No actually, it is your thinking that is flawed. Highly flawed.
Seat belts do increase your chances of survival if there is an impact. You don’t wear them to prevent car accidents. You wear them so a car accident has less of a chance to kill you. So again, you’ve got a false equivalency.
Which brings me to masks. People like you are thinking about mask wearing all wrong. You’re also thinking about personal health responsibility all wrong. Frankly, it boggles the mind. I don’t know what’s causing this extreme polar thinking about things these days but it’s really starting to annoy me.
Life is complicated and nuanced. So are systems. The bigger they are the more complicated and nuanced they are. Not everything can be reasoned away with off/on, 0/1, left/right, or male/female sorts of binary thinking. At best, it’s reductive. At worst, it’s dangerous.
People need to start thinking about mask wearing in terms of cascades, waterfalls or watersheds, and thresholds. They also need to realize that while they do exist as an individual and have individual responsibility for themselves they also exist as part of a population and as part of a community/civilization. You don’t live in a vacuum or on an island unto yourself.
A huge part of everything you enjoy as an individual has been made possible by the labor and resources laid out for you by the collective. You live in a shared space Sunshine. Ergo, you’re responsible for more than just yourself. Were it not for all that labor and resources paid to build the civilization you’re a part of, you would probably already be dead. You wouldn’t have a car unless you could build every part of it yourself. And if you did, you wouldn’t have a road to drive it on. Conflate that line of thought to every aspect of comfort and advancement you now enjoy. Show some damned respect. Look around and acknowledge the full reality of how you get to live the life you do, what it took to get there, and the other people who share that life and space with you.
Otherwise, choose to be a rugged individual full out. Cast aside all belongings you did not create yourself. Obviously, you won’t want to be tainted with any of the affects of society or community. That includes clothing, shelter, and survival gear. Maybe you can keep a knife. Go out somewhere isolated, away from everyone else and you live your best life as you see fit as the rugged individual you are. You know, taking personal responsibility. Best of luck. Wish you well. Hope you stay warm enough this winter.
Or. Or…you could realize that sometimes we have a chance for a higher calling and purpose. We can choose to step beyond the smallness of our single existence and take personal responsibility for more than just ourselves, knowing that doing so does not lessen us as individuals. It elevates us. It makes us strong instead of weak.
