A new definition of Independence Day: a diminishment of any sense of collective responsibility

Takoma Park July 4th Parade.

It's a disappointment that today there aren't community parades and such, because of the coronavirus. 

Some DC neighborhoods are known for having parades, especially the Palisades neighborhood.  We lived in Takoma DC, next to Takoma Park, Maryland, and they are known for a great parade.

I had intended to write anothe piece about the "Declaration of Independence/Independence Day" as a way to reflect once again on Confederate monuments to racism.  I was going to reference at least four pieces, including:

-- "Not all slopes are slippery: How to decide which statues can remain and which need to go," Julian Baggini, Times Literary Supplement
-- "You Say You Want A Revolution?," Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine
-- "Trump's incendiary speech followed American policing's logic of fear," Professor Issac Bailey, CNN
-- "What we can do now about Stone Mountain's 150ft Confederate carving?," Ryan Gravel and Scott Morris, Guardian (Ryan Gravel originated the concept of the Atlanta Beltline in a masters thesis).

But I got involved in another writing project this week, and I didn't get to it.

Reading an article in today's Washington Post about the rise of the coronavirus in Joplin, Missouri ("A small Missouri city thought it had dodged the coronavirus") is pretty disturbing as somehow independence is about being able to flout collective action to promote public health and safety -- not wearing a mask.

The Joplin City Council, after a five hour debate, voted to not require masks, with the deciding vote against by the Mayor, who believes people should wear masks!  That's leadership...

From the article:

Meanwhile, the one measure that medical experts say could turn the coronavirus tide — widespread use of masks — has become mired in politics. Joplin’s city council spent nearly five hours debating whether to require them last week, only to reject the proposal by a single vote.

In a deeply conservative region where Donald Trump won nearly 80 percent of 2016’s presidential ballots, any attempt to force people to mask up was likely to backfire, Stanley concluded. Most residents who had spoken at the meeting argued against the measure, citing infringement of their personal freedom.

“I’m surprised it’s as divisive as it is,” said the mayor, who personally wears masks and advocates that others do the same, but who cast the deciding vote against mandating them. “If we’re having this crazy spike in the area, don’t you think we’d want to err on the side of caution?” ...

But they are also reckoning with a population that long ago grew weary of making sacrifices to confront an enemy that seemed to exist only in theory.

“There’s a little bit of the boy who cried wolf,” said Toby Teeter, president of the Joplin Chamber of Commerce. “This town shut down where there were 18 cases total. Now, there are 100 a day [in the region]. People are almost numb to it.”

With many of the new national outbreaks concentrated in relatively rural and conservative areas, many people are also less trusting of medical advice.

“Eighty percent of people here are watching one channel and it’s downplaying the epidemic,” Teeter said, referring to Fox News. “So there’s a lot of confusion.”

I used to constantly admonish the little girl next door--now 12 years old--about the need to practice "deferred gratification." She would always ask me to explain it.

But it was never a matter of life or death.

People "choosing" to not wear masks put themselves and others at significant risk, to the point where it can lead to death. That hardly seems to be an "allowable" "choice."

It's a serious bastardization of the Declaration of Independence.