There are all sorts of people that wear masks in life, some figurative, and some literal. The thing about figurative masks, is that it’s difficult for the other person to really know that a mask is being worn, at least, in the short run; whereas, on the other hand, those that wear literal masks make it rather obvious, from the get-go. So then, while there are two basic types of masks that many people are prone to wear, it is important to understand, that mask wearing, whether figurative or literal, primarily occurs because people, for whatever reason or reasons, are consciously desiring to hide their true identity.
For instance, when it comes to social media in which those that are posting, as well as those that are commenting, have obscured their real identity in some manner, the interplay within that media has a much stronger tendency to degenerate into vitriol and other negative expressions; as compared to social media in which each party has clearly identified themselves, which has a stronger tendency to be more civil, though, not always.
Then there are cultural events, that permit people to wear masks or costumes, such as with Mardi Gras, or Halloween, or a costume party, or even those venues in which the ambience lighting is so low that visibility is limited, in which, for those that partake in these sorts of things, the fact that their true identity is obscured or somewhat obscured, typically brings out a different part of a given person’s personality, because they not only have somewhat plausible deniability, they also have the excuse, should they choose to draw upon it, that they were just going with the flow, so to speak.
That which happens at entertainment or artistic affairs, is usually pretty harmless -- what isn’t harmless, though, is when someone is arrested, or forcefully taken somewhere, in which either the person so being held has their identity obscured by a hood being place over their head, or there are people that are observing and perhaps directing all that is happening which are behind a hidden mirror, or one of the interrogators has obscured their identity as well as their authority. Those then, that are going through an interrogation in which either their personal identity has been obscured, or those that are doing the interrogation have obscured their identity, are going to be in a lot tougher place than those that are dealing with what has to be dealt with, on the up and up.
So then, it is truism, to state that when one’s identity is in the control of someone else in which that particular person so being held against their will, has been dehumanized, for example, by their clothes that they are now wearing or the lack thereof, or masking, or hooding, or the physical position that they are placed in, that they are indeed, in a very bad predicament. Further to the point, those that do the interrogation in which their voice, or their physicality has been obscured in one way or another, the end result for the person suffering through that interrogation is almost for a certainty not going to be good.
We so find, that when excluding for costume parties and things of that ilk, that those that deliberately obscure their identity, or hide in the shadows, are doing so, because what they are about to do, they don’t want to really own up to, and by covering their identity, they feel far less constrained in behaving in a civilized fashion, and that which is evil, typically thrives in not being held personally accountable.