Two Kinds of Freedom (for Sonoma Gazette 10/21)
Lately, I have come across memes on social media that say things like “If the government has to work so hard to coerce people to do something, it obviously is not in the people’s interest to comply”. When the government is freely offering something which science and common sense (and even self-preservation) deem to be valuable, it seems preposterous that it would be considered coercive and opposed to our freedom. I’m led to ask, “what do these people mean by freedom, anyway”? The context of this question is obvious. I am talking about the various mandates to vaccinate and wear a mask. The opposition to these mandates is rooted in a variety of gripes; complaints that everyone experiences. Wearing a mask is a drag. No one takes pleasure in getting shots. No one enjoys the onerous reminders to wash one’s hands and stay 6 feet apart. It all rather sucks for all of us, doesn’t it? So why is it that for some people these inconveniences become an affront to one’s sacred right to be free? I