Deep philosophy

(Well as deep as you're going to get out of me.)

Incident 1.

I am leaving the library after returning books the day after it re-opened. On entering I was happy to give my name and contact number for contact tracing purposes - and use a face mask and the hand sanitiser that they provided at the entrance.

On the one-way exit path is a gent in his 50s muttering angrily something about 'they shouldn't bloody well tell lies' and after I've passed I felt obliged to comment. "You're not happy about something!". I surmise that he's incensed about having to divulge his details before entering this indoor public facility, but the answer I get is surprising.

"I regard myself as right-wing libertarian. For example I would rather see foxes hunted with hounds than shot with guns."

I only had one answer before walking away. "Then we shall have to agree to differ."

I've seen YouTube footage of Americans at local authority hearings who are utterly incandescent about the introduction of face covering rules. They seem to think they have the right to infect everyone else!

Incident 2.

Little D has learned to walk during lockdown, so when he has his drinking bottle he'll wander about with up to his mouth. He's in their living room, and when he's had enough he just drops the bottle. Of course it leaks milk onto the carpet. We say "no" and show him where it should go when he's finished - right way up on the coffee table.

Two minutes later he does it again. "No!" is followed by a little cry - more a protest than being really upset. He clearly doesn't like that fact that, now that he has some control over his actions, there are some social norms to which he is expected to adhere.

The second time it happens I find myself telling him he's an ultra-right libertarian!

Not that I think he's an advocate of laissez-fair capitalism(!), but the individualism aspects are bound to resonate with any individual who has just spent 12 months literally being the centre of the universe for all around him.

Then the penny drops. He isn't like these idiots who refuse to wear face coverings because it impacts on their 'freedom' - they are like him!

They are basically infants who don't acknowledge the rights of other people! Right libertarianism in a nutshell.