On Anti-Mask Protests and why they exist
Anti-Mask Protest. The fact that such a term exists exhibits the absurdity of our times. Many gape at the existence of increasing numbers of impassioned Irish citizens unified under their repulsion at the prospect of wearing a piece of cotton over their spittle-spouting mouths. But their motivations run deeper, and are rooted in an amalgamation of incoherent conspiracy theories and an abject clinging to their personal notion of freedom of expression.
But of course to understand the mind of one who so vigorously upholds the idea of virus-as-hoax or virus-as-excuse-for-the-removal-of-civil-liberties means delving deep into their sketchers. The mask is a symbol. Reducing conspiracy-fuelled protesters to simple spasms of internet-era absurdity fans the flames and re-affirms their “us against the world” mentality. This is what drives them – they sure make it easy to pour scorn on their movement, but such is equivalent to filling a tank with petrol.
For these protesters, wearing a mask is tantamount to taking a knee. Kowtowing to a ruling elite that has for ages been deaf to the voices of the people. Many are still embittered by the financial crisis – austerity being an all too clear memory. A feeling of having been through hard times too recently for such harder ones to be tolerable fuels their resentment of those they perceive to be in charge, and spurs them to seek meaning elsewhere — i.e. online.
These protests are charged by something deeper and more specific than just a vague dissatisfaction with the powers that be. There is a firm belief rushing through their veins that Covid-19 is being exploited by the ruling elite to capture more power. They point to the imposition of mandatory face mask laws as evidence of an increasingly emboldened authoritarian regime. The idea is that those in charge have always had totalitarian ambitions – it is on the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic that they now outwardly manifest such ambitions. The vitriol on the part of anti-maskers directed at those of us wearing masks stems from their disappointment in their fellow country-people for blindly submitting to the evil will of the elite cabal. Think, wake up, sheep.
David Icke, a British conspiracist who appears thoroughly batshit to those unacquainted with the conspiracy theory rabbit-hole, coined the term Totalitarian Tiptoe in the early 2000s. It refers to incremental measures imposed by the elites of various governments in their collective effort to bring about global dictatorship. It is his take on the timeless New World Order conspiracy theory — an idea special in its transcendence of all conspiracy theories. It ties together seemingly disconnected events and suggests a supranational agenda driving everything — World War 1, World War 2, 9/11, even large school shootings— are orchestrated always with the end-goal of sparking and then exploiting the public’s fear and inching closer to authoritarianism. Take your pick as to whether this is at the hands of the Freemasons, or the Illuminati, or now more commonly just some vague Cabal.
Icke and his ilk believe that the Plandemic now constitutes less of a tiptoe, and more of a sprint to the finish. This is the disposition of anti-mask protesters. This is why they are infused with an urgency that confounds those who’ve never heard of Alex Jones.
Many dabble in conspiracy theories for entertainment value or to gratify a need for something mysterious and important to be lurking beneath the banal reality of disconnected chaotic events. And the blurring of truth with fiction has been a process ongoing for decades — the internet being merely responsible for accelerating, not inventing, the trend. But there is no doubt that YouTube and other social media play a fundamental role in the proliferation of this everything-bad-that-happens-is-part-of-an-evil-plan mindset.
Algorithms designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible result in a situation whereby one conspiracy theory stumbled across on YouTube — which may indeed be true or at least halfway convincing — leads to another, more outlandish theory, and another, until eventually not only is the earth flat, but George Soros is responsible for all leftist activism.
There are very few flat-earthers —take it as an example of the most extreme end-point of the conspiracy theory rabbit-hole. But the process is the same — what mostly begins as innocent provocation of one’s curiosity ends with a conviction that disparate events are organised with the concerted aim of destroying your freedom of expression and freedom of thought. In a word it is brainwashing, which is ironic given conspiracy theorists’ deep-seated view that they act to lift the veil from peoples’ eyes. This is the mindset of those that consider the coronavirus to have been artificially created and spread, with the enforcement of mandatory masks and soon-to-be mandatory tests and vaccines planned well in advance.
De-platforming Alex Jones, Gemma O’Doherty and others pushing these ideas may be the principled thing to do, but it will do nothing to restrain their influence. Such has the opposite effect — stifle their freedom to express themselves and they are validated and emboldened. It is doubtful that there will be a healthy conclusion or any sort of possibility of reconciliation. But it’s no wonder that these people exist, and exist in their droves.
The anti-mask protests here in Ireland are riddled with American tropes. Their waving of the tricolour is a flagrant expression of solidarity with right-wing nationalists in America and a signifier of their adoption of the same cause — that of anti-globalisation, which they conflate with an evil new world order.
Some here in Dublin have held signs reading “I stand with Q” and “Save our Children” — signifying Irish Anti-Masker support for the American-originated QAnon Theory. This, like the New World Order theory, purports the existence of a grand agenda encompassing multiple theories but centred on a drive towards global dictatorship, this time at the hands of an elite paedophile ring. Set against this menacing cabal hell-bent on destruction and various evil intentions is none other than Trump himself.
I’m personally convinced that this conspiracy theory is a natural consequence of Americans being overly saturated in Marvel films, and in their quest to explain inexplicable chaos as well as chalk despicable examples of the rich exploiting their power up to something more mysterious, have superimposed a grand superhero-esque narrative onto real life global events.
But the main point is that our Anti-Maskers are not protesting against a piece of cotton, they are protesting against change. So of course they tend to be anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, anti-immigration etc., which ideas they lump in with the evil globalist agenda. They cannot accept that chaos is a fact of nature, that there is no one at the driver’s seat, and they long for a return to what they perceive to be a simpler past. They equate the wearing of a face mask with submission, akin to an Orwellian boot on the face. There is no point conversing with them or trying to persuade them, but likewise it is potentially dangerous to censor them. It’s probably best to just ignore them altogether.
