Dear Editor:
RE: Delegation calls for end to state of emergency, asks council to stand up against mask order, Sept. 24.
I have no doubt your mailbag will be filled to overflowing with indignant letters in response to the protest/presentation before Minto council asking for a lifting of the state of emergency. I would simply like to add my voice and offer what may be an unusual perspective.
Deep in my heart I am an anarchist, which means I believe no one is fit to govern me for the simple reason that I am not fit to govern anyone. However, in these extraordinary times it is morally imperative that all of us co-operate fully with all levels of government to check the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to eradicate it eventually.
It is common knowledge that a virus is spread by human contact; hence we are being told to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and limit contact to a small circle of known associates. Not one of those mandates threatens the civil liberties or “inalienable” rights guaranteed by our Charter.
But what prompted me to write this letter was the exquisite example of self-contradiction in Nichola McEwan’s presentation. She offers a universal indictment: the future she had expected for herself and her children has been replaced by an ugly world filled with “increasingly draconian measures.” Bringing her argument closer to home she insists that “we are unique and should not be subject to mandates…that may or may not be warranted in larger urban areas.” Then with a nebulous pronoun she delivers her punch-line: “This is the erosion of our values, our way of life … in this amazing community.”
Do McEwan and her cohort not realize that the very altruistic values that helped forge this rural Canadian community – one that I gratefully and proudly reside in – are the very same values she wants to trample underfoot for the sake of some remote ideal of ultimate freedom of individualism?
I return to my anarchism: I too value freedom, but my freedom ends when my actions can endanger my neighbor. If McEwan and her yahoos want to gambol maskless in the woods and fields, please do so – just make sure it’s not a public place and then self-isolate for 14 days, as common courtesy and decency would demand.
But please don’t wrap yourselves in the Charter of Rights and pretend that you are crusading for generations unborn – you are acting like spoiled, petulant children, and you should by now know a lot better.
Richard Giles,
Alma