Posted on 06/29/2021 2:58:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
As many observers have noted, staying safe has become a religion. "Safetyism," as it is sometimes called, like all religions, places what it values -- in this case, being safe -- above other values. Safetyism explains the willingness of Americans to give up their most cherished values -- including liberty -- in the name of safety for the last year and a half.
Millions of Americans not only gave up their right to go to work, earn a living, attend church or synagogue, and visit friends and relatives, but they even gave up their right to visit dying relatives and friends. One can assume that nearly every person recorded as having died of COVID-19 died without having a single loved one at their bedside from the moment they entered a hospital until their death. The acceptance of such cruelty -- irrational and unscientific cruelty, one might add -- can only be explained by the failure of generations of schools and parents to teach liberty, while successfully teaching the worship of safety. If your father had to die alone, it was worth it for the sake of safety; if your mother had to be in what amounted to solitary confinement in a nursing home for more than a year, that, too, was worth it for the sake of safety. And, of course, if political leaders and leaders in science and medicine have to lie for the sake of safety, so be it; truth, too, is less important than safety.
None of this is new. Twenty-five years ago, I wrote and broadcast about the willingness of Americans to watch individual rights crushed in the war against smoking, and especially in accepting the absurdity of the allegedly lethal dangers of secondhand smoke. No one denies that intense exposure to secondhand smoke can exacerbate preexisting illnesses such as asthma. But the anti-smoking zealots' claim that 50,000 Americans die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke is nonsense. For example, in 2013, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that there was no statistically significant relationship between lung cancer and exposure to passive smoke.
Yet, in the name of that nonsensical 50,000-a-year claim, people were forbidden not only to smoke on airplanes -- which on courtesy grounds alone was appropriate -- but even in smoke shops. In the city of Burbank, California, run for decades by leftists who, like all leftists, have contempt for personal liberty, smoking is banned even in cigar shops. Despite the fact that no one is forced to work in any cigar shop, and even if the shop is well-ventilated, no smoking is permitted.
What is important to note is that these irrational prohibitions on personal liberty bothered no one except smokers. The number of nonsmoking citizens of Burbank who objected to these laws was probably zero. Had Burbank announced a ban on alcohol, there would have been a revolt -- despite the fact that at least half the instances of spouse- and child-abuse are accompanied by alcohol, and every instance of death, brain damage, paralysis and other permanent injury caused by a drunk driver is caused by alcohol. Has anyone been killed by a smoking driver? Has anyone been murdered, or any child or spouse been molested or beaten because the murderer or abuser had been smoking?
So, the safety zealots learned from the anti-smoking and anti-secondhand smoke crusade the great lesson that if you told Americans something wasn't safe, you could deprive them of their rights and they would willingly go along with it. And, for the record, this is equally true in virtually every country in the world. "Safety uber alles."
They didn't only learn this lesson from the anti-smoking fanatics. For two generations now, safety has increasingly deprived Americans of joys as well as freedoms. Children, in particular, have been so coddled that American children of the last two generations have probably had far less joy and far more fear than children of any previous American generation. Young children cannot take walks on their own lest child protective services be called; diving boards, once found on nearly every home swimming pool, are widely banned; and monkey bars and seesaws have been removed from playgrounds. As an article in the Australian website Babyology headlined: "Monkey bars are dangerous and must be removed from playgrounds, experts say."
Young people up to age 15 cannot fly without adult supervision by the airline. Why not? I flew alone from Miami to New York when I was 7 years old, and no one thought my parents acted in any way irresponsibly.
Two Norwegian scientists, Ellen Sandseter (Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education) and Leif Kennair (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), wrote a study on children and risky play published in Evolutionary Psychology in which they concluded: "We may observe an increased neuroticism or psychopathology in society if children are hindered from partaking in age-adequate risky play."
The desire to lead as safe a life as possible is a major factor that explains why fewer and fewer young Americans are getting married and even fewer are having children. Neither marriage nor having children is safe. Both are filled with risks. The headline of an article this past week on NBC's "Today" show website reads, "Child-free adults are just as happy as parents, study finds." Aside from the question of whether one can compare the happiness of two groups of people with entirely different experiences (would it be meaningful to say that most dogs are happier than human beings?) -- or even whether one can expect honest answers (how many people claim their choices in life made them unhappy?) -- the article well illustrates the point of this column. "Be safe" would certainly include not getting married and not having children.
You can live a safe life. Or you can live a full life. You can't live both.
This has been my point for over a year.
That, and masks are dehumanizing.
But thank goodness you can still “vote” for a “President” from the safety of your basement.
There is no such thing as absolute safety.
I remember a mother and wife who decided to lay in bed a little longer on a Saturday morning. Her husband and two children were up in the adjoining kitchen. He spoke to his wife who was propped up in bed and then turned back toward his children. At that exact moment a twin-engine airplane crashed into the wife’s corner of the house and killed her instantly.
The father and kids fled the house and survived.
One dude even explained to us on a thread back in March 2020 that his gun club was shutting down under the governor's orders.
An 'effing GUN CLUB.
I told him they should never open the place again, because they aren't really a gun club after all. They're just a Girl Scout group filled with middle-aged trannies.
Yep, this BS has revealed a lot of cowards on this website.
You are always free to hide in your basement like a coward, so there was no need to close everything. Any store could close if it chose to, and any customer could stay home as well.
It all started with smoking bans.
I have been surprised too by all the prissy little maskers and self-righteous social distancers on this site. There were a couple of posters whose daily posts were raving fear-porn…and a way too big number of others who responded and supported them.
It’s very discouraging. If you’re not going to get freedom on FR, where are you going to get it?
And racist.
Everybody has a number (of days). When it is one’s time to go, it’s time to go. There are many many stories like the one you shared.
Kids risky play?
How did I survive metal slides, mumbly-peg, bikes with no helmets, B-B guns, Chemistry sets, lawn darts, swimming in local river, swinging on grapevines in the woods...
There were "preventatives" out there, there were "cures" out there. AND our government screwed up numbers to lie about how many actually died from Covid.
I take a simple compound of Vitamin D3, Zinc, Magnesium every day. Less than 10 cents and have NO FEAR of getting infected with covid..... Doctors tried to tell the world about the effectiveness of it.... but the MSM and Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter SHUT THEM DOWN - GO FIGURE THAT ONE!!
I remember a vine hanging down from a tree in the back yard yard, and when my late son was 10 years old he used to sing:
Tarzan the Monkey man, swinging on a rubber band. It was so funny, I never forget that.
They’re just a Girl Scout group filled with middle-aged trannies.
——- well, you were so right until the last word…../sarc
Your disappointment pales in comparison to mine when I watched legions of people cheering for Bush and his Endless wars. That was some dug in insanity.
Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. Besides FR, I have freedom inside my home 24/7.
With regards to the self-righteous social distancers and maskers on FR, expect some of them would describe the no maskers, anti-vaxxers as self-righteous, if not worse. Nonetheless, good that all vent here so we can refine our positions and arguments. I live in a college town (but far enough away) and unsurprisingly it is overwhelmingly nuts about masks and social distance. With Xiden installed in the WH, they are even more nuts. Two days ago, when taking a long bike ride out in the countryside, a couple of them going the other way were wearing masks! One advantage is when in public with these nuts, it’s great to be able to tell them to “social distance” and use it against them, even if I am not wearing a mask.
You are right, it seems over the top here sometimes, that’s when I move to some other thread. My position is solidified enough now, there is nothing left to learn from them. If that’s what they want to live, by all means, but don’t get in my face about it like a crazed leftist.
...pandemic fraud .... givernment screwed up ....
As time marches on, it really is more than bothersome to see the great damage the givernment did to our country in so many ways. This is the institution that gets their media wing to go hysterical about “Congress must to extend the debt limit, ... no federal givernment shutdown ... can’t have givernment workers with mortgages and kids in school not be able to show up at work... blah blah blah**” Yet, they killed millions of non-givernment jobs and 10s of thousands of businesses just like that, while no one in givernment was hurt.
** Notice, there is a big difference between showing up at work for a paycheck, and showing up to work. It took the feds 8 months last year to process my tax return. This year, we are almost at 3 months and counting. Historically, for decades the feds within 3 - 6 weeks. There is no excuse, none of these people lost their jobs. Then there is the post office...
Re: Be Safe: Don’t Visit Your Dying Parent. Don’t Leave Your House. Don’t Get Married. Don’t ...
AND, Don’t go to work. Don’t go to school. Don’t open your business...
Got it?
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.