COVID-19 and the new masked society vanguardnews
THE renowned classical sociologist, Emile Durkheim, must be turning in his grave at the spectacle of our new masked society where social interaction and cohesion are now subjected to necessary intermediation. It is no longer a face-to-face interaction and the fostering of social cohesion.
The masquerade cult in tradition derives veneration from the fact that masquerades are seen as intermediaries between the living and the gods or ancestors. No wonder, they are often referred to as masked spirits, implying that putting on the mask within proper traditional norms literally transforms the wearer to a spirit, suggesting also immortality since spirits do not die.
Masking also followed strictly laid down rules and strictures regarding who gets involved, how and when. But masking now follows no strict pattern except covering the nose and mouth; it also needs no special regalia or accoutrements and expressively disfigured visage of terror or even beauty but rather appeals to all forms and all shades.
As one acquaintance keenly observed in a private conversation, the new mask makes it impossible to behold who you are talking to and has also obliterated more than half of the facial expressions key to non-verbal communication. In other words, talking to someone now is akin to talking to half-the person or akin to incomplete communication since only the voiced words and half or less of the facial expressions necessary to decoding communication are availed.
Incidentally, the new mask culture has been able to achieve what decades of gender activism and militancy have failed to accomplish i.e. a total gender-neutral society where both men and women are treated or rather masked equally. Hopefully, we are all now masked and gyrating to the tunes of covid though the real drumbeats remain distant echoes for a huge number of the masked spirits. Reminding us of the unbridgeable gap between the Marxian haves and have-nots. As the mask goes now, you can still tell the difference between those who are loaded or privileged and the rest of us, the wretched of Nigeria.
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