Non-State Actress #18: NATO Is the Moisture Barrier for Democracy
Caring about skincare is just as important as democracy, national security, and the future of the world.
Welcome to Non-State Actress written by me, Maggie Feldman-Piltch . Our last full issue talked about Elle Woods and Assassination Attempts. The one prior was a Special Addition, featuring my remarks from a NATO Public Forum kickoff breakfast. And before that we covered The CCP, Regina George, and the 3rd Velociraptor from Jurassic Park. Your support makes Non-State Actress possible.
Part One of ‘Support Your Neighborhood Girl Gang: International Security Edition’
NB: Now is as good a time as any to dig in on Non-State Actress in a big way. First on the docket? Getting to know some of the international security institutions out there in the world - because I promise they are *exactly* like your group chat.
BLUF
The key to healthy glowing skin? A fully intact moisture barrier to keep irritants, pollution, and UV rays OUT and hydration and nutrients *in*. NATO is a moisture barrier for democracy, keeping dictatorships out and freedom in. Whether NATO is effective is one thing, but suggestions that it is inherently aggressive is as wrong as putting on maximum strength Tretinoin and running into the sun - illogical and resulting in unnecessary pain.
Press Play
What’s NATO
NATO, the abbreviated name for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a defensive alliance of democratic nations formed after World War II in the face of the deadliest conflict in human history - brought on by fascist regime (Nazi Germany) and its genocidal, expansionist behaviors and ambitions. Basically, having watched as many as 100 million people die at the hands of an authoritarian regime, on the battlefield fighting/defending said regime, or as civilian casualties outside of concentration camps, people were *really* eager to never revisit the experience.
We’ve talked about the ‘basics’ of NATO before on Non-State Actress. Rather than rehash what I’ve already written, I am going to link to those earlier pieces and then dig in on more details after the jump:
Non-State Actress #5: Everything the Light Touches is NATO
Non-State Actress Special Addition #2: Chocolate Bars and Crocuses
What Is a Moisture Barrier
Since this is Substack and not Instagram and we are all coming from different levels of knowledge, I am going to take a minute to explain what a moisture barrier is in the context of skincare. If you’re looking for a definition of a moisture barrier for your bathroom or kitchen, please call a contractor.
First, if you’re not thinking about and actively caring for your skin’s moisture barrier, you REALLY need to be. The same is true of your democratic institutions.
Cleveland Clinic Dermatologist Dr. Melissa Piliang explains your skin’s moisture barrier with the fitting comparison to protective armor1. Without getting into the various chemical components of that barrier, it would be fair to say it is made up of 3 main components:
Dead skin cells, which are the skin you see when you look in the mirror.
Living skin cells (reminder: your skin is your largest organ!) protected under those dead skin cells.
Lipids, or fat, serving as the connective bit between the two.
Now, before you roll your eyes and say you don’t need to care about your skin let alone moisturizer let me remind you:
Your skin is your largest organ.
Your skin is the thing that keeps your insides inside and your outsides outside. It’s more than a pretty face - it’s the crucial line of defense against injury and infection, both of which can kill you!
In summary: saying skincare is frivolous is just as short-sighted and misinformed as saying NATO is a waste/doesn’t matter/isn’t interesting2.
This Analogy is Only Skin Deep
Sorry, this is a terrible pun. Forgive me.
Anyway.
It’s pretty clear what our skin is protecting us from, and therefore what our moisture barriers are protecting our skin from - the sun and UV rays, pollution, irritants, etc. It’s also pretty clear when the moisture barrier is in rough shape, because we can feel what happens.
Much like the signs of diminishing democracy and security, the signs of an incomplete or under-nourished moisture barrier are numerous, varied, and deeply dependent on the environment its happening in.
For some people, a damaged moisture barrier leads to itchy, dry, flaky skin. For others, their skin attempts to over compensate for the missing moisture and gets super oily. Acne, rosacea, tender or sensitive skin, can all be the result of an injured moisture barrier.
Similarly, eroded democratic institutions and insecurity looks different in different places - it can mean contested elections, physical and financial trade routes under attack, increasingly divided communities, government agencies and departments not working how they’re supposed to - or only for certain people and not others. And just like the impacts of insufficient skincare, the signs of insufficient democracy are not always SO glaringly obvious.
Your skin can *look* like everything is great when it’s really PARCHED and your social media can seem like it’s truly For You when it’s really more nefarious than that.
The impacts of a wrecked moisture barrier can be so variable that some of us might run towards the things causing the problem as the solution - super rough exfoliants (RIP to my face in the days of St.Ives Apricot Scrub), astringents, clarifying toners and cleansers - and then it just gets worse and worse…
Sadly, the same is true when it comes to threats to democracy, security, and freedom. Instead of making it easier for people to get genuine information and express themselves freely and peacefully, governments may ban books, make it harder to vote, or limit the right to protest.
I could go on and on and on but I don’t want to, so I’ll say this:
The threats against your skins moisture barrier are constant and never-ending and coming from everywhere. It is the price we pay for going outside, for drinking or not drinking water, for eating some foods and not other foods. It’s an unavoidable fact of life.
Just like threats to democracy and security.
Here is what really matters:
The answer is not to bury yourself under the covers every day (some days are fine bc #selfcare) but to use the tools available to us to defend against dry skin and cracked institutions - like a good moisturizer and an engaged NATO.
What is NATO Protecting Me From?
This is such a good question - maybe even the best question.
On the one hand, NATO is protecting us all from a LOT. I’ve written about some of it, you’ve seen it on the news, and I’ll be posting some videos this week.
On the other hand, NATO is about more than avoiding death and destruction. It’s always about Living Your Best Life.
Decent is fine but glowing is better. And we’ll talk about this next, but we’re all tired right now.
Wrap Up
Let’s make this short and sweet:
Your skin’s moisture barrier is what keeps you, and your largest organ, healthy, happy, and glowing. NATO is the moisture barrier for democracies - and if either are under resourced there is absolutely 0 chance of us OR our democracies aging half as well as Helen Mirren.
Gimme More
Understanding the Epidermal Barrier in Healthy and Compromised Skin: Clinically Relevant Information for the Dermatology Practitioner Rosso, James Del et al. The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology vol. 9,4 Suppl 1 (2016): S2-S8.
Non-State Actress #5: Everything the Light Touches is NATO
NATO Chief Lists Benefits of Alliance for the United States - Department of Defense, September 2018.
Non-State Actress: Regina George, the CCP, and the 3rd Velociraptor from Jurassic Park
Non-State Actress #15: A Good Moisturizer and Getting Banned* From TikTok
Non-State Actress # 2: Breaking a DIME(FIL) Piece Into Pennies
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/skin-barrier
If you’re looking for some skincare recommendations, you can always drop me a line.