Faceless Dystopias

Now all I can do
Love what was once
So alive in you
--Billy Idol

Interesting article associating present day mask wearing with dystopian visions conveyed by Huxley, Orwell, et al over the past century. The defining characteristic of the dystopian literature, proposes the author, is "the eradication of all individuality." 

A lesser known dystopian writer, German Ernst Junger, suggested that the face mask aptly symbolized the mechanistic uniformity of new age society. He wrote in 1932 that masks, at that time being developed for various war, industrial, and sporting functions, would "come to take on functions that we can today hardly imagine."

The author suggests that "our readiness to obscure the face reflects the dehumanising tendencies that, for Junger, underlie the modern period."

Many of the authors thoughts resonate. It does appear, based on my personal observation, that there is a strong, negative correlation between affinity for individualism and propensity for mask wearing. 

Given the ubiquity of mask wearing today, what does this imply about present human capacity to stave off collectivist takeovers similar to those portrayed by dystopian fiction.