The racist disinformation around face coverings
I’ve seen posts lately on social media that attribute masks to some covert attempt by the government to muzzle us, or turn us into Arabs, or Muslims. This appeal is especially aimed toward women, to make them fearful that their identities will somehow be erased by wearing a face covering.
Both men and women are being urged to wear masks.
Face coverings have been around as long as there have been weather events. Desert dwellers use them to protect their skin, eyes, and lungs from sand and dust. It’s likely Jesus and his disciples (and everyone else in the Bible) wore face coverings when it was appropriate.
Arctic dwellers use them to protect against icy winds and freezing precipitation.
Plague doctors used the terrifying beaked masks to both distance themselves from patients and to filter the stench of the black death through herbs and spices that were packed into the beak.
Masks were encouraged during the 1918–19–20 flu pandemic, and people picked up mask wearing again during the Dust Bowl of the 1930's.
Of course viruses are not visible like dust, sand and snow. If they were, we would probably not be seeing resistance to the facts about the effectiveness of masks.
So why did this common sense measure become politicized?
I suspect it has to do with a misinterpretation of some scripture. The Bible shows Jesus condemning the Pharisees for wearing masks, by pointing out their hypocrisy. How do masks indicate hypocrisy?
It’s a metaphor. The word “hypocrite” in Greco-Roman times referred to play acting. Jesus was accusing the Pharisees of pretending to be spiritual, when they were actually spiritually bankrupt. Their “masks” were metaphorical in that sense.
The Bible doesn’t talk about asserting our personal “rights.” To the contrary, it instructs believers to put others before ourselves.
The racist propaganda about Muslims and Arabs is perpetuating fear about a common sense measure. What could be more evil than that?
