The face mask is extremely divisive and interesting. There are those who feel they should wear it, who believe the virus is contagious and don’t want to either catch it or pass it on, particularly to the elderly. There are those who don’t believe the virus is as problematic as it’s purported to be, that it’s an attack on our ‘freedoms’ and just a huge cash cow for Big Pharma. And then there are the clearly insane who think we are only a step away from the Nuremberg trials, who obviously never attained their GCSE in history and have no idea of one of the most heinous genocidal crimes in the last 100 years, all fighting for Katie Hopkins hot spot.
Of course our government and the media doesn’t make it easy for us to believe anything they say and constantly fill us with deep seated cynicism. We all know or suspect how power works and that the PM, MPs, journalists and editors play ball to, in the words of Edward Bernays, manufacture our consent. We have lost all reason to trust and some of us are drowning in fear. It’s a dangerous playground to be in.
People, and I can understand why, fear the face mask is a form of control by the government, but if you had a government you trusted, that hadn’t over the years handed over tax money to huge corporations, involved itself in illegal wars, attacked the poorest demographic of the country, didn’t steal through their expense accounts, maybe, just possibly wearing the mask would be easier to swallow. We are victims of an age where trust is at an all time low, that it is so bad, to the point that some actually believe anything they see on youtube.
Covid, and the way it has been dealt with is a symptom of neoliberalism. All problems relate simply to capitalism. It’s a matter of profit before people, it is nothing new. It has been happening a long time before Covid stole centre stage and you could see it all around you if you chose to look, inquire and educate yourself.
It is very symptomatic of the period in which we live in that wearing a mask should be such an issue, because suddenly it affects one directly. Now you are angry!
Before the pandemic, capitalism and neoliberalism raged across the planet, but if it didn’t affect you (though it always has), it was very easy to ignore, you could go about your day. But now it is sitting on your face and you can’t turn away. It is there staring you directly in the eyes. The face mask is a true reminder that we live in an age of social atomisation, competitive self-interest and extreme individualism exacerbated by social network persuasive technology while we are being sold as products to advertisers, all underpinned by neoliberalism, the very same neoliberalism that is responsible for the society we now live in, ‘The New Normal’. We were always being controlled.
To put it bluntly, some didn’t care until it directly affected them, but now, it’s an issue. The perfect selfish model of capitalism that wants to keep you atomised and constantly purchasing regardless of the outcome.
This is a true reminder that there are deep seated problems in our society, driving it towards extinction.
It’s a true reminder that before this, it was very easy to ignore how neoliberalism affected others when it didn’t directly affect you.
In essence you should be embracing the face mask as a way forward to truly understanding how and why you should change society and make it more egalitarian for all.
*But this doesn’t involve lizards, 5G, chemtrails, Bill Gates nonsense, Pizzagate and the NHS being compared to the Holocaust.
It involves an education.
Kai Motta’s novels Celebrity Rape and VIR(US) are available from Amazon.