The Great Mask Debate – To Wear or Not to Wear?,Oceania

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The Great Mask Debate – To Wear or Not to Wear?
Oceania ( IF 0.4 ) Pub Date : 2020-12-16 , DOI: 10.1002/ocea.5261
Gregory Waula Bablis ₁

Affiliation

Masks have always been important aspects of Papua New Guinean societies—be it in terms of their ceremonial uses in singsings (traditional dances or festivals) or in the more tourist‐oriented festivals happening today. All regions of Papua New Guinea had different types of masks, from whole‐body masks to very small ones. Each served different kinds of purposes. For instance, masks were used to entertain and excite; to represent clan moieties or totemic spirits; to strike fear, warn, or intimidate; and to conceal the wearer's identity. An important function of masks was to protect their wearer. This includes protection in the context of warfare and protection from future incriminations when individuals mete out justice, discipline, or punishment. In most places, masks were worn and used only by men and even then, only by initiated men. With the coronavirus pandemic, however, we are witnessing a rise in the importance and usage of one particular type of mask: the standard clinical mask. While the protective function of this mask remains constant, the entity from which the wearer wishes to keep themselves safe is very different. It is a virus. With the coronavirus pandemic, we are also seeing more social inclusion in terms of the access and use of this type of mask, which all genders and ages are being urged to wear for our own good and health. We should embrace this opportunity to participate in this traditionally significant but formerly socially exclusive practice of mask‐wearing. Mask‐wearing is cool. It is important because it identifies you as being part of a particular group. Mask‐wearing shows that you care about that group, about others, and about yourself. And if health experts are to be believed, it just might save your life.

Masks protect

They conceal

They hold back

Then they reveal

They identify

They distinguish

They may terrify

But may also save you future anguish

To wear or not to wear?

That is the question

Keeping your health

Or inhibiting fresh circulation of air?

But looking on the face of it

What are the benefits

Of wearing a mask

Just for the hell of it?

Some say it's a discomfort

Others say it's necessary

I'll forgo my current comfort

For the sake of my pulmonary.

Even if you're a skeptic

Is there any harm

In wearing a mask

Just as a prophylactic?

It really isn't a novelty,

To mask up for a reason?

It is a traditional proclivity

To mask up in the right season?

Kamap olsem ol Duk‐Duk

Bilong Ist Niu Briten

Ol i no sa suruk

Long taim bilong wokim kastam

O kain olsem ol Tubuan

Ol meri masalai

Em ol gutpla poroman

Lo kastam bilong ol Tolai

Custom and duty

Why should we cover our face?

Is it like wearing jewelry,

Or our saving grace?

Traim tingim ol Holosa

Bilong wonem ol werim mask?

Antap long kol ples Goroka

Ol i gat sampla task.

Na tingim tu ol Elema

Mask bilong tewel bilong wara

Em ol lain bilong yumi long Kerema

Ol lain bilong stap lareva.

Is it a personal choice

Or a government decision

To muffle your voice

With the new face fashion?

To wear or not to wear?

That is the question

To fear or not to fear?

Personal decision or government stipulation?

For some, wearing a mask

Inhibits breathing

For others, it's no farce

For it enables living.

But let not the law

Take away my right

To breathe alone in my car

When I'm driving home at night.

If I'm in a crowded place

And I forget to mask my face

Then I accept any penalty

As long as it is not too hefty.

Niupla Pasin Protocol

That is the ‘new normal’

To follow WHO or GoPNG,

What's the verdict of the public jury?

Of masks and symbolisms

What is the appeal?

Without going into tribalism's,

Generally to protect or veil.

Protecting or taking away half your face?

Whichever side you propagate

Let us all find common place

In this great mask debate.

Coviet‐straggler in Paradise

Is this the death of progress?

Or the progression of death?

NCO – New COVID Order

A Trojan‐horse

For NWO – New World Order

Stuck in purgatory

A perpetual limbo

Is this the new normal?

Niupla Pasin protocol.

But who knew?

WHO knew is who knew

Better late and slow

Than not being in the know

Now we all know

What WHO knew

So don't be ignorant

Don't be a Covidiot!

Out with the old

And in with the new

Replace the old new

With the new new

Can't move forward

Can't fall back

What becomes of the morrow?

Spiraling out of control

On a convoluted trek

When questions are the answers

And answers are questions

Then there are no true answers!

So we all become dancers

To the W‐H‐O track.

Nowhere to go

But the bounds of home

The city limits

Or in my mind I roam

Biding time

Until I must bite the bullet

And make a move

Without committing a crime.

I'm a Coviet‐straggler

Left behind

A stationary hustler

Going nowhere fast

Looking forward

Yet caught in the present

Can the future ever be

As bright as a COVID‐free past?

中文翻译：

面具大辩论–戴还是不戴？

口罩一直是巴布亚新几内亚社会的重要方面，无论是在演唱（传统舞蹈或节日）中还是在当今以游客为导向的节日中作为仪式用途。巴布亚新几内亚的所有地区都有不同类型的口罩，从全身口罩到很小的口罩。每个都有不同的目的。例如，口罩被用来娱乐和刺激。代表部族部分或图腾精神；发出恐惧，警告或恐吓；并隐瞒佩戴者的身份。口罩的一项重要功能是保护其佩戴者。这包括在战争中提供保护，以及当个人受到司法，纪律或处罚时免受将来的侵害。在大多数地方，口罩仅由男性佩戴和使用，即使在那时，也只有最初的人佩戴和使用。然而，随着冠状病毒大流行，我们目睹了一种特殊类型的口罩（标准临床口罩）的重要性和使用率的上升。尽管该面罩的保护功能保持不变，但佩戴者希望保持自身安全的实体却大不相同。这是一种病毒。在冠状病毒大流行中，就使用和使用这种类型的口罩而言，我们还看到了更多的社会包容性，因此敦促所有性别和年龄的人都应佩戴该口罩，以维护我们的身体和健康。我们应该抓住这个机会，参与这种传统意义重大但以前在社会上专有的口罩佩戴实践。戴口罩很酷。这很重要，因为它可以将您标识为特定组的一部分。戴口罩表明您关心该群体，其他人和您自己。

口罩保护

他们隐藏

他们退缩

然后他们揭示

他们确定

他们区分

他们可能会害怕

但也可以免除您将来的痛苦

穿还是不穿？

就是那个问题

保持健康

或抑制新鲜空气循环？