jcnporter wrote:SamuraiDrifter wrote:arvy wrote:I think the real danger would be, if the scientific proves, become more powerfull, than a common sense.
Science is just the systematic application of common sense.
Wearing masks to prevent the spread of a respiratory disease is common sense. The virus primarily spreads through droplets that come from your nose and mouth, so it's sensible to cover your nose and mouth.
I agree that the government forcing people to wear masks or get vaccinated is very much an attack on personal freedom. I don't think it's right for the government to threaten us to earn compliance, and any time new criminal regulations are introduced, inevitably poor and marginalized people suffer the most. So I'm against mask mandates and forced vaccination.
But -- and here's the big BUT -- I think that NOT wearing a mask or getting vaccinated is extremely selfish and irresponsible. I don't think it's something we should be forced into by the government, but I absolutely will tell my friends, family, and acquaintances how important vaccines and masks are, and I will definitely lose respect for anyone who can't sacrifice a little bit of comfort to help keep their community safe. I will keep anyone who disregards pandemic safety away from me and my family. I will tell them they're being ignorant, foolish, and putting people's lives at risk. That's me exercising MY freedom of association and speech.
Agree with all of this and while I do agree that government shouldn't legislate to enforce mask wearing and vaccinations, it's interesting that these days no-one protests against the government enforcing, for example, the wearing of seatbelts, which isn't even about protecting other people.
As some here start to take on that "non-goverment intervention", I probably should clarify a little. I think, that to keep our social contract, the government regulation is necessary. Starting from helping regulate civili terms, or use goverment force to prosecute the violation of the law. The real concern for me is, that as is seems many willingly to give some of the social behavior, which can be agreed without the law, to the goverment.
Lets take an example, some people think that drugs are nothing bad or even a secret doorway of somekind -"the answer". Other people a completely opposite, thinking that this is some sort of degradation, not just for a person, but the whole society. But this ultimately not ending there, one countries pushing for that legislation to free the drug use, or they already just did that. Others countries have "class a drugs", for which you can get a life sentence, or even death penalty.
This is a perfect example, for keeping completely different opinion, but the goverment already taken a one step futher. You can think whatever you want about drugs, but ultimately the goverment voice on this quesiton will be pivotal. Do we need the same approach with mask policy. I honestly don't know, this is a still an open question. I think what is happening now, the social behavior norms are slowly taken roots, until this can be succesfylly implemented in to law. As the written law is usually originated from the common law.
I really don't want to go in to that "selfish and irresposinble" teritorry, as I really don't want to moralise anything. As you can relly easily turn the tables on this. For example, some business already not planning the get along with the covid passes, as they think, that segregate people with vaccinated or not, is immoral it self. You can still bring those scary numbers and show finger on how you should and not should be doing, or even feeling.
I would say only thing, don't agree just for the agreement sake. I know it's tempting, but it is important to question things. That at the end, if all these all changes were necessary, we can all sit down at the end and say, there were was a resistance. But we made it, we made people to believe in newer system, on an older beliefs.
I came with that funny conclusion, that all these arguments who is right or wrong, usually ends with those scary numbers and you really don't have anything to say about it, without going in to that " dangerous to society-fringe" teritorry. But is it something really different from someone questioning "the regime". And, as soon as this happens, there are armed guys knocking at your door, and suddenly there are no questions.