That was way too clever for this early in the day. I've got nothing, other than to say that it isn't the masks, but some admixture of fear of the state and of abstract entities posited by the state, i.e. creeping death. It is a mirror of religion, where the state steps in as God, and the devil remains the snake hdiing in the grass, in the form of microscopic infectious agents. It only makes my point stronger, however. The state is mimicking the Church in every conceivable psychological facet. In fact, we might think of the predicament as one where the state has usurped the Church in its role of defining our moral predicament in the world, where the state tells us what the devil is and doles out the means of salvation. But the key difference, and ultimately why these ploys by the state always fail, is that Catholicism was not merely the exaltation of fear, but also of beauty, truth, and goodness. Machiavellian rule by fear can unite a people, but only in the loosest way. Joy, hope, and love must enter reality, and this is precisely what is missing from the current paradigm. Authority must transcend man, or fear will rule, which is only as unifying as the extent to which people lack hope. @PS