Tell me what mask you wear and I’ll tell you who you are: from a protective device to a fashion accessory that tells of an era

27 February 20213 years ago babelfish

Tell me what mask you wear and I'll tell you who you are. From the anodyne simplicity of the surgical ones to the sinuous lines of the designer ones and more adherent to the face, the real object that tells this pandemically correct era are the masks. Indeed, what I say, we could no longer speak of a simple object, but of a natural physiognomic complement, such as a pair of mustache or a particular haircut. The mask speaks of us, with that language of the barely concealed slight movement of the lips that we had almost forgotten. At least, talking to each other with the mask on we look at each other. Days ago I happened to recognize a friend, hidden by a grim KN95 beak, for the color of his eyes, and I am pleased, recognizing the persistent ability to pay attention to the smallest details, even after years, because from I didn't meet that friend anyway.

If we wanted to put a label on these ann (s) we would have no doubts: we are living in the age of the mask. We are even realizing, bringing it, how precious the air we breathe is, understood as the small percentage of the precious oxygen in the prevalence of nitrogen and carbon dioxide that keep us alive. We are even getting good at guessing the facial expressions of our interlocutors placed at metric distance while we talk to them. From the slight creases of the mask we can assume a complacent and friendly smile rather than the facial disapproval resulting from something annoying that has passed our tissue-non-woven handkerchief and causes negative reactions in them. We can even say that the egalitarian principle of uniforms meets the usual exception: even if we all wear masks, there are more beautiful and uglier ones, as there are those for the rich and those for the poor. The partial social ineffectiveness of the uniforms is therefore confirmed (whether military, forensic, health care does not change) which would like to cover the different qualities of the underlying clothing. Just as the ranks and the ribbons of the medals distinguish the "smart" soldier from the marmittone and how the color of the cords of the lawyers' toga distinguishes the simple lawyer from the one authorized to practice before the higher magistrates, also the masks, in principle, they immediately tell our metric interlocutor if they are talking to any loser or someone who counts for something.

If anything, the difference with the trappings of the military grade and the aesthetic pleasantness of the mask is only one: in the case of various grades and ribbons, having them should be a consequence of some personal skill, while the choice between different personal protective equipment is useless to hide it. , a question of economic capacity, but this is also found in clothes and even in cars. The exterior counts, although it is considered laudable to say the opposite, and even a cultured and balanced person like my father used to tell me: "Remember that the habit does not only make the monk, but also the whole convent", even if saying it he jokingly, and I must now admit that he was not entirely wrong.

Not having the slightest intention of adding confusion to the already too much that reigns in the matter of usefulness of masks of a given type or another and however much it amazes me about how marginal and incomplete the scientific debate remains regarding those "selfish" or " altruistic ", that is to say on those that would protect us and those that protect others, I will limit myself to considering some interesting aspects related to the now indispensable cloths that even allow us to immediately establish whether a photo or a video is prior to 2020 or not. most likely, grappling with the most sensational and rare example of a transversal phenomenon that history remembers, because, perhaps for the first time in global terms, in any part of our planet today people are wearing something equal for everyone, as if it were a distinctive sign of the human race, the only sign that indisputably testifies to the coming together of peoples in the instinct of conservation.

This, I repeat, is not a war at all and it would be wrong and counterproductive to adopt tactical and strategic rules typical of conflicts. It is much more and much worse than a war and even the bare figures are starting to prove it. Although the writer has never been a fervent advocate of today's widespread desire for ecumenism, that of "we are all in the same boat", a boring, rhetorical phrase and very often said in bad faith, is a fairly accurate concept. It cannot be denied that that mask on the face of (almost) all the inhabitants of every continent, in each of its most remote and small social agglomerations, says a lot about the excessive power of the force of nature, in spite of our myopic presumption of being able to control it. Today we face an epochal challenge that should, at least, teach us to enjoy the small and immense things of everyday life, which for too long we have diminished and placed on a subordinate level to that occupied by our considering ourselves to be the only phenomena architects of our own destiny. The quiet "normal" things seemed destined for people of little importance, while the "man of today" had to do sensational things, under penalty of social exclusion.

Was it perhaps a revenge of nature? I really think not, on the contrary, it will be nature, of which we singles too are part, to take us out of this calamity too, sooner or later. If anything, the real question will be how to survive any sudden adversity that one is unable to deal with with organic plans of salvific value. When it rains, we protect ourselves with an umbrella or a hat rather than stay soaking in waiting to be able to govern the atmospheric phenomena at will. Limitation of views? Lack of global vision? Maybe, I don't deny it, but in the meantime let's open this blessed umbrella when it rains. With all due respect to General La Palice we could say that the only scientifically acceptable demonstration, always with regard to masks, is that they can be deadly for those who do not wear them and for those around them. Who would have thought that the survival of the homo evolutus of the third millennium would have been subordinated to a small piece of fabric supported by elastic underpants? Who could ever have predicted that to be together (alive) you have to stay spaced? We live in the age of contradictions in terms of everything and the opposite of everything.

However, the orchestral members of the multimedia trombone band are defeated, yes. Thanks to the extreme ease of saying one's own to the world, in this band I am sometimes playing my trumpet too, despite the fact that many more authoritative and always very tuned trombones may judge it to be a bit waning. Speaking of brass, will you allow me a final nonsense? Do you know how much “ spray ” is emitted when playing a wind instrument? No? Ask whoever plays one. Oh my God, but then an orchestra or a band is a tremendous vehicle of contagion! Let's close it here, with a smile from behind the mask, which, if it doesn't kill the virus, certainly doesn't hurt, especially these days.

The post Tell me what mask you wear and I'll tell you who you are: from a protective device to a fashion accessory that tells an era appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/dimmi-che-mascherina-porti-e-ti-diro-chi-sei-da-dispotivo-di-protezione-ad-accessorio-di-moda-che-racconta-unepoca/ on Sat, 27 Feb 2021 04:58:00 +0000.