How the turn tables

“Well. Well. Well. How the turn tables…” The awkward words uttered by Michael Scott. It’s a bastardized version of “how the tables have turned,” used to indicate a reversal or irony of a situation. And oh, how the tables have turned.

Remember 2020? COVID. Masks were the symbol of fear, division, and social responsibility all at once. The CDC (before it became a joke run by Bobby Jr.) recommended we wear them to prevent virus transmission. Some states made them mandatory. If you had a retail job like I did, you not only wore them all day, you had to tell customers to wear them too—or kick them out. It was a political minefield. Admittedly, it wasn’t purely political—some people just hated wearing them. I wasn’t a fan myself. Still, we understood the purpose. It was, at least, something noble: trying to protect others from the particles spewing from our face holes. That noble purpose faded. Immunity built up, symptoms eased, and fewer people ended up on respirators.

Medical masks make sense. Surgeons, dentists—they wear them for a reason. But other purposes? That’s where things get murky.

Masks conceal. Criminals wear them to avoid being caught. That’s simple. But it’s not just petty criminals. History shows masks are tools of moral corruption. The Ku Klux Klan wore them not out of modesty or disease prevention, but to hide shame while terrorizing neighbors. Executioners wore hoods to separate the act from the actor, pretending the killing wasn’t personal. In both cases, the mask symbolized power without identity—the ability to commit violence or injustice without owning it. That is exactly the danger when agents of the state pull masks over their faces. Anonymous power is unaccountable power.

Until recently, police rarely wore masks in the United States. Even today, local law enforcement doesn’t hide behind them. It’s only the modern gestapo that conceals its identity. Why? Because they want anonymity. Perhaps their conduct isn’t fully legal. Sure, they have the backing of the U.S. government—for now, anyway. Perhaps they worry about accountability under an administration that pretends to care about the rule of law.

Ironically, the Geheime Staatspolizei(Gestapo) didn’t wear masks when dragging Jews from their homes, or when executing them in the woods. They had the law on their side. Confidence in legality made masks unnecessary. Maybe our modern-day equivalent is a little less confident. After all, the Nuremberg Trials proved that “just following orders” doesn’t absolve you. Plausible deniability is now the uniform.

In our litigious society, masks also protect against lawsuits. If you don’t know who arrested you, you can’t sue them. Civil rights litigators face enough hurdles when holding the federal government accountable—it’s almost always immune. Even restraining orders or injunctions are difficult to get. Individuals are slightly easier to sue, though they still enjoy immunity when acting on the job. Masks remove even that possibility.

Government officials claim these agents wear masks for “security purposes.” Maybe that’s true. I doubt it. Americans generally respect the rule of law. Police make hard decisions every day. When lawful, people tolerate it. Local and state officers don’t wear masks while arresting criminals, and federal agents didn’t either—until now. What’s the supposed danger? Hundreds of federal agents getting attacked in their sleep? If no one attacks them while taking ordinary citizens from their neighborhoods in daylight, why the fear at night?

Masks also intimidate. This is obvious. If masked, armed men are feared, compliance becomes easier. People may not resist. Who wouldn’t be terrified if a van pulled up and five or six masked men with guns handcuffed you and threw you into the vehicle? That is a nightmare scenario.

Masks also hide shame. It’s a shameful job, and family or friends might disapprove. Without proof, they can deny their participation in these raids. Maybe they tell friends they’re on another assignment. Maybe they say they’re checking IDs at the airport. It’s harder to lie if your face is plastered all over social media while crowds watch human beings tossed into unmarked vans unwillingly. The parallels to Hitler’s Gestapo or Stalin’s NKVD are impossible to ignore. They carried out similar tasks. Only difference: ICE wears masks.

Our majestic MAGA-king complains about protestors wearing masks. Should they? First, most don’t even wear them, though some do. Citizens enjoy a certain right to privacy—different from government actors under the color of law. Second, there’s a real threat of doxing. People get fired for what they say online. That’s the case for Charlie Kirk dissenters. Even public university professors and staffers were fired when speaking online in a private capacity. In those cases, the government abused free speech by taking action against private individuals for speaking out. If those with First Amendment protection are vulnerable, what of private citizens? ICE agents don’t face that risk. Should I believe an ICE agent will be fired for being pictured on social media? Not likely.

The message is simple: masks conceal identity and inspire fear. That purpose now belongs only to those favored by the Trumpian hierarchy. The rest of us are just collateral.

And here’s the final truth: When the powerful wear masks, it’s not for safety, it’s for impunity. When they take people in the dead of night and hide their faces, they teach us something: accountability is optional, morality is optional, and your fear is mandatory. The mask doesn’t protect you. It protects them. And if you ever think otherwise, they’ll pull you into a van and show you exactly who the mask is for.