Thread by @JBuchananBKK

Jasmine Chia, @ThaiEnquirer's best asset, has written the article I've been waiting for: the cultural meanings of face masks. It's an excellent piece, to which I just want to add some thoughts (thread).

thaienquirer.com/7726/meaning-b…

She cites three reasons for the divergence of openness to mask wearing between Asian and Western societies (two constructs she correctly describes as "unstable").

1. Trajectories of economic development
2. Asian notions of collective responsibility

3. Western liberal notions of proper citizenship

All are interesting and plausible explanations.

To the last one, I'd also add a Western emphasis on individualism, rooted in the enlightenment, perhaps, but also given a large steroid injection by late capitalism and...

... what Adam Curtis described as "the century of the self".

After all, what is more threatening to the idea of the individual than to become merely one of a mass of people all wearing the same face masks?

I suspect many Westerners feel as uncomfortable with other group behaviour as they do with masks, such as Thais wearing yellow t-shirts on Mondays, or groups of students chanting in unison while collecting money for charities at BTS stations, or huge group tours, etc.

So it actually goes much deeper than civic duty, and in a way is even antithetical to it. Yes, it's about transparency’ and ‘sincerity’, as mentioned in the article, but it's also about ego and sense of self.

So can the apparant Western emphasis of individualism be neatly contrasted with a more communitarian Asian culture, wearing masks out of a sense of collective responsibility? I'm not so sure.

The first problem is the panic-buying, hoarding and price-gouging of face masks we've seen in places like Hong Kong - traits which, while understandable, hardly show a sense of responsibility to the broader society.

The second is - are a majority of Asians really even wearing masks? Here in Thailand, while some certainly are, many also aren't. Are they neglecting their collective responsibility? Or is it just not that keenly felt?

There's a lot to unpack here, especially when adding politics into the equation - after all, Westerners (with a greater degree of trust in their institutions) are merely following government and WHO advice regarding wearing of masks.

I'll also just leave this tweet hanging and let people decide if this is an acceptable form of enforcing "collective responsibility"

Thanks to @jenniferatntd

Likewise, bear in mind the Thai Deputy PM's instincts to "drive out any Westerners seen not wearing masks.

Is Western aversion to masks (and uniforms too?) a way to immunize against these kind of excesses? Maybe unresolved trauma stemming from the horrors of fascism and WW2? Are we now naturally inclined to be more distrustful of group behaviour?

In any case, there's some very good observations in the article and it was well-written as usual, so thanks to Jasmine for starting a much-needed dialogue.

Definitely a must-read piece at this time.

Also see this piece by a medical anthropologist:

nytimes.com/2020/02/13/opi…

The article cites a sociologist as crediting facemasks with helping to avert 'anomie', or the breakdown of social norms. Sounds good, but when the importance of masks is 'oversold' in a society, then demand hugely outdoes actual supply, doesnt that risk its own, self-made anomie?

A staggering 1.49 million people in Hong Kong just tried to buy face masks from the online shop of Watsons, the largest pharmacy chain in the territory. Only 30,000 were successful before stocks ran out.

news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compon…