Thank you for the article! When reading about masks or public image we make, I often refresh this paragraph of Slavoj Zizek. Who talks about the face as the true mask, and how I interpret it everything we put on top of it is carefully chosen and thus more revealing than the face. I think you are right that everything constructs some kind of public image. The question is if that is hiding or just revealing more?
Paraphrasing Zizek:
What you construct as a mask as the real person behind the mask, you construct in order to blur and make tolerable to yourself the things you do in public role. It is not that when you take off this mask (Instagram filter etc.) that you can truly see from the face that the person for instance is a horrible person. The face is the ultimate mask, which we can see as a fellowman with whom we can identify and empathize. What you see when a person constructs a mask in front of their face is the person stare at you directly, that is why it is so uncomfortable.
“There are various ways of seeing this. I am sure even psychologists and philosophers will have different takes on the subject matter. What you say makes sense too. The mask can sometimes be revealing of what’s underneath, and sometimes it can’t be. What I meant to say was that we generally try to hide our true self behind a mask because we are afraid of the flaws and the imperfections.”
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