No Masks

It's been a rule of Mormon "Trunk or Treats" and "Harvest Festivals" for as long as I can remember: No masks. For a long time, I thought that was a Mormon thing, that some General Authority gave a talk or wrote a letter about the dangers of wearing a mask, and we instituted that rule in response. Now, I don't really know if there ever was such a talk or letter, but either there's a Latter-Day Saint working at a nearby Baskin Robins, or this "no masks" policy isn't just a Mormon thing, and the latter is far more likely than the former.

Today was October 31st. On the 31st of every month that has a 31st in it, participating Baskin Robins locations have a discount on ice cream cones. (I know I picked a bad time to tell you that, but you'll get another chance on New Year's Eve and pretty much every other month after that.) While I approached the Baskin Robins to get a discounted cup of whatever the flavor of the month was, I noticed a sign that said "No masks," and I wondered why they would have such a sign/rule at their shop.

I knew that Mormons had good reasons to forbid masks at their festivities, but it hadn't occurred to me that other people have good reasons to ban masks, too. People sometimes act differently when they're wearing masks. They tend to take on the characteristics and mannerisms of the person or creature they're wearing a mask of. For example, as I wore my knight costume, I found myself inclined to act more chivalrously than usual, possibly due to a phenomenon that at least one Youtuber called "enclothed cognition," which essentially means that we often act in a way that makes sense for the way that we're dressed. Since people sometimes dress as monsters and villains for Halloween, this can be a troubling phenomenon, and I can see why anyone would want to mitigate it in any way they can.

Yet, banning masks, specifically, makes even more sense than discouraging villainous attire. In addition to the effects of enclothed cognition, people have another excuse to act differently, and less morally, while wearing a mask: They can probably get away with it. While wearing a mask, one is less likely to be recognised. And if you can't identify a person who committed a crime, for example, you'll have a harder time bringing that person to justice. That's part of why masks are so dangerous and why their use is discouraged in so many places. The anonymity that masks provide can be empowering, but what it empowers is usually bad.

Hiding behind masks of anonymity has given people excuses to do terrible things, from bullying to petty crimes to horrifically evil acts, all largely because they don't have to show their faces as they do those things. However, we Latter-Day Saints know that no evil act will permanently go unpunished. Even if no one on Earth ever finds out who did what evil act, God knows. God is omniscient. From His perspective, there might as well not even be any masks at all. He can see through them just as easily as if they weren't even there. So, let's not make the mistake of thinking that we can do whatever we want and get away with it by hiding our identities behind literal or figurative masks. In fact, in most cases, it's probably best not to wear masks at all. They don't work as well as some villains would like them to, and for one particular villain, who thrives on convincing others to do evil, they work all too well.