Meh. It’s time to take off the gloves with the anti-maskers and covid deniers. Once they risk other people’s lives, they lose both the benefit of my doubt and the benefit of my civility.
Let's take a closer look at the issue of mask bylaws. First, I don't buy the argument that guilt should be assigned to individuals based on
assumptions about what
might be the case within a larger group. In other words, it's not a coherent position to assume that because dangers exist in the world, that anyone who doesn't take precautions against them, is automatically guilty of endangering someone else, or even themselves.
It may be the case that a person will never actually encounters the specified danger, making the precautions for them entirely pointless. Therefore, without conclusive evidence of imminent infection, it's completely presumptuous to assume that someone without a mask is endangering
anyone. On an individual level, this makes mask bylaws a
presumption of guilt.
One might counter with a number of "social responsibility" arguments, but each one has serious weaknesses. We can go through them if you want, but my personal stance on the issue in this particular pandemic, is that despite my own objections, there are certain environments, like medical facilities, long-term care facilities, and other high-risk situations in which a mask requirement is entirely reasonable.
There should also be no law
preventing a person from wearing a mask for health & safety reasons ( or for that matter almost any other reason ). Note that my view on this is also with respect to this particular pandemic, not one where there is far more risk to the general population, and this brings-up the issue of "covid deniers". There is a difference between denying that there is such a thing as COVID-19, and just how bad it really is.
There has been a lot of politicization and sensationalizing. The statistics are misleading due to the way they are collected and counted. I've posted several articles on this already. There is also a lot of fear mongering in the media, to the point where anyone who points out evidence contrary to their perspective, is seen as a "denier" who is out to kill their grandmother. Then off come the gloves, and out goes civility, along with objectivity.
Minds like ours can do
better. And during these times it's more important than ever that we do.