Yesterday, I posted a brief piece on #ThirstMasking in my Musings blog (available here on somberamarath.com under the writing section). This came after several days of tracking a definitive shift in the tone of the discourse in and around the COVID informed community. My first impression was that we were seeing the rise of a new movement, ala #YallMasking, aimed at normalizing masking in a novel way given the behemoth COVID surge that we are currently experiencing and the looming gargantuan surge that is expected just over the horizon. After some light investigation, I arrived at the conclusion that can be read in the post that I uploaded to my Musings blog yesterday titled "Ya'll Thirst Masking?" In short, I concluded in the piece that we are not witnessing a new #YallMasking. Instead, we are witnessing a new #SaltingTheVibes.
If you are at all lost on any of those terms, I humbly entreat you to peruse through the various blogs in the Writing section of this website. Everything that you need to know to get up to speed with this story can be found there amongst my other posts.
That being said, let us get into the history of this burgeoning movement. After my initial post, Persephone🦋 (@citrusdriad on Twitter) contacted me to fill in the gaps in my understanding of the situation as of the time that I posted the Musings piece. As it turns out, much like with the #SaltingTheVibes movement, it all stems from a rightfully facetious response to a negative comment on a previous tweet that was meant to be positive. As you can see below, Persephone🦋 quite kindly posted praise for gentlemen that choose to be COVID responsible by wearing masks. Describing these men as "so hot" and making use of 😍 emojis to further emphasize the point. Personally, I am inclined to agree with this sentiment. Men, all people for that matter, who choose to wear respirators are incredibly hot as this is a definitive show of caring, responsibility, and bravery among a slew of other characteristics that are absolutely attractive in any human being.
However, as always, where there is COVID informed joy there is always a turd in the punch bowl. Persephone🦋's wonderfully positive tweet was met with negativity from a commenter named Eric Lundy (@ericmlundy on Twitter). Eric Lundy, dismissed the assertion that masked gentlemen are attractive by claiming that thirst masking was "not going to work," which set off the clap back that set the hashtag in motion.
As a response to Eric Lundy's less that courteous response to the original tweet, Tim (@itstimredd on Twitter) posted a photograph in which they are dressed sharp enough to make razor blades jealous. In the picture (that you can see below), Tim is dressed in a beautiful blue suit, with a white shirt, grey tie, and sporting a 3M N95 respirator. As if the picture were not enough of a clap back to Eric Lundy's response to Persephone🦋, Tim goes
on to pose a question that just puts the icing on the cake as it were. Tim asks, "does thirst masking work?" Clearly, this is a rhetorical question because as you can tell from the image to the right of this text, not only does thirst masking work, it absolutely slays. Tim looks like he was hired by the Men's Warehouse for ad campaign aimed at getting the COVID informed gentlemen to consider the establishment the next time they are in need of formal ware. I do not care on what side of the masking debate you stand, you cannot deny that Tim is looking like an absolute snack in this picture. Tim is working that suit to its absolute limits. Add to this the fact that the 3M N95 respirator seems to be the perfect compliment to his white shirt and pocket square. You may not agree with Tim from a medical-political standpoint but you have to put some respect on his name when it comes to thirst traps. His image exudes quite confidence and a modern toned down masculinity that does not need to be loud or brash to be understood as masculine. This image is exactly what Persephone🦋's original tweet was on about. This would soon lead to the idea that sparked
the need for this article to be necessary in the first place. I have the receipts and this clearly sparked a fantastic idea in the mind of Persephone🦋. The idea that we should start posting similarly thirst provoking selfies thus
making #ThirstMasking a trend. A brilliant idea in my eyes because, as you may already know (if you read my previous pieces on the topic of popularizing masking), I am happy to get behind any positive movement that has the potential to normalize masking. Additionally, I firmly believe in the power of harnessing sexuality for the public good. Our prudish society is already inundated with sexualized imagery (that we fiendishly crave despite all feigned outward appearances) that are aimed at stimulating us into making already disgustingly rich people even richer by purchasing things that we do not necessarily need. As such, why not utilize the power of sexualization to promote a public health habit that has the potential to radically change the landscape of infectious disease and its effects on the human race. Understand, that while masking is at present a reaction to the threat posed by COVID, in the long-term the normalization of masking has the potential to stem or even eliminate a variety of vexing and dangerous illnesses that are primarily acquired via the respiratory system. These illness not
only affect the respiratory system, in many cases, they affect various areas of the human body. In the case of COVID, the most current science indicates that it affects nearly every segment of the human body. Therefore, it is crucial that any and all positive methods of enticing the public to take up the habit of wearing respirators in shared spaces be explored to its fullest potential.
The story does not end there, though. In another corner of Twitter at almost nearly the same time as the saga that started with Persephone🦋 and ended with #ThirstMasking becoming a reality was happening, k8lyn🦋😷🍵💐💙 (@ka1tIyn11 on Twitter) was setting the stage for another movement with essentially the same goal. They say great minds think alike. How alike and how close in time this phenomenon was exhibited by k8lyn🦋😷🍵💐💙 and Persephone🦋 is a bit spooky. As you can see below, while one was gassing up the gentlemen in the audience, the other was doing the same for the ladies in the audience that exhibit the same values that make the gentlemen so tantalizing.
In eight words k8lyn🦋😷🍵💐💙 kicked off a wave of posts in which COVID informed baddies just served fantastic masked look after fantastic masked look. This tweet seemed to gain traction faster than #ThirstMasking did initially but lacked a hashtag to allow users to follow the wave of posts. However, the latest developments have seen the two movement slowly start to converge and coalesce into an even bigger movement that is seemingly building on and integrating the #YallMasking and #SaltingTheVibes into itself.
I love to see it and I sincerely hope that this convergence leads to a greater, more united, and successful movement that not just popularizes, but ultimately normalizes the use of respirators in shared spaces as it progresses into the future.
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