The Irony of the Land of the Free
People want freedom even if it means a death sentence
I am a proud American and Marylander. I love this country despite how I criticize it. I love being American and I love learning about our history.
My father has always instilled unto my sisters and me that the beauty of America is that we are completely and rightfully free. No other country in the world is like us. We can scream and fight and speak our true thoughts about government and politics, and what we feel is unjust. We can make our voices heard.
I grew up learning this sentiment. I grew up knowing I was the luckiest kid in the world to win the jackpot of birthplaces. I knew that I had the freedom of speech and expression from the ripe old age of five.
But that comes with a price. The price of 240,000 people.
We are living amongst the deadliest pandemic the world has seen since the Spanish Flu in the early 1900s. Covid-19 is rampaging the US and doesn’t show signs of stopping.
The solution is obvious: Wear a mask. Stay 6 feet apart from others. Stay home unless it is essential.
But because we are completely and utterly free, that opens up the argument of “this is America and therefore I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.”
Where is the line? Do we continue on this path of freedom while simultaneously infecting millions and killing over 240,000 people, or do we start hunkering down with some rules that are uncomfortable for a while but have long term benefits?
Unfortunately if you ask most people, the answer is that they don’t want the government telling them what to do. Which, okay, sure. I don’t really want the government telling me what to do either. But about things like whether or not I can have an abortion. Or if I’m allowed to have healthcare. Or even what food I can purchase at the store.
On 10 November 2020, Maryland governor Larry Hogan announced in a press conference that restaurants, bars, and other public spaces must decrease capacity to 50% from 75%. He continued to encourage citizens to wear masks and social distance. Hogan also asked that Marylanders refrain of out-of-state travel unless absolutely essential — including holiday travel.
Today, 11 November, my husband texted me from work and said:
I’ve counted 13 people with no mask at all and I’d estimate 75% of people wearing masks to be wearing them wrong.
If the smartest doctors in the world are telling me that all I have to do is wear a mask and it’ll save me and thousands of others, then by golly I’m going to do it. Additionally, if there is a law that states I must wear a mask or face financial and legal consequences, I’m going to do it.
There seems to be a common misconception that wearing a mask is oppressive. Now I am by no means an oppressed person. I am white, I had a good socio-economic situation growing up, and, again, I’m American. I have no clue what it is like to be oppressed. And neither do most of the people who are crying oppression on Twitter.
I’ve never subscribed to the idea that my life is more important than someone else’s; to anyone else’s. Another idea my dad pushed? Everyone is equal. Whether they are a boy, a girl, Black, Latino, White, straight, gay, tall, short; we are all exactly the same worth.
So there’s the fallacy. We are all equal and we live freely, but no one can tell us what to do.
