Collective Irresponsibility

 

Ever see a sign or an ad on a webpage that didn’t look quite right. The words are correct but the statement sounds awkward. We can read something fast and process the meaning later. The agreement between what we saw and what the message means is a little off.  

This isn’t just true of words on a screen. If you’ve ever driven a car in a foreign country you’ll understand this feeling. A few years ago I rented a car in Ireland and drove around the country stopping at bars, hotels and touristy landscapes. There were three of us, my brother included, that shared the driving. The roads are smaller, you drive on the left side and through a lot of roundabouts. Once you break the instinct to drive on the right, it isn’t too bad. There were a few close calls. As an American the driving is familiar but not quite right. My baseline for traffic is wide streets that go forever and too many lights.

When something isn't quite right it’s because our familiarity is affected by slight changes in the logical ordering.

 I watched a discussion recently with a couple of Christian leaders talking about their views on the vaccine. The older one, mid 40s, wasn’t going to take it. He reasoned that the survivability rate was so low it wasn’t worth getting an extra injection. I’ll call this the pragmatic view- the reasoning being that the vaccine is not necessary for a disease that amounts to a bad Flu virus.

The second leader, 30ish, was going to take it because as a Christian it’s the helpful thing to do for the elderly and the susceptible. I’ll call this the collectivist view-as it’s about the general health of the overall population. The first view makes sense to me and second one doesn’t. There is something a little off about the second argument. Whether used in the context of Christian or not, it sounds wise and selfless at first but a closer look reveals the anti-free nature of it.

America is a country built on the value of the individual; a worth that is tied to the nature's God, born with inherent rights and decision making ability. American law is rooted in individual sovereignty that can’t be removed by men (government and business) because it is central to how we are created. We make decisions for ourselves and we live with the consequences.

But don’t Christians care about the poor and the needy? Doesn’t Jesus clearly state in Mathew to “…love your neighbor as yourself”? Yes, but the command is given to the person not the group. Here is what Paul says in Galatians 6:4-5: “But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load (NKJV)

And here is another thing, Americans are generous people when we donate to causes. That’s the power of individual concern for collective groups. There are countless aid organizations (NGOs) that raise private money from individuals because FEMA couldn’t do it alone.

Collectivist thinking reduces the importance of individual rights. Individual rights are a lot like vacation days at work--use them or lose them. We may find them missing when we need them. It’s why I’m not anti-vaccine generally, but side with people who are because it should remain a choice.

The reason this last year has been so frustrating to me is I don’t recognize the arguments for lockdowns. It isn’t just about the lack of freedom, it’s the artificial displays of ‘selflessness’ that are hard to take. Here I’m talking about mayors, city councilors and governors that assumed the right to impose mask mandates and shut down what they wanted. The actions beg the question “who are you exactly?”  

Do you also eat healthy foods and limit calories for your fellow man? Medicaid is hospital money for the poor that’s funded by taxpayers. In other words it’s a collective fund that depends on the clean living of its members. How is it working?

 Giving up personal choice for the collective doesn’t help anyone. It hurts the principle of self-determination, the very thing our Deceleration was written to defend. We make food choices for ourselves and reap the consequences. It’s how we are designed.

We all have different reasons for taking the vaccine or refusing to take it. For Christians though, understand that your decision is about you and only you. The logic of collective responsibility is like the poor grammar on the sign--it’s not quite right.