Masking

“To function effectively in any social situation,” writes Booth, “we all engage in masking of one kind or another: we do some prettying up: we adorn, […]"

African Americans, particularly those who have to work and live in predominantly white spaces, also engage in masking.

The vassals or tenants collected in the hall for Christmas masking and mumming—the peasant gathering that May-day called out upon the green, drew together ranks whose distance, in our day, occasions forgetfulness on one side, and discontent on the other.

Such things, maskings, and disguisings, and dressing up, sometimes in incredible and wild fashions, are all part of the fun of carnival.

For millions of American lives touched by the coronavirus, it was too late to correct the failure to stand up protocols for masking and social distancing, testing and contact-tracing. But negative consequences of the culture war around the pandemic could still lie ahead, damaging the national vaccination effort.