If you’ve spent your time in public over the last two years and ten months partly getting people to take off their mask in order to interact with you, then you wouldn’t need a recently-released university study to tell you what you already knew.
Ugly people like wearing masks a lot more.
Yes, countless times I have asked a person to drop a mask
1.) So I can understand them better.
2.) Because I read lips.
3.) Because what ever happened to looking a customer in the eye and giving him a nice warm smile or even?
4.) I bet you have a wonderful smile, but I just can’t see it with that silly mask on, would you mind taking it off for the next thirty seconds while we talk?
Yes, if these were the kinds of words you spoke to people over and again throughout the course of your day, then at least a few times a week, you found yourself trying to hide the cringe on your face as the wonderful person you were talking to revealed a face that only a mother could love.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not calling everyone in a mask ugly, but there is a special horror to the face mask unveiling process. A fine looking face is suddenly proven to be awful as you discover how misshapen the mask wearer actually is. Handsome eyes. A beautiful forehead. Hair, Skin, Ears —- all nicely cared for and in proportion. And then the unveiling, the great reveal draws attention to something you wouldn’t usually even think about a person’s face — Does the top half match the bottom half?
And my goodness, is that quite the common realization — a lot of people in a mask have a top half that does not match a bottom half. Yet they would look fine absent any great reveal.
So of course you cringe at the great reveal and politely try to hide your shock and as your eyes scan the smile you were sure was going to be so wonderful, it reveals instead a face full of mask acne, a nose inflamed with mask induced rhinitis and a bad case of red, swollen gums from the dreaded mask mouth on top of it all.
“You know what, just put your mask back on!” you almost want to say.
But you don’t, because that is a man, that is a woman, made in the likeness of God, and as such deserve better than that filthy thing on the face, so you do the next daring thing, and you grab the filthy mask out of his or her hands and dispose of it in the nearest rubbish bin.
Why? Because they deserve better.
And there’s more to life than looks.
And we are not to dehumanize ourselves.
Nor are we to dehumanize others.
Dehumanizing is something a mask does so well.
So despite the shocking realizations that hit you over and again, you keep doing exactly that — normalizing a world around you, everywhere you step foot, in which you encourage the wearing of no mask at all, in which you encourage in ways big and small that everyone you encounter treat themselves like a wonderful example of humanity, at least for that moment with you, and that you do the same to them.
So for those who lived the last 2 years and ten months like that, it was no surprise to see the latest from Seoul National University in a study entitled: “Post COVID-19, still wear a face mask? Self-perceived facial attractiveness reduces mask-wearing intention.”
It’s a fun read, though heavy on perception and heavy on statistics and very light on any real science — making it perfect for the perception-is-everything, anti-science era we live in. The term “anti-science,” by the way, is most often applied by the perception-is-everything crowd to those practicing the scientific method.
Here are two observations from the study’s abstract:
“Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that individuals with high (vs. low) self-perceived attractiveness were less willing to wear a mask, due to a weaker endorsement of the belief that mask-wearing enhances their perceived attractiveness (i.e., mask attractiveness belief).”
So, study authors present the idea that the ugly are more likely to wear masks. They also present the idea that IT’S NOT ACTUALLY ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THE MASKS WORK:
“Our findings suggest that mask-wearing can shift from being a self-protection measure during the COVID-19 pandemic to a self-presentation tactic in the post-pandemic era.”
The idea that it is not about whether or not the masks work is a long-standing observation. In February 2020, we already knew after the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess that COVID was not the killer disease that the court modelers said it was. Didn’t matter. PUBLIC HEALTH IGNORED THE SCIENCE. By May 2020, we had scientists at the CDC pointing out that there were 14 randomized control trials to date clearly showing that FACE MASKS DO NOT WORK. That was within about three weeks of the CDC mask guidance going into effect. Political hacks at the CDC were saying one thing about face masks, scientists at the CDC were saying something else
Once again. Didn’t matter. Public health ignored the science.
Anyone paying attention could take it a step further, as I do in my bestselling Face Masks in One Lesson and Face Masks Hurt Kids. Not only are face masks ineffective, but FACE MASKS ARE HARMFUL FOR YOU as well.
Allan Stevo
I read lips as well. I mean, not like in the movies but having less than 50% of normal hearing in both ears, it helps me greatly to see the lips. I did online classes for it for a while. It's very difficult but it helps tremendously. So does reading facial expression. If I'm not sure what I heard, the facial expression can sometimes let me know that I did hear something correct or that I must be way off.
People with normal hearing absolutely hate to be asked to repeat themselves and so I avoid it as much as possible. But that means that I need to read lips, facial expression, gesturing and body language much more closely than other people.
Even without masks, if people don't speak loudly and clearly, and if I don't see your lips, I essentially can't hear you. All people have to do is face away and speak low and I cannot hear them. Combine any of that with a mask and we may as well be under water.
Even if I am ugly, I would never wear a mask!...