11/15/2023 0 Comments Cool gas mask people background![]() Submission to the Library of Congress’s crowd-sourced project “COVID-19: American Experiences,” photograph by Desmond Johnson, October 2020. Beyond its practical value, the mask became a complicated symbol, one that could encompass broad concern for public health, a commitment to standing American political structures, and a reconciliation with a newly dangerous atmosphere. Nevertheless, social, cultural, and political divisions have led to various claims that the state’s recommendations were overly cautious and possibly authoritarian, with the face mask (in its various forms) serving as the central object of disagreement. In the United States, CDC guidelines on social distancing and masking have been carefully constructed to encourage public confidence and adherence. Others argue that fear-based messaging can create a sense of widespread fatalism or even societal panic.Įither way, the COVID-19 pandemic provides a distinct historical moment in which concerns over the way scientific issues are publicly conveyed and addressed by the state have become paramount. Some experts claim that fear proves highly motivational and that there is no way to avoid prognostication of a dangerous future. Opinions vary over the impact this kind of messaging has on the success of policies. And as future global climate and health crises loom, academic debates often center on the value of scare tactics-text and images that warn of an impending apocalypse. But then something shifted-safety regulations became politicized.įor scholars and policymakers, the politicization of the disease and its management has underscored many of the difficulties inherent to public health messaging. Schools and businesses shut down, face masks were ubiquitous, and, for a brief moment, it seemed as if public health messaging had prevailed. ![]() In the United States people hunkered down indoors, avoiding gatherings. Is fear a socially unifying emotion? During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic it certainly seemed that way.
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