No. This isnβt about freedom. This is about freedoms.
No, my friend, this is an entirely different subject. Everyone deserves freedom but βfreedomsβ are invisible things that only exist in white peopleβs imaginationsβlike rhythm...
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Or not seeing color...
Or the tiny voice that whispers in unmelanated ears about what Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted.
Whenever unshowered Americans are confronted with something they donβt want to do, they immediately begin blabbering about their βfreedoms.β Itβs like the βrace cardβ for white people. While you and I know that the word βfreedomβ only makes one appearance in the Constitution, apparently thereβs a second Caucasian Constitution that I havenβt seen that clarifies this murky terrain.
As you can see, it doesnβt even have to make sense. More importantly, they will never say exactly which specific freedom they are talking about. They wonβt cite a specific law or clause in the Constitution that supports their position. Thatβs because there isnβt one.
Inserting βfreedomsβ into a random sentence makes one seem more patriotic, like randomly mentioning βthe troops.β Basically, βfreedomsβ is a conservative dog whistle used to justify police brutality, pro-gun legislation and even blackballing Colin Kaepernick.
Well, currently, anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and people who are adamant about their right to inhale coronavirus-laced droplets are crying that mandates preventing the escalation of the COVID pandemic violate their βfreedoms.β In the absence of any peer-reviewed evidence to support their conspiratorial claims that the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci are working with Moderna, the Illuminati and the New World Order to infect you with facemask-tainted carbon dioxide, the one-trick GOP ponies have resorted to their failsafe, citing their βfreedomsβ as the reason for their pro-coronavirus position. Iβm not saying theyβre crazy...
Iβm just writing it.
See?
Which of our basic freedoms will be ruined by medical science? Most Americans were vaccinated at birth without their consent. Why were our parents so comfortable giving up their freedoms then? Why doesnβt McDonaldβs βno shoes, no shirt, no serviceβ policy erode these freedoms? Make it make sense!
As someone once said: βYour liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins.β
Thereβs absolutely nothing wrong with asserting oneβs rights. These people absolutely have the right to not wear masks or refuse vaccines. Thatβs not what theyβre arguing. Theyβre arguing that they have the right to ignore science at the peril of others. Their kidsβ right to go to facemask-free schools canβt infringe upon the rights of parents who donβt want their children to die coughing up coronavirus phlegm. They are insisting that their personal liberty is not just worth their health, itβs more important than your right to choose to be healthy.
Itβs the ultimate act of privilege because what they are essentially saying is: βGive me liberty or give you death.β
Because they are stupid.
You may have noticed that their explanations are curiously devoid of facts and science. Instead of listening to medical experts, researchers or data, they are willing to entrust their health to their political allies or random Facebook memes. Their arguments also are all strangely similar. None of them have presented a unique viewpoint that they came up with; theyβre all spouting stuff they heard on Parler or at whatever the white peopleβs version of a barbershop is (Iβm pretty sure itβs antique shops). Thereβs no other fathomable reason for their positions except that they lack the ability to think critically.
Well, ultimately, itβs because of whiteness.
Generally, white people donβt have to consider other people because they donβt have to face the consequences of their actions. Itβs easy to oppose tax increases when you live in a country that ensures your children will get the best education. Youβd probably βback the blueβ if you never had to worry about police violence. If you didnβt have to consider the possibility of your vote not counting, you might be willing to ignore voter suppression.
These people believe in βlaw and order,β except for when it applies to them. They genuinely think their kids have the right to attend school without abiding by the rules the school boards set in place. They want to open up the economy but they want toΒ ignore the COVID protocols businesses and cities have put in place to make sure the open economy is safe for everyone. They insist that COVID only affects kids with preexisting conditions, but donβt want to abide by the laws that protect those children.
For white people, living in America is like having skin that canβt burn. If you didnβt have to worry about being consumed by flames, you might think fire codes are overregulated. Why should your hard-earned money be spent on a fire extinguisher if youβre fireproof?
They are victims of what I call privilege envy. Using our previous analogy, imagine if you were rich enough to move into a neighborhood where all your neighbors had fireproof skin. You might start to think that the key to a nice neighborhood is not spending money on fire departments and sprinkler systems.
Sure, youβd enjoy low property taxes, public parks, and good schools becauseβinstead of paying for a fire department fire sprinklersβthey put their money into education and playgrounds. Over time, you might start to believe that theyβre right when say that the hullabaloo over fires is overblown. You might even forget that your skin is different and believe that protecting your family from the possibility of a fire should be a personal responsibility.
Maybe we canβt.
They are impervious to fire, so we canβt force them to care about the people who arenβt. But we also canβt forget the fact that the role of government is not just to protect our individual rights; it also must protect our collective rights.
We pay taxes so that our children can be safe when theyβre at school and those collective rights are just as important as our individual rights. The reason every individual has the right to vote is that a true democracy represents the collective, not just individuals. You donβt pay school taxes so that your kid can get an education; you pay them so you can live in an educated community. You donβt pay the cops to keep you safe. You pay police departments to keep your community safe. If your neighbor is robbed or killed, you should want the cops to catch the criminal so that your community doesnβt become a high-crime area.
No one wants to wear a mask. We do it because we want to be safe. All children deserve to be protected from this deadly pandemic, and those who donβt want to wear masks donβt have the individual right to infect the children who cover their mouths for the sake of their fellow Americansβ health. Thatβs how a society works.
Oh, I canβt say that I donβt like βfreedoms.β
When I get some, Iβll let you know.
.
Straight From
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