(no subject)
Aug. 9th, 2020 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brin_bellway[cw: illness, hypothetical assholery]
In the post-plague future, I don't expect my society will go so far as to consider wearing a mask in public *unremarkable*, but I do think it won't be an outright faux pas the way it used to be.
The signal mask-wearing sent pre-COVID: "I have a cold, and I feel a *little* bad about making that everyone's problem, but not bad enough to not do it."
The signal I expect mask-wearing will send post-COVID: "I was traumatised by living through a plague, and I'm not over it."
The second signal is both much closer to the truth (I *do* in fact plan to keep my pollen mask on in a broader range of situations than I used to, and not *just* because this experience has made me realise how much pollen exposure I was getting at work) and has much more accurate implications regarding how people should treat me (I don't present a danger to you; if you're feeling kind and accommodating, you are encouraged to adhere to my more stringent sanitation standards when around me).
---
(...mind you, people usually *aren't* feeling kind and accommodating about high sanitation standards in my experience, and there *is* the risk that people who might once have stayed away from me for their own safety will now attempt to give me nonconsensual exposure therapy.)
In the post-plague future, I don't expect my society will go so far as to consider wearing a mask in public *unremarkable*, but I do think it won't be an outright faux pas the way it used to be.
The signal mask-wearing sent pre-COVID: "I have a cold, and I feel a *little* bad about making that everyone's problem, but not bad enough to not do it."
The signal I expect mask-wearing will send post-COVID: "I was traumatised by living through a plague, and I'm not over it."
The second signal is both much closer to the truth (I *do* in fact plan to keep my pollen mask on in a broader range of situations than I used to, and not *just* because this experience has made me realise how much pollen exposure I was getting at work) and has much more accurate implications regarding how people should treat me (I don't present a danger to you; if you're feeling kind and accommodating, you are encouraged to adhere to my more stringent sanitation standards when around me).
---
(...mind you, people usually *aren't* feeling kind and accommodating about high sanitation standards in my experience, and there *is* the risk that people who might once have stayed away from me for their own safety will now attempt to give me nonconsensual exposure therapy.)
no subject
Date: 2020-08-09 05:04 pm (UTC)