President Biden signed an executive action today to mandate face mask wearing on Federal property.
I've been having lots of thoughts about folks that make such performace out of refusing to wear a mask in public and how they cast themselves as Heroes of Freedom who are persecuted by the State.
It's such a toxic individualist conception of freedom, in which the sovereign autonomous individual thinks of themselves as 1. Clear-Thinking possessors of Reason, Common Sense, and Conscience who are refusing to Live in Fear and 2.
Conceive of freedom as the lack of constraint on their "Free Will." No one can make them do what they don't want to do. No one can stop them from doing something they want to.
Their confidence that they are Reasonable and Not Living in Fear assures them that their Free Will is never acting illegitimately or refusing to undertake a legitimate action.
Refusing to wear a mask (preferably with an audience, at least on social media, that can witness your heroism and applaud you) is also a drama-infused move that you can make and be a Hero even if you don't have any virtue, wisdom, or skills. You don't have to solve any problems.
You don't have to work to build something good. You don't even have to do much to resist a purported evil. You just have to strike a heroic pose and make sure everyone knows that you are a persecuted martyr.
At most, you get to hit the Great Battle story point of your hero's journey persecution fantasy when you're kicked out of Target. It's a cheap heroism that literally asks you to not do something that is a mild inconvenience and annoyance.
The ease with which we can cast ourselves as heroic martyrs in adolescent, escapist control fantasies is a reflection on how easy it is to 1. find other people who will reinforce this fantasy with us on the internet; and 2. the shallowness and sentimentality our public…
…discourse about freedom and knowledge.
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