I write today to address fans of a Covid-19 fashion trend: the mask mustache and mask goatee.
I know, I know, I know. Nothing about me suggests I’m qualified to reflect on fashion. Yet, as a human living (still, as of Tuesday!) through global pandemic, I claim standing.
Face coverings slow the spread of death and illness and thus are a moral imperative. A bare face in a crowd is a stiff middle finger declaring a willingness to kill for comfort or partisanship.
A mask mustache is an improperly worn mask, where the covering hooks under the nose. With the mask goatee, the mouth also lies exposed.
Whether through forgetfulness or sly impertinence, the improperly covered face is a kind of smirk. “I’ll wear a stinkin’ mask,” it says. “If I must. Sort-a.”
Appeals at the altar of individual liberty don’t change that we are creatures evolved and suited to living in community, or that communal existence requires us to cede a small measure of individual agency for the good of all.
Won’t you sacrifice minimally with me now?
Please.
