Give me liberty and give me death!
Yes, I would like things to be worse, please. I do not think things are bad enough, and I would like them to be worse. I look at the number of people who have died in this great state, and I think, frankly, it is a little low. People, if you want to be technical about it, who will never see their families again; people who were not done living; people who cannot be replaced and whose absence will bore an echoing hole through countless other lives but what is that, weighed against my own convenience and my sense that things should be open rather than closed?
I look at the strain on our hospital system and I think: It could be greater. I see ambulances going past and I think: They are too unimpeded and will get to the hospitals too quickly. I look at the people in charge of my state who are trying to minimize the cost to human life and I say: Why, though?
I am here to make my voice heard. I am not actively in favor of the virus, but I think there might be good people on both sides of this people-virus question. So I am going to assemble in such a way that my leaders will have no choice but to listen and that through my negligence, more people will die. You might say Im doing my part. Thankfully, at least, the president agrees.
The problem? On the grounds that there is a pandemic and it "is not safe, I have been briefly deterred from going about my life in exactly the manner I would like. Can you believe this? No, I will not hold. I am here, banging on the window, like the heroes in a zombie film. Listen, I know my rights. I know that among them is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but I dont care about the first one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/17/give-me-liberty-give-me-death/
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)Given the choice of saving thousands of lives, including, possibly, my own, or getting to buy a can of 730C-2 Sandstone Cove paint now rather than later, I will not hesitate to choose the latter. Do not ask me how many lives I would trade to avoid minor inconveniences, or you will see what a sea of bodies I would be content to wade through to my morning coffee. If Im willing to die, that should be enough for everyone. No one as I have established during COUNTLESS interactions with customer service professionals is worth more than me.
I just want nothing about my life to change, including my indifference to the lives of others. So please stop demanding that I bend to the will of the people or their elected officials. The last time I checked, this was a democracy. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/17/give-me-liberty-give-me-death/