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Olivia Laing: The lonely city (2016) 4 stars

What does it mean to be lonely? How do we live, if we're not intimately …

What is it about masks and loneliness? The obvious answer is that they offer relief from exposure, from the burden of being seen — what is described in the German as Maskenfreiheit, the freedom conveyed by masks. To refuse scrutiny is to dodge the possibility of rejection, though also the possibility of acceptance, the balm of love. This is what makes masks so poignant as well as so uncanny, sinister, unnerving.

— The lonely city by  (Page 96)

replied to mouse's status

@mouse if not for pandemic I'd think about it only in terms of anonymity on the internet, but the mask mandates and anti-mask movements make this sword quite two edged.

Although, even with the web despite all the hatred being posted by so many online, the "masks" are sometimes the only way marginalized and/or persecuted groups could share their story and their opinions.

Quite a thought starter that quote is. Thank you!