Syag,
First , I was not asking you on this issue , because I know what your opinion is.
1) My point is there are people (and based on the title of this thread maybe the OP and others on this thread are among them ) who mock people for wearing masks and getting vaccinated .
Why would you mock people trying to protect themselves and being Mikayem Vnishmarten Meod Lnafshosaichem?
Why would you mock people who asked their Rabbanim what to do and have been told to get vaccinated and wear masks?
In fact, there are many famous Roshei Yeshivas who still are very compliant with all the policies to protect themselves.
2) When did Republicans decide that Public Policy is a ” let’s make fun of all the rules ” issue?
When did they attribute public safety policy to power grabs and population control?
They never consider the side of the people who are still dying from Covid today.
I am not discounting that there are downsides and terrible consequences of forcing kids in school to wear masks. Or any of the policies to protect people from Covid.
Hindsight is 20/20. It is not fair to say what the school should have been done based on the outcome.
The decision to mandate vaccines and masks is not a light and easy decision. As I wrote , they are still trying to save 3,000 people a day from dying.
If people will acknowledge the weightiness of the decision, I could understand both sides.
But that is not where we are it.
3) The republicans and its subsidiary fox news, believe that the CDC, Dr Fauci , some members of the Medical Community and Governors that mandated masks and vaccines are all enemies. They are all evil enemies .
When did it become logical to call Dr Fauci a murderer because of ideas in a book written by a conspiracy theorist , anti-vaxxer and someone who said that Anne Frank had more freedom in hiding from the Nazis than people have today under U.S. vaccination policies ?
4) The OP would have hated and despised living in the midbar with the Shechina and Moshe rabbenu.
In the midbar there was no freedom at all. EVERYONE LISTENED TO HASHEM AND MOSHE RABBENU OR THEY GOT PUNISHED IMMEDIATELY.
You didn’t listen to Hashem , Moshe Rabbenu , The Sarei Alafim, Chamishim and Meos – there was an immediate punishment.
Either from Heaven – by your Manna being sent miles away from your door, getting Tzoraas etc … or by the Beis Din of Moshe Rabbenu and the Shotrim.
The same when we had a Melech. There was no longer “Ish hayashar Baynav”.
Dovid and Shlomo Hamelech demanded perfection from Klal Yisrael in following Hashem’s Torah. Nothing less. No freedom at all.