“Freedom” Doesn’t Mean That Spoiled, Entitled, Inconsiderate People Get To Do Whatever They Want
If you want to do stuff that is materially harmful, risky or dangerous to other people, then stay away from other people
By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
This is my rant about spoiled, entitled, selfish, greedy, self-centered, inconsiderate people whose attitude is, “I have a right to do whatever I want no matter how much it harms or endangers others. To hell with them.”
Who are these people?
Selfish & Greedy But Not Illegal
A few days ago I had to merge into an approach lane to the freeway that was also the exit lane for cars leaving the freeway.
Since this was a single lane both for cars getting off and cars getting on, vehicles need to do a merge-zipper maneuver where cars getting on merge into the single lane of traffic with the cars that have just gotten off.
The overlap where cars getting off and cars getting on share the single lane is maybe forty feet.
As I approached the short merge section a burgundy-colored SUV getting off the freeway gave me no chance to enter. OK, I slowed to a crawl to let it pass so that I could merge in behind it, except that the middle-aged, solo, short-haired, white male in the huge white SUV behind the burgundy SUV realized that I had slowed so that I could merge in front of him.
“Hell no,” he decided, “you’re not going to get in front of me.” Instantly, he accelerated until he was tailgating the burgundy SUV making it impossible for me to merge in.
By that point I was only a few feet from the end of my soon-to-disappear lane. I hit the brakes and darted in behind the white SUV with only a few yards left in my lane and very little room between the white SUV and the car behind it.
Forty feet later the guy in the white SUV exited to the right while I continued on to eventually merge onto the freeway fifty yards farther down the line.
What benefit did the guy in the white SUV gain by blocking me? None. He knew that I wasn’t going to be in front of him for more than a few feet before he exited while I would continue on to join the freeway.
But that didn’t matter to him.
The core principle of his life was that nobody was going to get in front of him, ever, period. Spoiled, Selfish? Greedy? Entitled? Inconsiderate? Egomaniacal? You pick the adjective.
Essentially, his attitude was, “It’s all about me. I’m going to screw everyone I can even when it gains me nothing to screw them.”
Yes, he does have a right to be a spoiled, selfish jerk, and I have the right to call him on it.
“Freedom” Doesn’t Mean You Can Do Whatever You Want No Matter How Much It Harms Other People
Drunk Driver
The drinker who doesn’t care about how dangerous he/she is to everyone else on the highway when they choose to get behind the wheel.
“I want to drink and drive and screw everybody else. They can just get the hell out of my way.”
You don’t have a right to drink and drive.
Smoker
The smoker who lights up in a restaurant or bar: “I’m a free American and if I want to have a cigarette in this restaurant then screw everyone around me who doesn’t want to breath in my smoke. It’s all about me.”
You don’t have a right to light up where your smoke will reach others.
Loud Neighbor
The person in apartment 4D who cranks up the music at eleven o’clock on Wednesday night. “If my neighbors don’t like my wonderful music the let them wear ear plugs or noise-cancelling headphones.”
You don’t have a right to make night-time noises so loud that they bother your neighbors.
Anti-Masker
The anti-masker: “I don’t care that you don’t want to breathe in my possibly Covid-infected exhalations. I’m a free American and I’m going to do what I want. If I infect you or, indirectly, your unvaccinated kids with a deadly disease, that’s your problem.”
You don’t have a right to exhale your potentially highly-contagious, infected breath on the people around you.
Anti-Vaxxer
The anti-vax people who want to send their unvaccinated kids into public schools. “Hey, vaccines scare me so if my unvaccinated kid infects your kids or, indirectly, you or your relatives with measles or polio or whatever, that’s your problem.”
You don’t have a right to expose other people’s kids to dangerous diseases.
Anti-Covid-Vaccine People
The Covid unvaccinated people who want to come to work, sit in theaters and restaurants, bowling alleys and ball games: “I’m a free American. If I want my body to be an incubation site for yet another, even more dangerous, Covid variant, well that’s my right. And if I want to breathe on you and maybe infect you or your kids or your family and friends with a deadly disease, well, that’s my right too, so screw you if you don’t like it.”
You don’t have a right to expose others around you or their families to a disease that is potentially deadly to their children.
If You Refuse To Be Considerate Of Others Then You Need To Stay Away From Other People
Here’s the deal:
I’m sick of spoiled, inconsiderate, “It’s all about me” people who act as if
- They are the only humans who matter, nobody else counts
- They have some kind of God-given right to keep on doing whatever the hell it is that they want to do no matter how much it endangers or harms other people.
Here’s the deal:
Drink & Drive On Your Own Land
If you want to drink and drive, go live on a big ranch that’s full of private roads and drink and drive all you like on your own property where there are no members of the public for you to endanger.
Smoke In Your Own Dining Room
If you want to smoke in a dining room, then live in a single family dwelling and smoke in your own dining room.
Keep Your Loud Music To Yourself
If you want to play loud music or have loud parties do it in a house far enough away from other houses so that no one else has to hear your noise.
Be Maskless In Your Own House
If you don’t want to wear a mask, then stay away from people who don’t want to breathe your aerosolized virus particles.
Home-School Your Unvaccinated Kids
If you don’t want your kids to be vaccinated, then keep them at home — no public schools, no little league, no birthday parties.
If You’re Unvaccinated, Stay Home
If you don’t want to get one of the Covid vaccines, then stay home. Don’t go to a job where you will be around other people. Don’t go to restaurants and theaters, conventions and sporting events.
You’re not alone in this world. Other people live here too.
If you want to do stuff that is materially harmful, annoying, risky or dangerous to the other people around you, then stay away from other people who aren’t spoiled, entitled, self-centered, inconsiderate “it’s all about me. Screw everybody else” people like you.
Do Your Inconsiderate Stuff Away From Other People
People who want to act as if they are the only people in the world should live where they are the only people in the world.
— David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
