s a harlot. That’s not a man, he’s a pig. (And the labels get worse from there, so I’ll let you fill in the blanks.)

It’s not a mask; it’s a declarative statement of “you care” or “you don’t care” no matter what side you’re on, and it’s toxic. It’s funny that 20/20 represents the clearest vision and yet we received no new insight into how to listen and treat each other with the utmost respect; Rather, it was a reflection of things that have been allowed to continue in this country for far too long.

So the fashion trend to leave behind in 2020 isn’t about the prevalence of a mask or not; It’s to lose the short-term mask selfie in favor of a long-term dismount off the high horse we’ve all been riding and evolve beyond tribe mentality.

The Inauguration in the U.S. brimmed with the theme of unity. Time to show if we mean it, 2021.

(Buuuuuuttttt if the mask wants to go with it, I’m totally up for leaving maskne with the past me. #byeeeeeeee2020)

*On a serious note, Hamlet’s questioning of suicide is nothing to be glorified. Mental health is something to be taken seriously, and depression and anxiety don’t discriminate based on your color, political views, or ideologies. There is help available. If you or someone you know is struggling, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 within the U.S. or can be accessed at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org.