Masks as a class symbol?

Last week I attended an in-person conference in New York City. Almost none of the attendees wore masks, but all the help did — the food service people, etc.

Nancy Pelosi has once again been seen in a crowd not wearing a mask. (See Hobnobbing with the rich and famous, maskless, is the new face of the Democratic Party.)

“Why is Nancy Pelosi allowed to attend a lavish billionaire’s wedding in California without a mask while our school children are forced to mask up? Is it only the servant class who is forced to wear masks?” asked one tweet.

Obama famously partied with friends for his 60th birthday, and nobody wore a mask.

Rules are for the little people, of course, but I’m starting to wonder if masks are taking on a strange dual role as both virtue signal and class marker.

8 thoughts on “Masks as a class symbol?”

  1. I think the situation arises because if I remember correctly, OSHA requires masking in the workplace, but guests and clients are not in the workplace. Still it does have the class effect you describe of making an obvious class distinction between people in many public or semi-public settings.

    1. I agree it has something to do with workplace rules, but many other people at the conference were also working and did not wear masks.

  3. Well, for teachers, the school is a workplace, but not for students.

    However, ISTM the author being quoted is not a deep thinker…probably not even a shallow thinker. Helps to get web hits if you don’t think too much I suppose.

    Why is Nancy Pelosi allowed to attend a lavish billionaire’s wedding in California without a mask while our school children are forced to mask up

    Nancy is probably vaccinated as were the others. AFAIK, most school children are not. IDK for sure yet if the vaccine has been approved for children. I know certain ranges of teenagers can get it now. Oh genius author, you think that might be the reason?

  4. If this is about class differences, then why are all the examples of the upper class only noted liberals? We see the same thing with noted conservatives too. Interestingly, we had a conservative president who’s administration strongly recommended mask wearing but he didn’t wear one and his staff was intimidated to wear them in his presence.

    1. Can’t something be a class marker only within another group? E.g., people from India.

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