Like many other animals, humans are social signallers. We advertise our dispositions, whether through hairstyle, clothes, swastika tattoos or “Bollocks to Brexit” badges. Face masks have become the latest means of doing so. In the US, a refusal to mask up has become as much a sign of allegiance to Trumpian libertarianism as “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) caps and National Rifle Association bumper stickers.
In the UK, the mandating of masks in shops, due to be introduced on 24 July, has drawn an anguished response from many who previously opposed lockdown and supported Brexit. The Conservative MP Desmond Swayne called the new rule a “monstrous imposition”, saying that it would deter him from going shopping. The Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens labels masks “face muzzles” and the wearing of them “more superstition than science” – rather like the nosegays used during the plague. Toby Young, now the self-styled “General Secretary of the Free Speech Union”, ridiculed masks as “face nappies” – an invitation to scatological ripostes from his detractors. Tory activists have tweeted images of their snipped-up party membership cards in protest at the government’s decision.
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