Till we have faces covered Part 2
Given the rising obligations and popularity of face masks in our current moment, a bit of marshwigglian pessimism is useful. Again, it's not about the effectiveness or "science" of face masks. The concern lies in the unscrupulous enthusiasm that attends the advocacy of face coverings. There is an anthropological cost. And this, I argue, is especially important for children, whose education as human beings made in the image of God depends on the ability to see the human face and to be seen by it.
I have heard elementary school teachers, for instance, raise objections over face coverings for children. But these objections come mainly in two forms: the complaints about having to police kids over face masks in the classroom, and the practical challenges face coverings will have on teaching method and pedagogy. They are not wrong, of course. After all, how can anyone teach grammar or phonemes, language or phonics with something like the "Minister's Black Veil" eclipsing the face? An obvious problem and a good question. But it is not the only problem. Nor is it the only question to consider.
We need to ask what the human countenance means. This seems to me what the critics of the anti-maskers seem to miss. They judge those who are reluctant to wear the mask as merely being obstinate and zealous for their rights. But what they miss is the more connate spiritual reason why hiding the face feels so damaging to one's personhood. What they mistake for pettiness or stubborn pride in others less willing to cover up is perhaps much more humane than expected. And what they take for virtues of magnanimity or scientific wokeness may actually be just plain old condescending arrogance. There may be a deeper reason why people resist face coverings, regardless of one's sensitivity to Covid or how one feels we ought to respond.
- A Conveyer of Knowledge