Cory Morgan: Latest Push for Mask Mandates a Worrying Trend of Coercion Becoming Normalized Sans Pandemic

Once individual freedoms are lost, they are very hard to gain back

A sign in downtown Ottawa recommends mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, on Sept. 14, 2020. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Commentary

The default setting for Canadian rights should be freedom. Incursions upon any freedoms by the government should only be done as an absolute last resort, no matter how minor those incursions may feel to some people.

While it’s not surprising to see some fearmongering politicians and legacy media outlets implying we need legislated mask mandates in response to a rise in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu cases, it’s concerning how many people are taking such suggestions in stride. Citizens are becoming trained to shrug their shoulders and accept the notion of governments imposing mask laws upon them at the drop of a hat, and we should be concerned.

Citizens and media should be directing some pointed questions at anybody proposing mask mandates before even considering accepting them.

To begin with, does the current situation warrant something as intrusive as a mask mandate?

Hospitals are reporting that they’re being overwhelmed with cases of the flu and other communicable viral disorders. This is always of concern of course, but it is nothing new. In 2013, headlines screamed of hospitals in Canada being overwhelmed with flu cases, as did headlines in 2017. The outbreaks were serious, and some people died. As dire as these outbreaks are though, they are cyclical and regular. We didn’t need mask mandates to get beyond them then and we don’t need mandates today. What we should be asking is why our hospitals are so easily overwhelmed when we know these periodic outbreaks are coming.

Next, we need to counter the assertions that mask mandates are trivial or harmless. Forcing somebody to wear something over their face if they don’t want it is not a minor imposition. People with hearing impairment often need to be able to read lips to communicate effectively. Public masking shuts them away from the world. Words aren’t the only way we communicate. We are facially expressive, whether it be through smiles or scowls. We can’t pretend that shutting down abilities to communicate doesn’t come with some social consequences.

The impact of masking on children can’t be overstated. Children develop emotionally and intellectually in ways that will shape their entire lives. It is not natural or healthy for them to be subjected to a social environment where they are forced to hide their facial expressions from each other. We may see a whole new generation of people with debilitating phobias of social gatherings and contact if we keep training children that such things are dangerous. The last thing we need in a world of people with their faces glued to their phones is to develop even more introversion.

The efficacy of mask mandates is questionable, to say the least. With three years of pandemic behind us and different countries taking different approaches, we have some solid data to work with. A large study was conducted to see if there was a correlation between mask compliance and COVID-19 outcomes in Europe and published in the National Library of Medicine. In Albania, mask usage was 53 percent and they saw 679 deaths per million from COVID, while in Italy mask compliance was 91 percent and they saw 1,223 deaths per million. Ironically, most of the countries with the highest mask usage also had the highest fatality rate. The study concluded that mask mandates had a negligible impact in controlling COVID-19.

So why are mask mandates so popular?

It’s because it is a health measure we can all see. It’s visible. People want to feel like the government is doing something to battle viral outbreaks, while politicians want to look like they are doing something about it. The appearance of doing something is more important than the outcome of the action in the political world. Mask mandates are also the easiest thing a government can impose. While the mandates aren’t harmless, they still aren’t as damaging as business lockdowns or travel bans.

Mask mandates are a result of lazy policymaking in response to citizens made fearful by an endless barrage of fear-based news reporting on viral outbreaks.

Mask mandates are also a result of a compliant populace willing to shrug their shoulders and give up personal liberties with little complaint. That attitude is dangerous and spreading. The loss of rights can be a creeping and incremental thing. Authoritarians in governments become emboldened with each liberty they can take from people and will reach for more.

Citizens may not be asking for mask mandates but they aren’t speaking out against them loudly enough, either. There is no such thing as a minor loss of freedoms, and we have to stop giving the government licence to take them so easily. Freedoms are always much harder to gain back than they are to lose.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.