Protecting The Group From The Individual
If you’re like me, you don’t smoke and have very little respect for those that do. Evidence of its hazards, both scientific and anecdotal, has been pretty clear for decades. It’s an addictive poison that has been pushed by some of the shadiest companies of the past century. Never saw the point, myself.
I understand many start as a stress reliever and then the addiction sets in which can be hard to shake. With the amount of information and education out there though, if you’re a smoker under the age of 60, you knew what you were getting into.
Some smokers are quick to come back claiming that it’s a personal choice. As an adult citizen they have the right to put whatever they want in their body, poison or otherwise.
I agree with that. I believe an individual should have ultimate discretion over their own bodies. According to John Locke, a philosophical founder of the U.S., an individual’s body is their base property and all rights to life, liberty, and property are derived from that.
There are a couple problems though. 1.) The choice to start smoking is rarely the individual’s. Usually subtle advertising from the tobacco companies and peer pressure team up for that first cigarette. 2.) Smoking doesn’t only impact the smoker. Depending on the metric used, second-hand smoke is almost as dangerous as actually smoking.
When a decision you make affects more than just your body, it’s no longer a personal choice, it’s a health decision you are making for the people around you.
That’s why smokers seeking to take responsibility for their choice will smoke away from other people. That’s why you can’t smoke in or around most buildings anymore. The government isn’t worried about the health of the smoker; they are protecting other people from an individual’s decisions.
This is where I tell you this article has nothing to do with smoking. This is about wearing a mask.
Like smoking, the effectiveness of mask as a means of protection from COVID-19 is pretty clear. The same can be said for social distancing, washing your hands, and other methods, but I’m going to focus on masks.
Some of you are dissenting right now claiming that mask effectiveness is subjective. As I’ve written about before, it feels disingenuous to call mask policies political or controversial. There is no counter evidence to masks, just people who find them inconvenient and so ignore the evidence.
Anti-maskers, like many smokers, cite personal freedom as part of their opposition. Even if masks work, the government can’t tell them what to do. That logic has the same two flaws. 1.) They aren’t making the decision for themselves; they’re succumbing to peer pressure or questionable guidance from those that put profits above lives. 2.) Wearing a mask isn’t just about the individual.
From the beginning, masks were promoted as a way to stop the spread of COVID, not necessarily protect you as an individual mask wearer. With the level of asymptomatic spread, there’s a good chance an individual wouldn’t know if they had COVID and could be spreading.
When a decision you make affects more than just your body, it’s no longer a personal choice, it’s a health decision you are making for the people around you.
When you don’t wear a mask or wear it incorrectly, you’re gambling with my life as much as yours. When you take personal risks, you’re forcing anyone you might come in contact with to take those same risks.
Winter is going to be rough. It didn’t have to be. Quit smoking and wear a mask.
