I was sipping my 5th cup of coffee of the day and sifting through the endless comments on social media--arguing that if a new pandemic arises, Americans should feverishly resist another lockdown scenario at all costs--and there it was; the most fascinating, mesmerizing question I have seen in quite a long time...
"Why don't you libertarians just shut up and do what you're told?"
The 50-million dollar question. Why don't we just shut up and do what we're told? Wouldn't it be far easier to comply with our masters and do exactly what we are instructed to do? Listen to every piece of lie and propaganda and just believe that it's true? Surely, this is the life of comfort, peace and ecstatic joy that us libertarian outcasts have so sorely been missing out on.
Yes, I can envision it now; a life completely bereft of the chore of critical thinking, having information pumping into my brain via television and radio waves, and just allowing it to happily sink in. Never mind being a human being, just be a robot, be a slave to the state, for it comes with enormous reward. Yes, this is the stuff that dreams are truly made of. Why would anyone refuse such love and luxury?
I wasn't even offended by the man's question. I was genuinely intrigued. I was genuinely curious how another human being could really believe that shutting up and doing what you are told is the optimal way a person should live their life.
Madness? Perhaps. But it's an interesting question nonetheless. Why don't we just shut up and do what we're told? Why not, indeed?
Instead of just laughing at the question (which, of course, we will do), I've decided to answer it honestly. As human beings enriched in the pursuit of knowledge, it's philosophically sound to entertain even the most absurd of questions.
Why don't we just shut up and do what we're told?
Self-respect. Understanding that our own value is great enough to question any and all orders, commands or edicts handed down by the government that we employ. We are fully capable of living our own lives without a chaperone. We are free people with agency, autonomy and the ability to make our own decisions.
Never should anyone of worth simply accept censorship and mandates forcibly enacted upon them. Self-respect and self-worth inspires within us the spirit of rebellion, and will provoke within us rigorous defiance.
We absolutely cannot just shut up and do what we're told. It goes against our very nature. Our spirit, our passion will simply not allow us to perform such an egregious act of cowardice.
We are free people, and that is how we will remain until the day we die. We will always fight with vigor, valor and tenacity to preserve our inalienable right to exist freely, void of oppression and government tyranny.
