It's illegal to not wear seat belts, smoke in public places, or drive drunk.
You rarely hear people argue about freedom in the above cases.
Wearing masks saves lives. Not doing so in a coronavirus pandemic endangers the person not wearing the mask and those around that person.
The people arguing that it is their right not to wear masks are most likely cognitively dissonant.
Be true or become cognitively dissonant.
Many years ago, someone wrote that quantum entanglement and wave-particle duality are probably examples of non-local dimensions.
Some physicists agree that quantum entanglement could be a non-local effect, The article below is lengthy, but towards the end, it is discussed.
Quanta: The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End
Thoughts rule.
Also, people seem to fail to grasp the importance of cognitive dissonance. To me, it shouts that if one is not true, one can become crazy.
Example? Trump, he lies all the time.
Truth and conscience rule.
Are thoughts, truth, conscience, maybe even emotions related or connected to some force like a God?
However, as more than 90% of the population do wear them and since the number of coronavirus cases is very low in Korea, the ones that refuse to wear masks most likely will not become infected with COVID-19.
Korean news media reports on the number of new coronavirus cases in the previous day, related deaths and other information daily.
From that information, Koreans have seen, themselves, that a group of people refusing to wear masks and socially distance can cause hundreds, if not thousands of infections.
Korea has a national medical insurance system, contract tracing, free testing and mobile phones alerts with information on locations visited by those infected coronavirus along with recommendations to be tested to those who may have been in contact with an infected person or just want to check.
If President Moon acted like Trump, then Korea's situation definitely would be much worse.
There are groups in Korea that claim coronavirus is a hoax, refuse to socially distance and such. If Trump had led Korea, these groups would have created even more problems.
Korea has a population of over 50 million. It has had in total 25,775 coronavirus cases and 457 related deaths as of midnight on October 23. The number of new coronavirus infections yesterday was 77, of which 11 cases were from people who were tested after arriving from overseas (free of charge, I think).
If the US had taken the same approach as Korea or Japan and obtained similar results, it would have less than 200,000 coronavirus cases and 4,000 deaths.
A majority of deaths, loss of jobs and other misfortunes in the US due to coronavirus are, in my thinking, due to Trump's misguided efforts to become reelected and those that empower him. What is going on in their minds? Talk about being selfish.
Unintentional murder? Definitely thought about the consequences of playing down the coronavirus and very likely increase in deaths. Intentional murder, but done anyway because they could get away with it? Either way, it's a type of murder.
Holding large rallies? Korea let a mass rally be held a few months ago which resulted in hundreds of new cases. Accordingly, large rallies are not being allowed in Korea for now. People are allowed to go to sports events but at a 30% capacity limit with social distancing and masks required.
Holding large rallies without masks? I doubt that would be allowed, much less held, by any sane leader of a country with a coronavirus epidemic.
It's ironic that many of Trump's supporters wear MAGA hats. Trump has definitely not made America great again in the eyes of the world. Albeit, he stood up to China.
Interestingly, both China and Trump do not seem to be interested in fair play. Ditto for most corporations.
Why do people listen to demagogic politicians instead of reason? Cognitive dissonance?
I remember they used to have smoking sections on airplanes and Koreans weren't allowed to go overseas without government permission. You could get permission if you had government duties (diplomatic, etc.), for business, college education and other limited purposes.
Koreans could go abroad freely a few years after former President Park Chung-hee, often titled dictator by American media and many mindful Koreans, was assassinated.
Did you know that Koreans fought in Vietnam, mostly due to Korea being an American ally and that Americans fought in the Korean War? Some state that it was also to fight communism.
Some things have changed for the better, while some things, like climate change and pollution, have become worse. Wonder what the future will hold?
Most of the rich in Korea push out the message that capitalism is ideal and angrily contend that distributing wealth and opportunities more equitably equates to communism or socialism.
Some of them attend church. I think they will secretly disagree with the Pope's thoughts on capitalism.
Used to go to mass and church services when I was young, but stopped for many reasons.
Really hope people stop envying and paying too much credence to wealthy people, like Trump.
Seems like people, especially the elderly, have been severely brainwashed by capitalism, from what they learned in school, picked up from broadcast programs and the media (usually controlled by the rich).
Add in a big dose of cognitive dissonance and that would explain why the world is the way that it is, at least to me.
Thank God for good music.
CNN: Pope Francis says capitalism has failed in the pandemic
To many, a good life seems to mean to be rich, powerful, free to do as they will, have fun, and such.
To some, it seems to be a feeling of contentedness and satisfaction with life in general.
For some undecided, a good life is a mixture of the above.
How can people be contented or satisfied, when they envy wealth, power and such? They can be for, like, a few minutes, but not in general about their life.
I know many ridiculously rich people, but most of them compare themselves to people who are even more wealthy, or more powerful. Always looking for fun things to do, like golf...
Do a lot of rich people enjoy showing off their wealth and resent people who do not envy them? Are they really living a good life? I wonder...
If you take the whole meaning of "good" into consideration, then obviously not.
Compared to all the technological advances, progress towards a more equitable and fair society appears to have stalled.
A long time ago, kings and royalty used to control wealth and power. Then came the rise of the middle class during the industrial revolution, which helped to somewhat lessen inequalities between the rich and the poor. What comes next?
Should making the world better and "good" be the highest priority? We have enough money and resources to feed, house and educate everyone, but most people seem to not care, nor want to.
Some people ask why they should give away their "hard earned" wealth to others. Most of the wealthy people I know, probably over 96%, inherited the base of their wealth. Most inherited land, buildings, money, art, jewelry, and the like.
I know one who married into a wealthy family. Another who got rich from an interior design business.
Does Trump seem like the kind of guy to care about the poor? Or is he more likely to call the poor or unfortunate losers, or suckers?
Stocks could be one solution to help resolve inequities. In my world, poor people would be given first rights to promising IPOs or other lucrative offerings, and people or firms worth over tens of millions of dollars would be excluded (let the rich buy from the poor).