I was outraged reading Jay Samonss article about us losing freedoms in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic (The dangerous pursuit of safety, Ideas, Aug. 2). With more than 156,000 deaths in the United States as of Aug. 5, and that number continuously rising, we need to get this virus under control, as other countries have.
Samons says freedom costs lives and we have to accept that more people are going to die from the virus. Maybe a lot more people. I think his acceptance of lives lost to the virus in the name of freedom is ridiculous. Any inconvenience we have to endure (mask-wearing, social distancing, and staying home) is acceptable and temporary. Our freedom will still be alive, and, hopefully, so will we, when we get this virus under control.
Patricia Tong
Ashland
Surrender or reawakening?
Jay Samons argues that the Romans chose to change their republic for an empire because they preferred security to the chaos of freedom. He sees the actions taken to contain the coronavirus as akin to that trade-off. We are engaged in the greatest act of cultural surrender in human history, and, we must accept that unless we choose to destroy our own culture, more people are going to die from this virus. But there is another future that does not just rush back to the culture that we were living with until this year. Other writers have argued that this pandemic provides an opportunity to overhaul global economic and cultural institutions and behaviors. Our previous culture was unsustainable unequal education, not enough decent housing, unfair wages, and lack of health care for all. Change in the old order is starting to emerge with the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that may not have been possible without so many people not in a normal working routine. If this temporary loss of freedom to behave as we did before the pandemic leads to a more equitable and sustainable future, then it will not have been a cultural surrender as much as a cultural reawakening.
Susan Haltmaier
North Andover
Flawed reasoning
Jay Samonss The dangerous pursuit of safety is rife with false analogies and flawed reasoning. He starts with the specious claim that those trying to keep the COVID-19 pandemic contained are striving for complete safety, which he then rightly states is impossible. He claims that this imagined quest for complete safety is undermining our freedoms (freedom to assemble in large numbers during a pandemic?). After badmouthing military analogies to the pandemic, he then proceeds to use one to argue that wars are won when the attacked party decides that casualties are better than oppression. He concludes that we must accept the loss of life as the price of maintaining our freedoms and that Freedom costs lives.
The casualties of this pandemic are innocent victims, not warriors or currency to be bartered for freedom. They are defending nothing by dying. To call for limiting public health measures based on an analogy couched in superficial historical erudition is academic and intellectual malpractice.
Carl M. Cohen
Newton
Read more:
Freedom and the pursuit of safety - The Boston Globe
- Freedom | Definition of Freedom at Dictionary.com - December 3rd, 2020
- Freedom - Wikipedia - December 3rd, 2020
- After 400 Years, The Reason People Come To America Is Still ... - December 3rd, 2020
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- Freedom of Religion or Belief club formed at BYU - The Daily Universe - Universe.byu.edu - September 18th, 2020
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- Texas History: Sizing up daily lives in the states freedom colonies - Brownwood Bulletin - August 10th, 2020
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- Adolescent bodily integrity and freedom from violence in Ethiopia - Ethiopia - ReliefWeb - August 10th, 2020
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- Behind The Blue: 'Embattled Freedom' And Confederate Memorials - Patch.com - August 10th, 2020
- Mapping Media Freedom: Big Increase in Threats Reported in Albania During 2020 - Exit - Explain Albania - August 10th, 2020
- Flight to Freedom: Pilot lands in Nueces County to pick up two abandoned dogs due to pandemic and flies them to their new foster home - KIIITV.com - August 10th, 2020
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- 'Behind the Blue': 'Embattled Freedom' and Confederate Memorials With Amy Murrell Taylor - UKNow - August 10th, 2020
- Trump's Threat to Press Freedom Is Global - Truthout - August 10th, 2020
- OPINION: What freedom means to the United States - The Student Life - August 10th, 2020
- Woman claiming to be from 'Freedom to Breathe Agency' gets into viral exchange with store employee over mask policy | TheHill - The Hill - August 10th, 2020
- UNSW criticised for letter in Chinese with no mention of freedom of speech - The Guardian - August 10th, 2020
- COVID19: Is there freedom in silence? - Financial Mirror - August 10th, 2020
- Freedom and justice for ALL | Other Opinions - Aitkin Independent Age - August 7th, 2020
- Girl Hides Audition From Dad, Finds Her 'Freedom In Singing' Watch What Happens Next - Talent Recap - August 7th, 2020
- Masks to freedom: Wearing masks will bring back freedom - The Milpitas Beat - August 7th, 2020
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- The never-ending struggle: blending freedom and justice, with a dash of compassion - MinnPost - August 7th, 2020
- Freedom in THE SON! - Blogs - The Hutchinson News - August 7th, 2020
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- Introduction to the Freedom of Information Act | News, Sports, Jobs - Daily Mining Gazette - August 7th, 2020
- 'It's the freedom of it': Bikers rally in Stateline ahead of Sturgis, unconcerned about virus - The Spokesman-Review - August 7th, 2020
- Australia has a problem with freedom of speech - The Big Smoke Australia - August 7th, 2020
- Troubled Freedom Foods keeps it in the family for now - The Australian Financial Review - August 7th, 2020
- Letter: Marlboro's Degrees of Freedom can thrive - with innovation, collaboration - Brattleboro Reformer - August 2nd, 2020
- 'Freedom' rally in Twin Falls decries moderate Republicans, public education, masks and the media - bigcountrynewsconnection.com - August 2nd, 2020
- When it comes to freedom of the press, it is 'problematic' in many of the richest countries across the world - USA TODAY - August 2nd, 2020
- Editors opened the doors to Freedom School, then even wider as magazine of black thought - Cambridge Day - August 2nd, 2020
- Memorial honors families that have paid the ultimate price for America's freedom - Standard-Examiner - August 2nd, 2020