Free Speech and Mask Wearing

In these current unprecedented and sinister times, it is natural that individuals look to the government for guidance. Yet, there has been much debate regarding the government's ability to prohibit men from acting freely on their opinions, namely in the act of choosing not to wear a face mask.

In general, it is "imperative that human beings should be free to form opinions and to express their opinions without reserve" (111). Individuals have a duty to experiment while living and endure new experiences to discover the higher truth. Customs, in particular those such as wearing a mask, should not be upheld simply because it is a long-withstanding, generally accepted action, for "he who does anything because it is custom makes no choice" (114). Individuals should investigate such customs for their own determination and choice of just and unjust and refrain from the blind following of authority without questioning. For even if the authority's advisement is true, it is evident that "there are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until a personal experience has brought it home" (100).

Therefore, I am at first inclined to support those who choose to employ their own experiments of living in electing not to wear a mask as advised by the government. Not only must individuals unveil the truth for themselves, but it is important to the overall progress of our society for dissenters to be heard and valued, whether their opinions are true or not. One cannot truly support and stand behind an opinion if he is not exposed to and able to consider the opposing argument, and henceforth, mask dissenters will offer society this opposing viewpoint to allow the truth of mask-wearing's benefits to come forward.

Despite my dedication to free speech and distrust for its prohibition, I must admit that in this case there may be a hindrance to my support of anti-maskers in their actual physical choice to not wear a mask, as "no one pretends that actions should be as free as opinions" (111). While wearing a mask may be a higher representation for individual freedom, it is important to note that the wearing of this mask is to protect others and the individual from a lethal virus, and I cannot deny that the liberty of an individual must be limited in that "he must not make himself a nuisance to other people" (111). Not wearing a mask would effectively be making oneself a threat and nuisance to those around him.

To conclude my thoughts, I encourage all Americans to curate their opinion on wearing a mask by listening to both dissenters and proponents to determine the action's higher truth and allow society to progress. However, I advise all to continue to wear their mask, since doing otherwise would be harmful to others and thus beyond the liberty of the individual.

In the name of liberty,

John Stuart Mill

*Author consulted John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, chapters 2-4 for this post