Thoughts on freedom and the prolonging of the COVID-19 pandemic

Every time I look at the news, I am reminded about how the concept of freedom is contributing toward prolonging the COVID-19 pandemic.

I am not pro-authoritarian, I believe in freedom and liberty. But I also believe that with freedom comes responsibility.

Yet the concept of freedom has been weaponised by the government of the United States during the Cold War. In realist terms, the Cold War was a contest for hegemony between two superpowers. But it was turned into a war of ideology, marketed as a contest between freedom and authoritarianism.

 

And when the United States came out as the winner in the Cold War, people mistook that it was freedom that led the United States to win over the authoritarian USSR. But the real reason for U.S. victory is actually much more complex with more factors than one. Still, this resulted in freedom being put on a pedestal.

 

It resulted in people believing their own propaganda.

 

So today, we have people who believe they are free to act as they want. They think they know better than the experts. They ignore the calls for vaccinations, maintaining distance, and wearing of masks.

 

But modern society is based on collective knowledge. We humans have evolved to the top of the food chain on Earth because we have developed methods for extensive specialisation and knowledge sharing. This is because we have limited lifespans and can only acquire so much knowledge. Instead of basing every decision purely on what I know from my own experiences, we have evolved to what we are today by drawing on collective knowledge in our decisions. That collective knowledge is science.

Science says vaccines, physical distance, and the wearing of masks help to prevent the spread of COVID-19. If we believe in science, we should act in accordance with this belief and take the proper measures, as prescribed by science, against COVID-19. Which means getting vaccinated (if you live in a place where you have access to vaccines), maintaining physical distance from other people, and wearing masks.

It is hubris to think that we know better than the experts. It is hubris to ignore what the experts say about vaccines, physical distance, and masks. It is hubris that will be our undoing.

And that is exactly what is happening. When we ignore the calls for distance and masks, the virus mutated into more dangerous strains because a higher rate of infection also means the virus is able to mutate at a higher rate. The more mutations, the more likely it is to mutate into something that spreads more easily or becomes more fatal.

What makes it even more dangerous is that, with widespread infection, the chances of someone who has been vaccinated becoming infected again increases. With enough such cases, the virus may mutate into strains that can overcome the effectiveness of vaccines, rendering vaccines even less effective. This can become a vicious cycle as we race to develop vaccines that are more effective against mutated strains.

[Sidenote: Vaccines do not prevent a person from catching the virus. It helps to artificially build up a person's immune system against a virus. So when the person catches that virus, the immune system is able to deal with the virus in a shorter period of time. Which means the virus has less time to duplicate (and thus mutate) and cause damage to a person's body. The result is that a person may not develop a virus count high enough to be classified as "infected". Or even if a person develops a virus count high enough to be classified as infected, the immune system is able to quickly reduce that count, which means a person recovers faster and usually with much lighter symptoms.]

Heeding the words of experts (vaccines, distance, masks) against following our own desires (go out, drink with friends, don't wear masks) has nothing to do with the infringement of freedom. The collective action of protecting people's lives in society is what living together is about. We live as groups because when everyone works together in a group, each playing our part, we all live safer and longer lives and are able to better utilise that to do things that we want. Freedom and responsibility come as a set. A person who wants to be free must do his or her part for society, because it is society that offers that person his or her freedom.

Those who seek true freedom know that heeding science will bring about freedom, not limit it. I only hope hubris does not blind the eyes of people.