Commentary: True freedom-lovers wear face masks

By Justin Fox / Bloomberg Opinion

Face masks are at risk of becoming a victim of America’s culture wars, with a few conservative activists and commentators linking their use to cowardice, civil-rights violations and that worst of scourges, “the safetyism ideology that has jumped from the university to the public sphere.”

I do not wish to exaggerate the strength of this anti-mask movement, which seems to consist mainly of a few cranks in search of clicks (as well as a few unbalanced people with guns), but there does seem to be broader incidence of mask-apathy and mask-embarrassment that such rhetoric risks hardening into outright opposition.

This makes me sad, not just because there’s a reasonable chance that widespread mask-wearing could save lots of lives by slowing the spread of Covid-19, but because courageous, anti-authoritarian freedom-lovers ought by all rights to be big mask fans.

The rise of face masks as a response to the pandemic has been a largely grass-roots phenomenon, conceived in opposition to the recommendations of health authorities such as the U.S. surgeon general and the World Health Organization; which still advises against their widespread use. Yes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came around to endorsing masks in April, and some states have recently begun requiring them in stores and other public indoor spaces.

I get that such decrees rub some people the wrong way, and that mask-nannying by the news media does, too. But mask requirements are an awful lot less freedom-restricting than orders to stay at home or keep all “nonessential” businesses shuttered, and letting one’s views be defined by opposition to anything the mainstream media says is not free thought. Wearing masks appears to be the simplest way to get much of normal life (and normal economic activity) back while we’re still figuring out how exactly to control and maybe defeat Covid-19 by less-primitive means. What’s not to like about that?

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