About 13 months ago, in the summer of 2020, the government of where I live have promulgated a so-called "mask mandate" (to be more precise, a "face-covering requirement"). Like in many other parts of the United States, this political act quickly became a flashpoint in our communities. (Note: To those, primarily on the Left, who like saying "public health should not be politicized"; every government mandate is a political act done by an elected political official or unelected government bureaucrats who answer to an elected politician.)
Around that time I began seeing internet memes such as the one shown above: "Namaske: The mask I wear to protect you honors the mask you wear to protect me."
Aside from the amusement that comes from seeing the irony of those on the Left engaging in this obvious cultural appropriation, I found this meme and the argument behind it utterly asinine and counterproductive.
Now, before proceeding any further, I would like to make it unequivocally clear that this article is NOT about public health, epidemiology, or virology. I am not a health scientist, but rather a theologian with some past background in journalism and community organizing. Also, I am not here to argue against the benefits (however limited they may be) of face coverings in certain environments, or against the benefits of vaccines. If you are looking for the pros and cons of these, there are plenty of other places you can go to.
This article, instead, is about how to influence people the right way and how not to push "the common good" down people's throats the wrong way. Also, the caveat is that I am writing this within the context of the American cultural and social milieu.
You are an automatic suspect.
Unlike most Americans, I began closely watching the news of SARS-CoV-2 since international media began reporting about it around November 2019. By February 2020, I had gotten the impression that any and every person around me can be a potential vector of this virus. I began taking reasonable precautions since, even when they were not yet freaked out about the virus and obliviously carried on as usual. Yet, I made this decision as a means to protect myself and minimize risks. I did not tell others what to do or what not to do, and I have consistently opposed government-imposed lockdown measures and mask mandates.
In mid-March 2020, the media began their nonstop COVID fear campaign and state governments, one by one, began imposing their "lockdown" orders.
Soon, the social media were full of whiny, angry and paranoid posts complaining about some random people taking a walk outside, shopping in stores, people attending churches, and even people taking a scenic drive in their enclosed cars. Then there were all the panicky tropes: "YOU ARE MURDERING THE GRANDMA!!!!"
Suddenly everything became everyone's business, and public shaming, guilt-tripping, and resentment became the zeitgeist. It didn't help that governments also began rolling out PSAs that parroted the same negative message.
Both lockdown and mask mandates are peddled by politicians, bureaucrats, and mainstream media as a way to "protect others," that they are ways to show how much you care about people and the community. The not-so-subtle undertone beneath this message is that "if you don't stay home/wear a mask you are a SELFISH antisocial asshole."
This is NOT the way to go about it. It hasn't worked well and it has only created a stronger backlash, while each side of the debate further digs in their heels.
COVID-19 has adversely affected our social fabric and social psychology beyond the virus itself. Because it has been said that this virus ostensibly spreads from "asymptomatic" persons via "aerosol," the implication (as I noted above) is that everyone is an automatic suspect to be feared, avoided, and hated.
You are not sick. You have not even come in contact with anyone who may be sick. You are doing everything to keep yourself healthy. Yet, you are seen as a potential disease factory. You are unclean. You are invalid. Thus you must be accused, shamed, ostracized, and excluded.
Nobody wants to be accused of being unclean or invalid. It is natural human psychology to feel attacked and oppressed when people automatically assume you are guilty of something you know isn't true for certain (ask Black people who have been automatically suspected of being shoplifters every time they go into a store). But that's the constant message that has been communicated by government officials from President Joe Biden to your county health department.
In so doing, the important public health and scientific messages are lost, and the act of masking has become a matter of political tribalism and social polarization instead.
"What is it in for me?" Or, reframing the message
There are many things we take for granted that protect ourselves even though they were probably created to protect someone else. For example, seat belts and airbags now standard in every motor vehicle are generally seen as tools to save the lives of drivers and passengers in case of an accident, even though they were also installed so that auto manufacturers won't get sued.
Most Americans are more interested in what benefits them and their loved ones. Protecting "others" or "the community" is a highly abstract concept, but protecting one's self or their children and spouses or their livelihoods is a concrete concept anyone can grasp. Here lies the challenges of altruism -- especially forced altruism -- just as many conservatives are happy to donate lots of money to charities but they revolt at a proposal to increase taxes to fund programs that help the very same people their favorite charities do. In other words, people are not motivated as well when it is not clear what is in for them.
WIIFM (What is it in for me?) is a timeless question for marketers, and this is no different if public health officials seek to convince people to do what they want.
To this end, perhaps they should have communicated differently the benefits of masks if their objective were to encourage "universal masking" by better highlighting the WIIFM. In other words, the emphasis should have been how various types of face coverings can benefit those who wear them, rather than treating mask-wearing as a sort of forced altruistic virtue signaling costume. The same stands true with the public messaging around vaccination campaigns (for example, public health officials could have highlighted the benefits of vaccination in terms of tens of thousands dollars saved in unanticipated medical costs versus free vaccine; the dollar sign and numbers are powerful tools of persuasion). This is just Basic Marketing 101.
Divide and conquer: Public shaming and mass resentment in the age of social media drive polarization
Doxxing. "Karens gone wild" viral videos. Negative Yelp review brigades. Trolling. The internet has morphed itself from an open global marketplace of ideas and information into a cheap and easy bully pulpit for resentful and angry mobs. The sad part of this is that too often these resentful crowds are led to believe that what they are doing is for the "common good" and "social justice" -- and even "patriotism" and "faith," as this phenomenon is in no way limited to those on the left side of the political spectrum.
As COVID-induced lockdowns moved more of our social lives online, during the year that also happened to be the year of a presidential election, creating a perfect storm scenario during what is widely seen as the greatest public health and economic crisis in modern history.
Forced "altruism" does not unite the community or bring people together. Instead, it only divides the people into the "good" class and the "bad" class and encourages more hostility and resentment between these two. History will look back at this moment in time and will learn a lot about human behavior and social psychology.
This article may be freely used under the terms of the Cooperative Nonviolent Public License, version 7 (CNPLv7). All other uses require express permission of the author.
First published date: Aug. 20, 2021.
Like many of my posts via-a-vis politics and theology, this likely went over people's heads. Good observation regarding the maskubators and their Third Reich propaganda fear porn.