I suppose my explanation of my position was unclear. I do not believe that our government is explicitly implementing measures for the express purpose of seeing how far they can go with stripping us of our freedoms. However, I do think that they are taking notice of the people's reaction and estimating what they can and cannot get away with. It is for this reason that, while I do not agree with them, I am grateful for things like anti mask protests. I fully believe that masks are effective and in close quarters, we should be wearing them in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. But I am glad that our government meets resistance. I believe an unchecked government has more potential to be devastating to us than a virus that has little effect on the average healthy person.photofly wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:39 am You simply cannot say this isn't a grand conspiracy, and then describe it, as you do, as a grand conspiracy. You either believe in secret agendas and purposes, which makes you a conspiracy theorist, or you don't. Don't you get that?
People in government, are all doing their level best to govern. You may not agree with what they say, but once you ascribe to them - or to anyone - secret and evil motives, that's conspiracy talk, and it instantly loses you the mantle of respectability and being deserving of being taken seriously.
As for ascribing nefarious motives to politicians, it's fundamentally no different than you ascribing altruistic motives. You have no way of knowing their motives, so by your own logic, your are a conspiracy theorist. Why should I take you seriously? Believing that a group of total strangers who have power over you are all good and all have your best interests at heart is equally as absurd as believing the opposite. For the record, I'm inclined to believe you. I do think the measures being taken are for the greater good. However, I don't believe in black and white in this case and I think you're missing a ton of nuance. Just because the infringement of our rights is happening for a good reason now, doesn't mean that somewhere, someone less altruistic, be it in our own current government or otherwise, isn't observing with great interest just how far we can be pushed before pushing back. Believing that everyone in power over you is good and should be trusted implicitly is naive at best and dangerous at worst. History proves this in spades. Every day, naive, trusting people are taken for fools. That happens a lot less to cautiously guarded, skeptical people willing to stand up for themselves.
