[starfallg]

Is a prohibition of setting your neighbours house on fire an authoritarian restriction?

How about a mandate to clear the pavement/sidewalk in front of your house of snow so that pedestrians don't fall and break their hip?

Having laws doesn't mean you're being oppressed.

[sethammons]

Except, by definition, you are. We, as a society, have determined that certain freedoms are given up for certain benefits. Is it age discrimination to prevent having a driver’s license before age 16? Yup! Is a freedom taken from you by having a law preventing arson? Yep, and we mostly all agree that is good.

The important part of a new rule or law is that we accept the trade offs. I’m not convinced we’ve reached consensus that we all need to be wearing masks but most are obliging.

[starfallg]

> The important part of a new rule or law is that we accept the trade offs. I’m not convinced we’ve reached consensus that we all need to be wearing masks but most are obliging.

The key factor here is that there are very good and obvious reasons to wear a mask, while the trade-off is a minor inconvenience. It's arguably less effort than shovelling snow from the front of your house.

If the vast majority of us are obliging due to the hope that it has an effect, with little to no negative effects, why are people making this a hill they want to die on? Worse still, why are people making this a hill for others to die on?

[afpx]

Are you suggesting that any government rules on the individual are authoritarian? I think most would disagree with that.

[sethammons]

Well. The definition of authoritarian includes the following:

> favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom.

Is that not the definition? Government authority over individual freedom. Am I missing something?

[thebeefytaco]

No, you don't have the freedom to destroy someone else's property.

I get the point of view that "you don't have the freedom to infect others", but where do you logically draw the line with something like that? Why weren't we already required to wear biohazard suits in public? Humans have been spreading disease as long as we've been around.

Your reasoning is so blunt, saying that just become some laws are justified, all laws are justified. Should you not have the privilege to drive, because every time you do you risk your life and others?

[starfallg]

I'm only being blunt because I was responding to a blunt assertion.

The fact of the matter is that the temporary restrictions for the purpose of public health are mild inconveniences. Those measure are, by and large, reasonable and proportionate. It's the pushback that isn't.