A regular contributor to FigaroVox, Maxime Tandonnet is an essayist and historian. A keen observer of French political life, he has notably published a "History of the Presidents of the Republic (Perrin, 2017) and" André Tardieu. The misunderstood ” (Perrin, 2019).
Today, discussing the usefulness and necessity of wearing a mask, made compulsory by the decree of July 10, 2020 in situations of promiscuity, would obviously be irresponsible given the risk of a resumption of the covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the refusal to wear the mask in public transport or confined spaces has become a form of aggressive incivism or even violence towards others often felt as unbearable by all those who comply with respect for the law and common sense. .
Is it necessary for all that to make the mask sacred, to make it a sort of talisman or magic solution in all circumstances, beyond the rules imposed by the decree? Should we give in to the temptation to impose it absolutely everywhere and in all places, including outdoors, in the street, green spaces and all public places? Several municipalities have already taken this decision. Is France doomed to a generalization of the mask without which it would no longer be possible to go out anywhere? The about-face of the official discourse which took place in a few weeks on this subject constitutes one of the most unusual political facts of recent years.
At the height of the covid crisis, in March-April, when the epidemic reached its peak with daily peaks of more than 1,000 deaths (1,438 on April 15), the official, scientific and media word held in a single word d order, hammered on the airwaves: the mask in everyday life was "useless". Thus, among countless daily declarations to this effect, on March 4, the government spokesperson declared, in the absence of available stocks: "We must not buy a mask"; then the Minister of Health qualifies the wearing of masks by the general public “unnecessary” and advises against it; the Prime Minister affirms that it is "not recommended in the general population".
At the cost of a spectacular turnaround, the official discourse now makes wearing a mask the main tool in the fight against the epidemic.However, at the cost of a spectacular turnaround, the official discourse now makes wearing a mask the main tool in the fight against the epidemic. But isn't France in the process of switching from one extreme to the other, from one dogma to another dogma? The mask, dangerously doomed to moaning for weeks, does it deserve, by a strange pendulum effect, to be suddenly erected as a mythical symbol of voluntarism in the fight against covid-19? Should it become, beyond being a simple tool, indispensable in certain circumstances, an object of communication and an emblem?
Caution is required because the general wearing of a mask, everywhere in the street, would not be trivial: “To hide the face is to undermine the minimum requirements of life in society [...] lives with his face uncovered ”(circular of 2 March 2011 on the ban on wearing the burqa). Thus, imposed systematically and in all places, it would profoundly modify the nature of social relations, promoting anonymity, incommunicability, depersonalization, fear and consequently violence. How would its usefulness in open space, in the open air, so long denied, now be proven, at the cost of an attack on freedom and social life?
Apparently, the wheel turns and everything passes, like a letter in the mail. The people are good children. However, in the long term, the contradictions, the procrastination, the shifts, from radical rejection to adoration, the consequences of which can be dizzying, will weigh on the collective conscience. The question of responsibility remains unresolved. If the mask offers genuine protection, its rejection, in speech and in fact, for several months, inevitably contributed to amplify the disaster.
The era of suspicion, after the Yellow Vest crisis and the social movement, is in full swing.In addition, the era of suspicion, after the Yellow Vest crisis and the social movement, is in full swing: the systematized mask, imposed everywhere, including in the street, some wonder, would it be intended to generate a form of control social? Whatever happens, the nation's confidence in public speech, already seriously damaged for decades, will emerge even more damaged with perhaps unpredictable political consequences today.