Normalizing the Abnormal

 

There’s a billboard near my house that annoys me every time I drive by it. It’s for a local bank, it’s low on copy, and features a smiling woman speaking approvingly of their Premium Rewards Checking. “That’s great!” she says from behind her face mask.

At least, I think she’s smiling. Hard to know because of the mask.

The mask. Notice that there’s nothing on this billboard about masks. Or COVID or safety or your personal health or anything like that. It’s just a billboard for a bank and it features a person wearing a mask.

As if that was normal.

I’ve seen this on social media, too. In many of the personal photos people choose for their profiles on Facebook or Twitter, they show themselves wearing masks. Not in groups, but by themselves. Singly. Posing for the camera with a mask. As if that, too, was normal.

For the bank, there is no reason to depict a person wearing a mask in an advertisement that makes no reference to masks. The only reason a business would do this is to communicate “we are in compliance and we want to set a good example for you.” And I imagine that many would applaud this. “Good for you, Charter Bank! We approve of you!”

I feel like I have to stop here and reassure everyone that, yes, I wear a mask when I go into businesses. Yes, I wear a mask at work when people stop in our office (I am largely alone and off in a corner cubicle, but if I have to interact with someone at the front desk, I put one on.) Yes, I wear a mask when I enter my mother’s apartment building. So you don’t have to lecture me about wearing a mask. I’m compliant, though my heart is rebellious.

For the people who depict themselves as compliant mask-wearers on social media, I also understand the impulse. For them, it’s important to communicate that they, also, may be considered good citizens, and perhaps set an example for (or attempt to shame) those rebellious sorts. Yet, why wear a mask? Nobody’s going to catch a virus from your photo. It’s okay to show your smiling face on social media. It’s normal.

And it’s okay to show the smiling face of a bank customer on your billboard. That, too, is normal. And wouldn’t it be good for everyone’s mental health to see some “normal” in an abnormal world? A reminder of how it used to be and how it will be again. (Soon, we hope.)

Over in another thread, member “Flicker” posted this Tweet from the execrable Jake Tapper:

You’re all by yourself, Jake. You don’t need it. An adult would know this.

He commented:

This is the most insidious thing: the normalization of mask-wearing and making them a fun and fashion statement.

Masks are not fun. I put one on because I must, but don’t make me accept it as normal. Don’t tell me to make it fun. We have normalized something that is completely abnormal, and we’re calling it a sign of goodness and decency when we slap one on our faces. To me, they are humiliating

There’s a phrase that popped up early in 2020 that grated on me every time I heard it: “the new normal.”

This is the new normal, everyone said. This is what we have to do now. And there came with it an implication that things will never go back to the way they were. The sainted/hated Doctor Fauci frequently makes those comments: “I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again,” he said in April. NPR dutifully responded that shaking hands wasn’t never normal anyway, so, cool cool!

Shaking hands is normal. Not shaking hands and covering your face is abnormal. And it’s damaging us.

Member “Full Size Tabby” in the same thread as above wrote:

I see a significant transformation of American (Texas in particular in my case) society from open, friendly, and cooperative, to closed, restrained, and seeking to interact only to the minimal extent necessary to accomplish a necessary task. I am an introvert, yet even I become even more withdrawn and less inclined to try to communicate with others when I put on that state-required mask. Maybe not everybody’s personality is changed by covering their face, but some percentage of us are.

And maybe universal mask wearing does reduce virus transmission by some amount, but it does so at significant cost to the personalities of many people, and at a significant cost (to me a downside) in changing the nature of American society. I’m not sure that, at a society level, the trade-offs are necessarily worth it.

Even though I hate wearing masks, I confess that this crisis has got me wearing one, because maybe it does help. Or even if it doesn’t do any good, what could it hurt? It’s no big deal, put on the mask. It’s just a little piece of cloth.

And it communicates to the world . . .

At some point, this “new abnormal” will be over (pace Doctor Fauci), and we’ll all go back to uncovered faces, warmly greeting each other with a hearty handshake. But it will take some time to re-adapt to the “old normal.” Even if the experts told us tomorrow that the crisis is over, people won’t immediately drop their masks. Some will remain timid. Some will still shy away from others. We have been well-taught to keep our distance, and it will take us awhile before we feel normal again. It will be awhile before the billboards come down and our social media profiles change.

But it strikes me that those rebels — the ones who have been non-compliant regarding masks, brazenly entering stores uncovered, daring people to chastise them, not hesitating to gather in large groups or exchange hearty hugs — those are the ones who will adapt the quickest to the return to normal.

Mentally, psychologically, socially, . . . they will be better off, while for the rest of us the PTSD may linger for years.

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  1. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Drew,

    Profound insight into what is being done to our once-free society, and HOW it is being done.

    Thanks.

    Mark

    • #1
  2. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta…:

    Over in another thread, member “Flicker” posted this Tweet from the execrable Jake Tapper:

    You’re all by yourself, Jake. You don’t need it. An adult would know this.

    He commented:

    This is the most insidious thing: the normalization of mask-wearing and making them a fun and fashion statement.

    Masks are not fun. I put one on because I must, but don’t make me accept it as normal. Don’t tell me to make it fun. We have normalized something that is completely abnormal, and we’re calling it a sign of goodness and decency when we slap one on our faces. To me, they are humiliating

    Hey, Jake. You know what is even more fun? Making fun of nationally televised airheads who don’t know how to turn their virtue signaling off.

    CNN is what we call a “target-rich environment.”

    • #2
  3. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Iggles fans.

    • #3
  4. Juliana Member
    Juliana
    @Juliana

    My husband has maintained from the beginning that this is nothing but a social experiment to see how quickly and how complacently people will comply with governmental dictates. The masks may go away, but will likely be replaced by something far more rigid with a much more hefty penalty for rebellion. Half of the general population will police the rebels with increasingly violent demands for compliance. Businesses will try to stay in business without incurring arbitrarily determined, financially untenable fines, so the government will not need to be the enforcers there either. This is like the start of some horror/sci fi movie, except that it will be real life. We will watch our freedoms and prosperity burn in front of our eyes, with little recourse.

    • #4
  5. Kephalithos Member
    Kephalithos
    @Kephalithos

    Amen x 10^6,262.

    I’ve made a personal ritual out of cursing at the creepy, mask-happy TV ads that now seem to be popping up.

    • #5
  6. SpiritO'78 Inactive
    SpiritO'78
    @SpiritO78

    I resist wearing the mask as much as possible. I think it’s a travesty that we’ve all just kind of said “welp, this is what I gotta do”. Glad to see I’m not the only rebellious spirit around.

    • #6
  7. DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow
    @DrewInWisconsin

    SpiritO'78 (View Comment):

    I resist wearing the mask as much as possible. I think it’s a travesty that we’ve all just kind of said “welp, this is what I gotta do”. Glad to see I’m not the only rebellious spirit around.

    The spirit is rebellious but the flesh is weak.

    (The rebels will make it through this crisis with much less mental damage.)

    • #7
  8. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    I was watching some football over the weekend and The Home Depot ads had people with masks shopping away.  As if this really is the new normal.   This is a form neuro-linguistic programming.

    • #8
  9. DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow
    @DrewInWisconsin

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    I was watching some football over the weekend and The Home Depot ads had people with masks shopping away. As if this really is the new normal. This is a form neuro-linguistic programming.

    I was wondering about this. I don’t watch television, and haven’t seen current commercials, so it’s interesting to note that television commercials are also normalizing the mask. Any reference to masks or COVID in the commercial at all?

    • #9
  10. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    I was watching some football over the weekend and The Home Depot ads had people with masks shopping away. As if this really is the new normal. This is a form neuro-linguistic programming.

    You see clearly what the left are doing and how they are using their control of the media to do it.  Good. I hope more people will.

    Commercials are how acceptance of the latest dogma is finally internalized as “normal” for Everyman.  We are conditioned to treat the implicit beliefs of the characters in commercials as the definition of normal.  This is the final stage in the work of the entertainment side of the media in the cultural revolution.  First movies comedies do their job, and then movie dramas, and then TV comedies, and then TV dramas, and finally TV commercials.

    • #10
  11. Hank Rhody, Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    Hank Rhody, Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta…:

    There’s a phrase that popped up early in 2020 that grated on me every time I heard it: “the new normal.”

    This is the new normal, everyone said. This is what we have to do now. And there came with it an implication that things will never go back to the way they were. The sainted/hated Doctor Fauci frequently makes those comments: “I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again,” he said in April. NPR dutifully responded that shaking hands wasn’t never normal anyway, so, cool cool!

    If this is the new normal, it follows that what came before was the old normal. I don’t want to give it that much credit. 

    Masks are going away, and handshakes are coming back. Wait and see.

    • #11
  12. Buckpasser Member
    Buckpasser
    @Buckpasser

    Hank Rhody, Freelance Philosop… (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta…:

    There’s a phrase that popped up early in 2020 that grated on me every time I heard it: “the new normal.”

    This is the new normal, everyone said. This is what we have to do now. And there came with it an implication that things will never go back to the way they were. The sainted/hated Doctor Fauci frequently makes those comments: “I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again,” he said in April. NPR dutifully responded that shaking hands wasn’t never normal anyway, so, cool cool!

    If this is the new normal, it follows that what came before was the old normal. I don’t want to give it that much credit.

    Masks are going away, and handshakes are coming back. Wait and see.

    Only the normal people can make the masks go away.  The state will insist on masks forever.  If it saves one life it will be worth it, so they say.  We will never be free from COVID being a cause of someone to die and just like we don’t worry about anyone who dies of the flu (20,000-50,000 per year is what I have seen). We pray for them and then move on.  To die is part of life.  Cowering in a face burkha in our basement is not part  of life.

    • #12
  13. Maguffin Inactive
    Maguffin
    @Maguffin

    If they were really cool, they would have made the mask removable.

    If they were really truthful, the mask would be a chin diaper like most people around here seem to use it.

    If they were really into rewarding, they would offer a free box of masks with every new checking account.  They aren’t even giving out toasters for their ‘premium’ checking!

    • #13
  14. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    [Takes a selfie during an idle moment]

    Describes the non-event for a post on Twitter which he concludes, in all caps, with, “Because that’s what adults do.”

    • #14
  15. Steven Seward Member
    Steven Seward
    @StevenSeward

    I’m waiting for the day when the medical community finally starts reminding us of one of the most basic principles of health – that a person needs to be exposed to a variety of pathogens in the environment in order to build a healthy immune system.  This age-old concept of healthy immunity has been completely thrown in the trash can by the present-day medical establishment.  We seem to be headed for the John Trovolta “Boy in the Plastic Bubble ” movie.

    Given enough time, the practice of living in sterile environments leads to worse problems like dying from mild diseases such as the common cold.

    • #15
  16. Hank Rhody, Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    Hank Rhody, Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    [Takes a selfie of himself during an idle moment]

    Posts on Twitter in all caps: “Because that’s what adults do.”

    Son, you need some better role models. 

    • #16
  17. Cal Lawton Inactive
    Cal Lawton
    @CalLawton

    The quote should read “Tmurhms, grmpht.”

    • #17
  18. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Since moving, I haven’t seen Dilbert since the local paper here doesn’t carry it.  But last I saw, the gang were all wearing masks.

    Oh Scott Adams, Scott Adams!  Why has thou forsaken us???

    On the plus side, on those fairly recent (I think) “Go to your Skippy Place” TV ads, nobody is wearing masks.  So perhaps there is still hope…

    • #18
  19. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    Buckpasser (View Comment):
    The state will insist on masks forever.

    Especially if Biden is elected.

    I wonder how much of this is part of an ethos that has said for years and years that you can be healthier and virtue signal simultaneously by eating [insert esoteric organic/ vegetarian/ vegan/ paleo/ government-pushed food program/ regimen], or following the exercise routines from [celebutard], taking supplements that “support” some bodily function.  Its all about fear and “if only….”

    • #19
  20. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    I wear a mask only where mandated. And I refuse to spend a penny on a mask. If they demand that I wear a mask they can provide it. I have a bunch now, from my dentist, my medical clinic (which insists on providing a new one each time a patient enters the building) and at least one restaurant. They can be reused multiple times and I keep each one as long as possible. 

    • #20
  21. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Ah, a reminder to change my profile icon, and make Reddy maskless.

    I don’t think the normalization of perpetual maskedness is a devious government exercise in control. They’re not that smart. They’re really not. They congratulate themselves in believing in Science and Safety, and get a little thrill exercising their authority, but they are not Machiavellian schemers. 

    Corporations are cowards,  and endorse what they see as the Right-Thinking Person’s view of the world. They hope to get credit in heaven for getting on the proper side of things. The wrong people oppose masks, so by running ads with masked people, you signal that you’re for Health and Safety and Science.

    • #21
  22. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    Ah, a reminder to change my profile icon, and make Reddy maskless.

    Big sigh of relief here!

    • #22
  23. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):
    They can be reused multiple times and I keep each one as long as possible. 

    Ha, me too. I have one ratty paper one in my car and one in my purse. That’s it.

    I was really annoyed going to my optometrist  last week and having to wait in the car til they came out to get us. Even my dentist isn’t that strict.  I expressed this to my doc and she kinda shrugged. I said I wasn’t coming back until this kind of crap ended.

    • #23
  24. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    JustmeinAZ (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):
    They can be reused multiple times and I keep each one as long as possible.

    Ha, me too. I have one ratty paper one in my car and one in my purse. That’s it.

    I was really annoyed going to my optometrist last week and having to wait in the car til they came out to get us. Even my dentist isn’t that strict. I expressed this to my doc and she kinda shrugged. I said I wasn’t coming back until this kind of crap ended.

    When I left Phoenix, my gastroenterologist was still only doing “telemedicine.”  To hell with that noise.  I’m not going to pay a $45 co-pay when they can’t even take my pulse and BP etc.  He probably wanted to do a tele-colonoscopy too, but I didn’t even let them mention it.

    • #24
  25. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    Corporations are cowards, and endorse what they see as the Right-Thinking Person’s view of the world. They hope to get credit in heaven for getting on the proper side of things. The wrong people oppose masks, so by running ads with masked people, you signal that you’re for Health and Safety and Science.

    True, but still, I have some sympathy for businesses in this pandemic.  Many are caught between the government on one side shutting them down until it’s “safe” to re-open and customers who are cowering at home until it’s “safe” to go out and shop again.  Most business owners would rather be open and filled with mask-wearing customers than either closed, or open but with no customers to serve.  They may be trying to normalize mask wearing in the hopes that it’s the quickest path back to something like business as usual. 

    • #25
  26. thelonious Member
    thelonious
    @thelonious

    I have a theory that masks give us a false sense of security. I work in a grocery store. Before the mask mandates customers were giving each other plenty of space. At least 6 feet. Now with everybody wearing masks customers aren’t socially distancing as much. We’ve recently had a huge spike in cases in my state (Utah) even though more people are masking up. To be fair, most of it has happened in the schools ranging from grade school to college. The party savages at BYU (Brigham Young) couldn’t contain themselves and had a pretty big outbreak on their campus. Maybe social distancing is the key to avoid getting this than masks.

    • #26
  27. Steven Seward Member
    Steven Seward
    @StevenSeward

    thelonious (View Comment):

    I have a theory that masks give us a false sense of security. I work in a grocery store. Before the mask mandates customers were giving each other plenty of space. At least 6 feet. Now with everybody wearing masks customers aren’t socially distancing as much. We’ve recently had a huge spike in cases in my state (Utah) even though more people are masking up.

    I’m still  waiting for some medical authority to explain why Coronavirus cases tripled in the United States after we started wearing masks.  Here’s the latest graph of cases in the U.S.  Keep in mind that most mask mandates were put in place around May and June.

    This doesn’t bode well for the effectiveness of masks.  Maybe there is another factor overriding this, but you’d think the first scientific measure to determine if they work or not would be to count the number of cases incurred before and after the wearing of masks.

     

    • #27
  28. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Steven Seward (View Comment):
    I’m waiting for the day when the medical community finally starts reminding us of one of the most basic principles of health – that a person needs to be exposed to a variety of pathogens in the environment in order to build a healthy immune system. This age-old concept of healthy immunity has been completely thrown in the trash can by the present-day medical establishment.

    Nah, just the opposite. Do you have any idea how many germs are on most of the masks? People take them off, set them on a table or counter to eat, and then put them back on. Immune systems everywhere are hulking out.

    • #28
  29. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    Corporations are cowards, and endorse what they see as the Right-Thinking Person’s view of the world. They hope to get credit in heaven at the cash register for getting on the proper side of things.

    Fixed that for you, James.

    • #29
  30. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Steven Seward (View Comment):
    Maybe there is another factor overriding this, but you’d think the first scientific measure to determine if they work or not would be to count the number of cases incurred before and after the wearing of masks.

    Ah, but how many cases would there be without the masks? There would be millions dead. Don’t you remember the predictions in March?

    • #30
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