Noam Chomsky says the unvaccinated should just remove themselves from society
nationalpost.com
nationalpost.com
"I think the right response for them is not to force them to, but rather to insist that they be isolated"
Which makes sense. Which a lot of people do.
I'm twice vaccinated but I'm getting serious worries about this eternal vaccine-three-times-per-year-for-everyone mandate, and I will refuse a third one just out of principle.
But I have at no point not been careful, and will continue to do so. I'm an introvert. I don't open my mouth in the grocery store. When I order at a restaurant I keep my mask on. People can be reasonable and responsible, and have/get natural immunity to the virus.
Edit: To anyone downvoting: How about instead a comment as to why I should get a third jab? I'm not an "anti-vaxxer" - I've already had two shots.
> “Suppose there are people who say ‘it’s an attack on my liberty to make me stop at a red light. It’s government overreach.’ They don’t want the state to have that power ‘over my private life’ … Well, such people should have the decency to remove themselves from the community,’” he said.
Stopping at a red light is not a binary thing. It's simply unnecessary (I'll refrain from saying retarded) at certain times. You have a + junction where one side of the street has a stop sign just because the other one has one (because it has a bicycle lane crossing it, for example). I see zero moral qualm in ignoring that red light, especially at night. Promoting blind obedience is certainly not good for a free society.
not `it’s an attack on my liberty to make me stop at a red light [no matter the circumstances].' Though, oddly, your example was a stop sign .. and doing a rolling stop at a stop sign is probably the most common illegal action people do.
I see nothing here that suggests Chomsky is promoting blind obedience.
We know from his own history he was prepared to go to jail as a result of his anti-war civil disobedience. Surely that's the direct analogy.
The state currently has the power to compel vaccination (Jacobson v. Massachusetts). If you have a principled objection to that law, then like every other action of civil disobedience (MLK, Megan Ric, and many more) be prepared to be removed from society.
Who knows, your action might even cause the law to be removed.
(To be clear, Chomsky is not asking for the government to assert this power, but rather for the unvaccinated to voluntarily withdraw from society, though this may change if COVID becomes something more like smallpox.)
Let's do a thought experiment. Restaurant cook takes a break on the restroom pot. Check texts and tiktok on phone. Phone is now contaminated with small feces particles. Washes hands or not. Goes to kitchen with phone and cooks. Touches phone. Touches cookware. Touches phone. Contaminates everything.
Feces are everywhere. The risk is allowing phones into restrooms and kitchens.