Author of the article:Bruce Ziff
Publishing date:Feb 05, 2022 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read • 111 Comments
A pedestrian makes their way past a COVID-19 sign outside SOHO, 11454 Jasper Ave., in Edmonton Thursday Sept. 23, 2021. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia
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The Edmonton Journal reports that there is talk of removing the vaccine passport system in Alberta in the name of freedom. That would be counter-productive and inequitable. Yes, inequitable.
At its core, freedom is about the right to make unfettered choices. Yet, the concept of freedom is more complicated than one might think. Sometimes it refers to “negative” freedom, that is, freedom from state-imposed restrictions. That’s the kind of freedom that truckers and like-minded protesters are so adamant to preserve.
But freedom has another connotation. It means empowerment. For example, those who are wealthy are free to spend their life as they wish. They have plenty of “free” time. It’s no wonder, then, that lottery commercials advise that the real prize of winning the jackpot is freedom. The winner is now more fully in control of their life choices. That kind of liberty is constrained by factors other than the law. We are all free to buy a Porsche; there is no law against it. But not all of us can realistically make that choice.
It is understandable that Albertans want both kinds of freedom, and as much as is possible. But, unfortunately, that is sometimes easier said than done. Consider now the vaccine passport. The premier is considering dismantling the system. Negative freedom is thereby increased. The government loosens its control on where we can and cannot go. But let’s think about how that will affect our individual and collective empowerment on the ground.
I, for one, have felt able to resume some of my pre-COVID activities under the passport system. I can work out at the gym, or go to a restaurant with some level of assurance that I will not contract COVID. When passports are no longer required, more people will be free to exercise or dine out in public spaces including those who are not vaccinated. I probably will not do so. I will choose to forego these simple pleasures. There is no question that my range of life choices is abridged.
For me, the greatest actual limit on my autonomy is not the law, but the well-grounded fear of a breakthrough case of Omricon. (If you doubt that this concern is well-founded, then stop reading now. I read the papers. I know what COVID can do.)
Removing the passport requirement reduces my life choices. So do -30 C temperatures. I am free — in the negative liberty sense — to spend hours freezing outside or sleep under a bridge, but these are not real choices. I am free to mingle with non-vaxxers, but that would entail too much risk.
I am not alone. If non-vaxxers can go to gyms and restaurants, I suspect many of those who are taking sensible precautions will not. It is in this sense that freedom operates like a zero-sum game, where the benefits given to one group are offset by the losses suffered by another.
Of course, we cannot calculate the overall freedom quotient by running data through a Freedomatron-2000 computer, but we at least know that some people will restrict their activities once the passport rules are lifted. Since a majority of Albertans are vaccinated, we are optimizing the choices of an unvaccinated minority at the expense of the majority. We have lost the freedom to dine, et cetera in safe (safer) public spaces. Why does that make sense?
Here is a reality check. Those who prize some general notion of freedom should ask themselves this: since March 2020, what has actually caused you to adjust your lifestyle the most on a daily basis? Is it government action or the virus itself?
Put another way, imagine how life would have been had no government measures been taken to control the spread of COVID? I suspect that each day would have involved an evermore dangerous game of cat and mouse against the Grim Reaper. It’s the plague that is ruining our lives, and throttling our freedom, and those who understand that deserve the larger share of the freedom pie.
Bruce Ziff is a professor emeritus in the faculty of law at the University of Alberta.
Article content
The Edmonton Journal reports that there is talk of removing the vaccine passport system in Alberta in the name of freedom. That would be counter-productive and inequitable. Yes, inequitable.
At its core, freedom is about the right to make unfettered choices. Yet, the concept of freedom is more complicated than one might think. Sometimes it refers to “negative” freedom, that is, freedom from state-imposed restrictions. That’s the kind of freedom that truckers and like-minded protesters are so adamant to preserve.
But freedom has another connotation. It means empowerment. For example, those who are wealthy are free to spend their life as they wish. They have plenty of “free” time. It’s no wonder, then, that lottery commercials advise that the real prize of winning the jackpot is freedom. The winner is now more fully in control of their life choices. That kind of liberty is constrained by factors other than the law. We are all free to buy a Porsche; there is no law against it. But not all of us can realistically make that choice.
It is understandable that Albertans want both kinds of freedom, and as much as is possible. But, unfortunately, that is sometimes easier said than done. Consider now the vaccine passport. The premier is considering dismantling the system. Negative freedom is thereby increased. The government loosens its control on where we can and cannot go. But let’s think about how that will affect our individual and collective empowerment on the ground.
I, for one, have felt able to resume some of my pre-COVID activities under the passport system. I can work out at the gym, or go to a restaurant with some level of assurance that I will not contract COVID. When passports are no longer required, more people will be free to exercise or dine out in public spaces including those who are not vaccinated. I probably will not do so. I will choose to forego these simple pleasures. There is no question that my range of life choices is abridged.
For me, the greatest actual limit on my autonomy is not the law, but the well-grounded fear of a breakthrough case of Omricon. (If you doubt that this concern is well-founded, then stop reading now. I read the papers. I know what COVID can do.)
Removing the passport requirement reduces my life choices. So do -30 C temperatures. I am free — in the negative liberty sense — to spend hours freezing outside or sleep under a bridge, but these are not real choices. I am free to mingle with non-vaxxers, but that would entail too much risk.
I am not alone. If non-vaxxers can go to gyms and restaurants, I suspect many of those who are taking sensible precautions will not. It is in this sense that freedom operates like a zero-sum game, where the benefits given to one group are offset by the losses suffered by another.
Of course, we cannot calculate the overall freedom quotient by running data through a Freedomatron-2000 computer, but we at least know that some people will restrict their activities once the passport rules are lifted. Since a majority of Albertans are vaccinated, we are optimizing the choices of an unvaccinated minority at the expense of the majority. We have lost the freedom to dine, et cetera in safe (safer) public spaces. Why does that make sense?
Here is a reality check. Those who prize some general notion of freedom should ask themselves this: since March 2020, what has actually caused you to adjust your lifestyle the most on a daily basis? Is it government action or the virus itself?
Put another way, imagine how life would have been had no government measures been taken to control the spread of COVID? I suspect that each day would have involved an evermore dangerous game of cat and mouse against the Grim Reaper. It’s the plague that is ruining our lives, and throttling our freedom, and those who understand that deserve the larger share of the freedom pie.
Bruce Ziff is a professor emeritus in the faculty of law at the University of Alberta.
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