Wear Your Masks!? America’s New Battlefront in the Culture War

When the history of the coronavirus pandemic is written, it will also be a “tale of the mask.” How it entered our lives. And how quickly its societal role turned upside down.

In America particularly, it has already become a new totem of the culture war. Whereas it took something like 30 years (roughly from the 1960s to the 1990s) for an issue like gun control to divide society between the meek, whiny and pampered liberals from the cities and the unyielding, flesh-and-blood salt of the true American earth, face masks managed to do it in a few weeks.

Many elements of the story are familiar to us from the Czech Republic. Whereas they’re used to face masks and epidemics in Asia, both have been a novelty for the Western world. When the coronavirus burst into our secure, unprepared world, commonly produced face masks suddenly became a hopelessly scarce commodity. People sat down at their sewing machines.

And in that phase, masks became therapy, in part (time flies when you’re having fun), and also an expression of how people could help each other and themselves when in need. We felt good and it was nice – no irony. Face masks united us in our domestic isolation.

But when the spike in the crisis was blunted, things changed. The manufacture of masks is moving from charity and volunteerism to market economics. Obviously, face masks are here to stay, it will be good to keep them handy at home. Some people are satisfied with the ordinary medical type, but many will want a stylized one reflecting their nature. Or they will get them as a fashion accessory – indeed, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova has already stepped onto this path by color coordinating her mask with the rest of her clothing.

Face masks Are the New T-shirts

Quite simply, the face mask business has arrived; we can assume that face masks will become birthday or Christmas presents and that there will be no limit to the imagination. From designer types to mass production of every kind to masks as the “new T-shirt.” A place for expressing opinion, that is, as the firm Resistance by Design quickly realized. Their mask “Vote” has become a hit among American Democrats. Get out and vote, let’s get rid of Donald Trump.

This is where we come to the most interesting change the mask has undergone during the past few weeks. As sitting at home became boring and there was no need to sew anymore, the initial solidarity of being in danger has quickly melted away.

The excesses of one side – where there’s always a stupid policeman smacking someone or a vigilant civil servant who likes to call people out for not wearing masks – have evoked a reaction from the other side. The face mask has become a muzzle which politicians supposedly want to use to silence us. Only we’re not going to allow anyone to touch our freedom – you won’t stifle our voices with any piece of cloth over our mouths!

In the Bohemian Basin, this duel is being played out in one form or another in the Czech manner. The “usual suspects” fulminate on social media, but that’s not such a huge drama. We somehow manage to talk it over calmly in those freshly opened beer gardens. But in America, it’s a different matter.

So Who’s the Responsible Citizen?

In the U.S., they’re demonstrating in front of statehouses for an end to restrictions – and often against masks themselves. The question of “to have or not to have” face masks, which should primarily be a medical matter, has fused with the political question. Face masks have become the latest battleground in the culture war.

It’s not such a weighty battle as the aforementioned firearm conflict, or abortion or immigration, but the attendant features are the same. For liberals, wearing a mask is an expression of faith in the experts and in the idea that government officials are not lying. From the liberal standpoint, the mask is a display of thoughtfulness, in which people sacrifice some of their personal freedom to protect themselves and others. Liberals feel like responsible citizens with masks on.

For conservatives, the requirement to wear a mask is an extravagant measure on the part of panicked “experts.” Educated, perhaps, but detached from real life. And in principle, it’s a further attempt by the state to dictate to free people what they cannot do. Conservatives feel like responsible citizens with masks off.

As on other fronts of a culture war, and on the face mask battlefront, liberal versus conservative nowadays means Democrats versus Republicans to a considerable extent. According to various polls, there is a gap of 25% to 30% on the question of wearing masks. According to a Gallop poll, for instance, 75% of Democrats favor masks, but only 48% of Republicans are in favor.

Donald Trump’s Fragile Machismo

Of course, it’s not surprising that Trump is a huge grouch on this matter, acting as a crowbar that widens the rift. To liberals, his distaste for wearing a mask is evidence that he lacks any consideration. Proof that he disdains everyone and everything, and finally, evidence of weakness. Trump is trying to protect himself like some kind of vulnerable macho man because in reality, he feels politically threatened, incapable of running the country. He’s not wearing a mask, but he knows he’s been unmasked.

To conservatives, Trump is setting the best example for Americans by signaling that they should be guided by common sense and not let themselves be deceived by propaganda from the panicky, stupid media. Trump has his experts, but as president, he has every right not to listen to them. They’re pretty much all a bunch of liberals in disguise anyway.

The tale of the mask, morphing from an object of social participation and affinity to an object of cultural feuding, has proceeded incredibly quickly in the U.S. It was nicely rendered by a “Saturday Night Live” sketch this February, in which the only people wearing masks were Asians. All the others were surprised and startled and backed off. Today social distancing and the government recommendation to wear face masks are relevant to everyone.

And one more thing: if this text has spoiled your mood, watch this sketch. It’s one of the best things “SNL” has done in the past year. No politics, just pure joy of humor, with David Byrne at the end. Simply the best of America.