United States, France, Canada ... More and more anti-masks - 20 Minutes

  • For a few weeks, Americans, Spaniards, Belgians, Germans have been demonstrating to say no to wearing masks in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • In France, the anti-masks movement remains heterogeneous, virtual and not very organized.
  • But by instilling doubt, it could nevertheless prove to be dangerous, warn two researchers, who are looking at this new symptom of a society steeped in mistrust.

A useless, dangerous, liberticidal mask, symbol of a plot by the pharmaceutical lobby, of a political will to impose a dictatorship? If cities in the United States, but also Brussels, Berlin and Madrid have seen citizens who refuse to wear a mask against the coronavirus regardless of the context, in France, the movement is spreading on the Web only. For the time being.

A diffuse movement

Long presented as "useless" by the authorities, the mask became compulsory in closed public places on July 20. More and more cities are requiring it outdoors and it will have to be worn all the time in open space in companies from September 1st. What to feed the doubts and conspiracy theories?

Created in May, the “compulsory anti-mask” Facebook group has grown in recent weeks, counting on August 19 more than 6,500 members. There is no study yet on this emerging movement, but two teachers, who have been looking into this phenomenon for a few weeks, give some keys to better understand it. “It is an aggregate of varied profiles, in which we find what is called the fascosphere and the complosphere, knowing that these groups overlap, underlines Tristan Mendès-France, associate lecturer at the University of Paris, specialist digital cultures. But there are also extremist environmental profiles, anti-vaccines… ”

Unlike the American anti-mask movement, it remains complicated to define the contours of this community. "It is a diffuse movement, latent, polymorphic, without leadership or identified figure, adds Jocelyn Raude, teacher-researcher in social psychology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique. In the United States, it is very clear, there is a polarization with the Republicans for freedom, the Democrats for the imposition of the mask. In France, we rather observe a U-shaped curve. If ideologically, you are close to the parties in place, you are in favor of all the measures against the coronavirus. Those close to the protest parties, LFI, RN, Lutte Ouvrière or "yellow vests", defend public freedoms more. "

Beware of amalgam

What is the weight of these activists? Hard to say. But it should not erase the disciplined behavior of the vast majority of French people. In early August, a YouGov poll for HuffPost revealed that 84% of French people were ready to wear a mask outdoors. "We have observed, to our great surprise, the massive and generalized adoption of barrier measures," Jocelyn Raude continues. While the mask is culturally very poorly accepted in France, it remains associated with banditry or religious fundamentalism. With this pandemic, we have seen a significant and lasting cultural shift. "

Another precaution to be taken: how to define an “anti-mask”? Because between a person who questions the merits of wearing a mask everywhere and all the time and a citizen who decides to go and demonstrate because he considers that wearing a mask is useless, dangerous or liberticide, there is a whole panoply of thoughts. "There are experts, including hygienists, who point out that masks must be used in the right circumstances", and not necessarily permanently, underlines the teacher-researcher. Who insists on the necessary pedagogy on the part of the politician so that the French understand the usefulness of these constraints.

Why is this mobilization emerging now? “Gradually, since June, we have seen a certain relaxation in behavior, adds Jocelyn Raude. For two reasons. In all recent epidemics, even with constant risk, people tend to become accustomed to the risk. It's complicated to maintain constraining behavior at a high level. Second explanation: the number of serious cases and deaths has dropped significantly from May. The dynamic of fear is running out of steam. “Even today, while for a few days, the contamination figures are increasing? "But the number of deaths and hospitalizations in intensive care remains at a low level", he qualifies.

What specificities?

This kind of controversy is not specific to Covid. “Whenever we have had restrictive measures in history, there have always been controversies over what degree of freedom to keep in the face of the protection of the public good,” recalls the teacher-researcher. But certain elements make this dispute unique. Countries have not reacted in the same way. And faced with a new virus which brings its share of surprises every day, the political discourse has evolved a lot. In particular on the masks, gone from useless to essential in a few weeks. Moreover, Facebook groups exchange videos of contradictory policies. “Confused government communication is an original sin,” Jocelyn Raude summarizes. This movement, here as elsewhere, is based on the differences between countries in responses to the coronavirus.

“What is new is that this epidemic is triggering a major economic crisis,” he continues. In 1968, the flu had killed more than 30,000 people in two months, but the mobilization had been much less important. Today, there is a hyperattention of societies to health risk. Moreover, this movement is riding on a climate of distrust rarely equaled. Politicians, scientists, media, any word of authority is systematically called into question by a section of the population. Third element of the equation: social networks, which accelerate the spread of false rumors, fuel protests and lock themselves in bubbles. "There is today a general scientific consensus on the usefulness of masks, but a small percentage of experts are unfavorable, recognizes Tristan Mendès-France. The anti-masks only relay marginal positions without contextualizing the words of a single expert. Social networks therefore act as a distorting magnifying glass of the movement, but also as a springboard. The anti-masks of today are often the anti-containment of yesterday and the anti-vaccines of tomorrow.

Disturbing precedents

If this movement seems, in France, not very structured and not very powerful, not sure that it will have no consequences on the epidemic in the future. Demonstrating or working without a mask, instilling doubt in part of the population can limit the effectiveness of prevention. An interesting figure, a May study revealed that a quarter of French people would refuse to be vaccinated against Covid if it were possible ...

However, Jocelyn Raude recalls that the anti-vaccine movement has experienced an express boom. “It was a very consensual subject in France and in a few months, after the H1N1, we saw public opinion switch. "

"It is a movement that remains marginal, which does not seem to have any capacity for mobilization in reality, but the visibility, the acceleration it enjoys thanks to the algorithms of social networks means that it has a potential capacity for nuisance that is not to be neglected ”, warns Tristan Mendès-France. Who cites an edifying example: that of the QAnon movement, born on the Internet. “Two years ago, these conspiratorial, anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-mask activists in the United States went from marginality to being able to present some sixty candidates for Congress in the next elections, with around 3 million of profiles on Facebook who have joined a QAnon group. "

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