The Coronavirus Chronicles -Three Strikes You're Out

[Stichill]

I'm rather surprised by the social censure being displayed here in a motorcycle community. An experienced rider, alone out in the country on largely empty roads, in an area largely unaffected by the virus, is the least of the world's worries right now.

No doubt most people who contracted C-19 are innocent, but I dare say many of them engaged in reckless behavior and/or failed to follow proper hygiene. Who's to say that such people have more "right" to occupy a hospital bed than a downed motorcyclist? Or, who's more "deserving" of a hospital bed: a downed rider, or a bystander who got shot when a nearby drug deal went bad?

This is the problem with the collectivist mindset. It ends up pitting the interests of the individual against the interests of "society" while ignoring the fact that "society" is just a collection of other individuals. Everyone is self-interested; that's what it means to be human. No one individual or group of individuals has a right to demand the sacrifice of any other individual's interests on the altar of the collective interest (however that is determined and by whom).

If we succumb to that kind of thinking, we're not much different than the savages who engaged in human sacrifice so that the gods would show favor on their tribe with fertile women and fertile fields.

All that being said, please understand that I am not advocating for selfish incivility. Anyone claiming liberty for himself rationally needs to respect it for others. No one has the right to recklessly or intentionally endanger the health and safety of others, and for that reason we do have laws and enforcement in place to keep the peace and protect individual liberty. For example, knowingly going about spreading C-19 to other citizens is not an exercise of liberty, it is a form of negligence or intentional battery and should be handled legally as such.