Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.”

ENTRY #439 BEGINS: The pandemic seems to have spurred many people to begin claiming their individual rights have been violated. But when it comes to decisions affecting others, who has the right?

Many of the claims of individual rights center on wearing masks and/or requiring vaccinations. So let’s assess, “whose right and who’s wrong?

Many anti-maskers claim no one can force them to wear a mask. Well, the mandate does not force anyone to wear a mask. The mandate only forces a mask if you are involved in certain behavior. Want to avoid the mandate? Then stay at home.

But if you want to go shopping, say at a grocery store, then who has the right to decide whether a mask is required? If the store requires all shoppers and staff to wear a mask, then the store is not discriminating against anyone. Everyone who shops there must wear a mask.

Anti-maskers claim their rights are being violated by the mask requirement. How are rights being violated? Everyone who shops at the grocery store must wear a mask. If you don’t want to shop for groceries at the store, buy groceries elsewhere or buy them online and have the groceries delivered. No one is being singled out. Everyone who shops at the grocery store must follow the same rules.

If a restaurant requires a coat and tie to eat dinner there and welcomes all who comply, then how are individual rights being violated? Don’t want to wear a coat and tie? Then eat elsewhere.

What about an employer requiring vaccinations? Everyone who works for the employer is a subject to the same requirement. Whose rights are being violated. The employer has a right, and in most cases is required legally, to protect the safety of employees. Don’t like the rules of the company? Get another job.

Another high profile, but more complicated and controversial story about individual rights, is an alleged claim of discrimination by the New York Giants, and implicitly the NFL, in considering candidates for a new head coach. One of the candidates, who was not hired, claims in a class-action suit that the New York Giants and all 32 NFL teams discriminate against prospective him, in part because he’s black.

Huh? Maybe the New York Giants didn’t want to hire the guy because his record as a coach was mediocre and was fired from his last job.

Part of the plaintiff’s claim notes about 70% of the NFL players are black. OK, so they’re black. From all indications those players were selected for the teams based on their ability to play football, not because they were black.

If race were key criteria in selecting players, then less than 20% of the players in the NFL, and the NBA, would be black. If merit is a key criteria for playing, why isn’t merit a key criteria for hiring coaches?

No one is forcing black athletes to play in the NFL or NBA. If the players or prospective players believe their rights are being violated, don’t join the NFL. Find something else to do.

Individuals do have many rights and those rights are sometimes infringed upon. For example, a question for those claiming the mask requirement violates their individual rights. What’s your position on the rights of women to seek an abortion?

Whose rights are superior, the rights of the individual woman or the rights of a bunch of elected officials, most of whom that promote abortion restrictions are male?

Does the argument that companies and organizations have rights that sometimes supersede an individual’s rights mean there is no discrimination? Not at all.

But the idea that an individual‘s rights always supersede everyone else’s is simplistic, selfish and non-workable. FYI anti-maskers, a democracy is created when a group of people decide to relinquish certain individual rights in favor of an organization to oversee the collective rights of the citizens. That organization is called government. By the way, the way to make changes in a democracy is called voting.

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/