May 11, 2020

How Not to Persuade Men to Wear Masks

This is the illustration that accompanied Petri's piece. Hilarious, isn't it?Tara Jacoby/Washington Post

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Over the weekend, Alexandra Petri favored us with a humorous column about men who refuse to wear masks:

Men, are you worried that wearing a mask is “submission” and “muzzling yourself” and “looks weak, especially for men”? Do you think that “I don’t see it,” except possibly at a “mask facility”?

Well, worry no longer! Introducing: Masks For Him! We put the “mask” in “toxic maskulinity”!

….We offer many masks, ranging from the Ultimate Mask (a VHS copy of “Rambo” you can duct tape to your face) to the HYPER-ULTIMATE MASK (a VHS copy of “Rambo” you can staple to your face)….This World War I inspired mask is made of razor wire! This mask says, “Not only do I misunderstand science, but I also misunderstand history!” It may not block particles of any size, but any coronavirus that crawls over that barbed wire is a coronavirus you can respect.

Etc.

Ha ha ha. That’s hilarious. And before anyone tells me: Yes, I get that this is just a joke. Only a scold could possibly object.

Then call me a scold, because this kind of crap needs to stop. There are lots of men who feel silly wearing a mask, and it’s not because they’re admirers of Mussolini or full-bore Trumpies. They’re just ordinary men who were born and raised in the culture of contemporary America.

And we need to persuade them to wear masks. But how? I can think of several possibilities, and of those the worst imaginable way is to mock them in the pages of the Washington Post. That accomplishes nothing except to piss them off and ensure that they will never, ever wear a mask.

Is that worth it for the sake of a little joke among college-educated friends? Maybe so in other times—that’s your call—but not now. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and we need to figure out how to get people to do the right thing. What’s more, we need to figure it out fast. If you’re serious about that, you have a choice to make. On the one hand, you can keep up the stupid condescension that we love so much. Perhaps that makes you feel better. On the other hand, we could mount a real campaign to persuade people to wear masks. We could blanket the airwaves. We could use celebrities who appeal to all types. We could explain exactly what masks do. And we could do it all without mocking anyone. Any takers?

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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