Selfishness is not a crime. In fact, to be blunt, in our society, itâs often treated as a positive attribute. Of course, we donât call it âselfishnessâ - we call it ârugged individualism,â or âpersonal choice,â or whatever - but itâs all about elevating the individual, and individual rights, above any sense of obligation to oneâs community, or to our society as a whole. What is âright for meâ is defined as a higher priority than what is âright for all of us.â This is a choice we have made as a society. You can criticize it, or extol it - but regardless, itâs one of the things that makes us more vulnerable, as a society, to things like pandemics (and for that matter, to out-of-control gun violence, which is another situation in which weâve elevated personal ârightsâ above the commen good). When people talk about âAmerican exceptionalism,â this is part and parcel of what theyâre talking about, although most wonât acknowledge that.
I agree with PC, actually, that we should not mandate an experimental, or âinvestigationalâ vaccine; itâs less clear that we should continue to not mandate that vaccine when it leaves investigational status. We require polio vaccines, we require measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus - you canât enroll in public school, or attend university, without these vaccinations. We used to require the smallpox vaccine, until WHO determined that smallpox had been eradicated in the wild. So, a vaccine mandate is nothing new or controversial (except with the true âanti-vaxâ people who have convinced themselves that vaccines, in general, cause autism, baldness, heebie-jeebies, etc., and with certain religious sects that believe⌠God knows what). It comes down to whether we see this disease as serious enough to require vaccination, or not. I would argue that any disease that has the potential to massively overload the nationâs emergency care capabilities, to the point that hospitals cannot accommodate other patients, should require vaccination, when a fully-approved vaccine is available. To refuse vaccination in such a situation is to invite other people to die, because youâve overwhelmed our societyâs ability to provide emergency care. Thereâs a point at which âselfishâ becomes sociopathic.
