Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What do we owe to each other? (Barf Alert)
Florida Phoenix ^ | August 30th 2021 | Ivy Main

Posted on 08/30/2021 8:12:50 AM PDT by Jacquerie

A nation of individuals recognizing no responsibilities towards others is on its way to collapse.

The politicization of coronavirus vaccines and mask-wearing has been a depressing reminder of the downside of American individualism. The successful functioning of a free republic depends on people taking personal responsibility for their actions.

Too often now that translates into a disregard for the rights of others, coupled with an insistence that our own opinions, even if they are founded on the shifting sands of rumor, must be given as much respect as any expert’s.

Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers (usually but not always the same people) could choose to stay home so as not to endanger others by their choices, and perhaps some do. But many claim a right to go where they please, be served in whatever businesses they wish to frequent and send their children unmasked to schools that they insist must be open.

COVID-19 is not the only example of the damage that ensues when a large segment of society elevates the rights of individuals over obligations to society. Second Amendment absolutism has led to the peculiar result that the right to own a gun is valued more highly in law than the right not to be killed by one.

I would argue that the refusal on the part of a vocal minority to even acknowledge climate change and the role of humans in causing it similarly has its roots in American individualism. To concede we are in a crisis is to accept the need for action to counter the rise in atmospheric CO2.

Though the collective benefits of action are enormous (extending even to the ability of our civilization to endure), some individual sacrifice has to happen in the short term. Yet for some people, individual sacrifice in the service of the greater good is unthinkable. What’s in it for them?

It may feel impossible to have a serious conversation about rights and responsibilities when our public sphere is so contaminated by falsehoods, mistrust and conspiracy theories. But we still have to try, because the ability of our society to navigate the many challenges ahead of us depends on a consensus about what we owe to one another.

Successfully tackling the big issues – both familiar ones like the economy, racial and wealth inequality, and threats from abroad, and emerging threats like cyberterrorism, climate chaos, plastic pollution and looming ecological collapse — requires collective action.

A nation of individuals all fiercely guarding their individual rights and recognizing no responsibilities towards others is on its way to collapse.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: covid
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last
To: Jacquerie
COVID-19 is not the only example of the damage that ensues when a large segment of society elevates the rights of individuals over obligations to society

This one sentence -- in complete conflict with America's founding principles -- is why our Republic is in potentially mortal danger from the breathtakingly ignorant and unspeakably unwise enemy within ... and the author of this diatribe is indeed an enemy of the American Republic and to the principle of Liberty.

21 posted on 08/30/2021 8:55:19 AM PDT by glennaro (Dennis Prager: "Until it's safe" means "Never")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

I think we owe it to ourselves and each other to eliminate anyone who commits voter fraud.


22 posted on 08/30/2021 8:57:00 AM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie
"The successful functioning of a free republic depends on people taking personal responsibility for their actions."

Antifa is all for masking, David. Where were you then?!

23 posted on 08/30/2021 8:57:30 AM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches anything.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

>>If they believe that the masks and vaccines work, why are they worried about the rest of us?<<

Answers itself, doesn’t it?


24 posted on 08/30/2021 8:57:55 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (The democrats have just replaced KKK with CRT. /Kevin McCarty 7/6/21)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

The same authoritarians who 40 years ago were poli sci majors who drove battered rusted out Volvos and VW Beetles held together with QUESTION AUTHORITY bumper stickers. I was on to their hypocrisy back then.


25 posted on 08/30/2021 9:03:30 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (Virtue signalling is no virtue)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: glennaro

When the leftists say “obligations to society” what they mean is “becoming slaves to the new master race”.


26 posted on 08/30/2021 9:05:48 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie
(in a pompous holier than thou tone of voice) "Is avoiding the discomfort of wearing a mask more important than my life?"

"Dude, I don't even know you. Right now my lunch is more important than your life"
27 posted on 08/30/2021 9:07:56 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (Virtue signalling is no virtue)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

Drivel. Devoid of logic.


28 posted on 08/30/2021 9:36:41 AM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

“What do we owe to each other?”

For starters, how about the truth. Then maybe, just maybe, we can work our way toward some honor and integrity.


29 posted on 08/30/2021 9:37:32 AM PDT by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

That was a long winded soliloquy of cow poop.


30 posted on 08/30/2021 10:06:50 AM PDT by TexasM1A
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie
.....
31 posted on 08/30/2021 10:12:08 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa

Like Ivy, the vast majority of today’s authoritarians have law degrees.


32 posted on 08/30/2021 10:19:05 AM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

“A nation of individuals recognizing no responsibilities towards others is on its way to collapse.”

Pure BS!

Free individuals naturally recognize the benefits of treating well others that deserve to be treated well. It’s in their self interest.

Treating others the way you would want to be treated, ie the golden rule, is really all about self interest and the overwhelming majority naturally behave that way without some central command enforcing that rule.


33 posted on 08/30/2021 10:30:56 AM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you care! Guilting you is how they control you. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

Ivy is a Marxist. Nothing more.


34 posted on 08/30/2021 10:34:48 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: aquila48

Yes, pure BS.

Ivy Main would take society to a pre-Enlightenment time when everyone knew his hierarchal place under a monarch.

The American experience proved Enlightenment discoveries that individuals pursuing their desires, looking out for themselves in a Christian society improve the social order.


35 posted on 08/30/2021 12:10:25 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: outofsalt

David?

But yeah, I love how convenient it is that the masks Anti-American groups like Antifa and BLM ALWAYS wear are now SANCTIONED specifically by their enablers.


36 posted on 08/30/2021 12:54:27 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson