Indiana dropped their mask mandate. I can ALMOST see the light. So tired of this fooking mask.
We had a lot of family down for Easter last weekend. All of them made comments about how nice it was to decide for themselves if they want to wear a mask or not based on the place they're going. Or not worrying about forgetting and having a door guard brow beat them for not having one. When it was time to go back they all individually made comments about having to go back and be forced to wear masks again. I though about how sad that is.. How unfortunate that in America we have people being made to feel that way.
There are various degrees of perceived freedom. I watched a guy on youtube recently called Bald and Bankrupt, he's a white dude that lived in the EU but on weekends would buy a random ticket to some forgotten stan in the former soviet union. While there he would just walk around and talk to people, visit, and ask them questions about their life. Some of them, by American standards, would be considered well below the poverty line. These are people that forever lived behind the Iron curtain and now live under the rule of some soviet like government. He would often ask them about freedom. If they believed they were free. All of them, each and every one, said they were absolutely free. They could visit a park, walk down the road, visit stores. That was their perception of freedom. The reality is, every single piece of their existence is tightly controlled by their government, but as long as they assimilate to those rules they maintain the perception of freedom. Freedom does not die, but it can be slowly eroded to where people don't even notice they've lost it. The true test of ones freedom is to push that boundary and see how swiftly they are beat back into place.
In my head I often compare it to a dandelion in a yard full of grass. All them them living in the same area with the same common goal, survival and reproduction. The grass has it's existence and tolerates the government mower that cuts them all down to the same uniform size. The government looks over its lawn and is pleased with the result. As long as the grass can have its water and sun they continue to exist in it's perceived freedom. Sometimes a generous government gives them fertilizer. The dandelion too is just existing, but it's different, it gets cut to the same height as the grass and it's bloom taken away, the same application of fertilizer that brings life to the uniform grass, tries to kill the dandelion. Yet the dandelion persists despite everything thrown at it. Its leaves grow lower under the line of the mower height. It somewhat conforms to stay alive but It still becomes a target. If that same dandelion is transplanted to a location that is not as tightly controlled by the lawn government, like an overgrown field, it begins to understand what true freedom is. The world needs more dandelions. Be a fucking dandelion.