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| Ideal mask for government regulation followers |
The COVID-19 related libertarian hate just doesn't seem to stop.
It exists as much on the otherside of the pond in this era of COVID-19 fear as it does in the U.S.
Financial Times columnist Henry Mance writes:
Britain has a problem with masks. Earlier this month, only one-third of the public said they wore one when going out — less than half the rate in Germany, France, Italy and the US. Americans, in particular, are baffled by our unwillingness to cover our dentistry.
But online libertarians urge us to fight this creeping authoritarianism — bemoaning “face mask hell”, “the problem with mandatory face masks” and “the misguided mission to mask us all”. Is there a strange overlap between those who brag about the second world war and those unwilling to make the sacrifices that victory required?
I give a full libertarian cry to this view: Bullshit to the state.
Putting aside as to whether it was a good thing for the US to enter World War 2 (I don't think we should have), does Mance understand what sacrifice and victory look like?
It is not about cowering (forever?) behind a mask, and fearing walking into a room where there are other people, on the orders of the state.
It is to step up and face an enemy.
Sacrifice in the age of COVID-19 is to go out and live a normal life.
The only ones that should protect themselves, if they choose, are the men and women who are elderly or seriously ill, who are most susceptible to serious consequences if they catch the virus. And the wimps can hide if they choose. Yes, libertarianism does allow for wimps.
The rest of us, who are at very low risk from serious complications if we are infected with COVID-19, should be out on the damn frontlines--creating that wall of herd immunity so that the elderly can come out and enjoy their last years in the full beauty of civilization.
Let the virus choose among the non-mask wearing, non-social distancing, whom amongst us it wants to infect. We will win in the end.
Yes, there may be a tiny few who will suffer severe consequences, perhaps even die, but not many more than those who die from a normal flu, and as a bonus, most of us will just end up living a fully normal life.
Non-mask wearing, non-social distancing is heroic. It is building a wall so that the elderly can once again truly live in their last years, instead of stagnating as we all hide from the virus on the orders of the state.
Screw the state, let's start building the COVID-19 wall.
-RWPutting aside as to whether it was a good thing for the US to enter World War 2 (I don't think we should have), does Mance understand what sacrifice and victory look like?
It is not about cowering (forever?) behind a mask, and fearing walking into a room where there are other people, on the orders of the state.
It is to step up and face an enemy.
Sacrifice in the age of COVID-19 is to go out and live a normal life.
The only ones that should protect themselves, if they choose, are the men and women who are elderly or seriously ill, who are most susceptible to serious consequences if they catch the virus. And the wimps can hide if they choose. Yes, libertarianism does allow for wimps.
The rest of us, who are at very low risk from serious complications if we are infected with COVID-19, should be out on the damn frontlines--creating that wall of herd immunity so that the elderly can come out and enjoy their last years in the full beauty of civilization.
Let the virus choose among the non-mask wearing, non-social distancing, whom amongst us it wants to infect. We will win in the end.
Yes, there may be a tiny few who will suffer severe consequences, perhaps even die, but not many more than those who die from a normal flu, and as a bonus, most of us will just end up living a fully normal life.
Non-mask wearing, non-social distancing is heroic. It is building a wall so that the elderly can once again truly live in their last years, instead of stagnating as we all hide from the virus on the orders of the state.
Screw the state, let's start building the COVID-19 wall.
The story I've always heard was that the people of England got fed up with cowering due to the bombing (in a short period of time) and then started to go about their daily lives as normally as possible. They refused to sacrifice being human because the enemy was bombing them.
ReplyDeleteBut these masks and other nonsense dictates are about sacrificing those things that people who were being bombed in WW2 refused to give up.
“Screw the state”.
ReplyDeleteWhat used to be the rallying cry of libertarianism.
And, it still should be.
I've been using your "I've got a medical condition" response. No one has challenged it yet.
ReplyDeleteThe medical exemption is nice to have when needed but, only when needed. Otherwise we should take our business elsewhere.
DeleteI walked out of a restaurant after they said I had to do the masking show. We don’t need restaurants to eat. I did not claim a medical condition. After asking some pertinent questions about the absurdity of the rule, I told the person I would not wear a mask, that I do enough stupid things and will not add to them by being an idiot.
I made a bit of a scene. The people I was to meet were already seated and only about 30 feet away from my exchange with the restaurant worker. In a voice more than loud enough for my friends and family to hear I told them that they should all leave too, that by staying they are perpetuating the madness. I notices very little reaction from anyone that I am sure heard me. Sadly, in a text exchange later, my sister did not even comment on the masking mess but, she did invite me over for a BBQ.
Most of the time nobody says anything to me about not being masked. The only time I have even used the medical exemption was on a construction job site where the Superintendent told me they are required.
This is similar sacrafice BS that Dershowitz paraphrases Oliver Wendell Holmes about mandatory vaxx.
ReplyDeleteGreat reframing of their bullshit argument. These people think sacrifice and bravery is cowering in their homes and covering themselves with psychological placebos.
ReplyDeleteAnd how about the economic, cultural and social fallout of this overreaction? I would gladly risk getting sick and dying so my nieces and nephews can have a prosperous life and enjoy all of the activities that make life worth living.