For a long time now, I\u2019ve been critical of those I consider to be contrarians and poseurs who are quick to cry foul in the name of personal freedom or freedom of choice in the face of public and private efforts to confront the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Recently Paul Krugman wrote an opinion piece* entitled \u201cThe Quiet Rage of the Responsible\u201d that speaks to the issues of personal choice and the right to freedom. He acknowledges that it is possible to have sympathy for some of the unvaccinated but he calls out those who don\u2019t get the jab or wear masks for cultural or ideological reasons writing \u201cTo say what should be obvious, getting vaccinated and wearing a mask in public spaces aren\u2019t \u2018personal choices.\u2019 When you reject your shots or refuse to mask up, you\u2019re increasing my risk of catching a potentially deadly or disabling disease, and also helping to perpetuate the social and economic costs of the pandemic. In a very real sense, the irresponsible minority is depriving the rest of us of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had a professor in graduate school who would have called the personal choice and freedom argument a \u201csmoke enema,\u201d a term he frequently used to describe fraudulent and dishonest arguments Almost from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, conservative Republicans and Libertarians have railed against what they see as threats to personal freedoms. It has, indeed, become a \u201csmoke enema\u201d that hoodwinks many to believe their beliefs and rights trump the rights of everyone else to the exclusion of decency, common sense and simple logic. So pervasive is this argument, it includes not just attacks on the government, but dismissal of corporations and businesses that make rules for employment as well. Such arguments remind me of the way people frequently distort first amendment freedoms to promote themselves or personal agendas. They either don’t understand or don\u2019t care that their arguments are disingenuous and specious.<\/p>\n
We all jealously guard our personal freedoms as individuals, the right to choose for ourselves free of coercion be it from government or other interests. The political history of western civilization has centered on questions about the need and role for governments, the rapacity of private interests such as warlords and what we consider to be the inalienable freedoms associated with simply being human beings. All the great political theorists and writers, including Hobbs, Rousseau, Locke, Burke, Hume, Smith, and Maimonides have wrestled with the inherent conflict of these ideas. It is the history of the modern era from feudalism, through the authoritarianism of monarchies to the rise of nation-states to constitutional government, totalitarian governments and most recently global interdependence.<\/p>\n
Rights are not absolute. They have consequences and bear responsibilities.<\/p>\n
*Paul Krugman, \u201cThe Quiet Rage of the Responsible,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, August 19, 2011. Krugman is Distinguished Professor at City University of New York and winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For a long time now, I\u2019ve been critical of those I consider to be contrarians and poseurs who are quick to cry foul in the name of personal freedom or freedom of choice in the face of public and private efforts to confront the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Recently Paul Krugman wrote an opinion piece* entitled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"\n