The greatest intrusion on American civil liberties

Irony alert!

I don’t know where to start. So many of our liberties are under assault.

Some say (see above clip): obligatory face mask-wearing in public or a lockdown to stop the spread of a pandemic is the greatest intrusion on American civil liberties. Where is our freedom to call death’s bluff or to endanger our lives and healths and the lives of others? If you don’t want to get infected, be a wimp, stay home. But leave us our freedom to live.

But this is not unprecedented. We’re born free but …

How about smoke-free areas? Even in places meant to destruct our health, cripple us, and prevent us from getting old slowly, like in bars and pubs. Since when should the authorities have the right to stop us from inflicting cancer, asthma, and heart disease on ourselves and the people who like to hang out with us? Where is our freedom of choice? Everyone is allowed to stress you out but when you want to unwind, you are subjected to rules.

But it gets even crazier. They took our freedom to drive while being under the influence of alcohol. In your own car, anywhere on the road, you can’t do as you please anymore. It’s our lives, no? And everyone who enters a vehicle or traffic knows they could get killed. Don’t say people didn’t know what they got themselves into. You can be aggressive, reckless, and even bent on murdering people while driving and no one will pull you out of traffic. But you had two beers to relax a bit and they pull you off the street, fine you, take your license away, and put you into jail. For two beers!

How about beating the living daylight out of a friend, spouse, or stranger, who doesn’t want to stop annoying you? They often ask for it. But when you show that you’re human (at least someone should be human with such creeps around) and blow up, then you get in trouble with the law.

From the goodness of your heart, you hire a few workers. No one obligates you to do so. You pay them well and on time. But then come the safety regulations. And there are endless lists of what they consider unsafe. When they hurt themselves, you are to blame. We’re free to be accused.

Or say, you have enough money to hire a prostitute for some services or even take a slave, you give these people purposeful work and you’re in violation of the law. Where is our freedom to hack out our own lives?

And when you collect pornography–we should not judge anyone because everyone is using it–you need to check if the subjects are above certain ages, depending on state and country. What’s a legal age here is illegal there. You can have sex with any 80-year-old who is senile, but a sharp kid who thinks it’s innocent fun, the law intervenes. Also hurting these kids’ freedom to express themselves. Emotional damage that could be for life.

Talking of sex, how can anyone stop you from being naked in public? The Bible has Adam and Eve naked. And that was before they sinned. If you don’t like it, don’t look. When it gets normal, no one will notice anymore, including children who like to run around naked. Those nosy laws.

But there is even worse. Riding a bike without a helmet, riding in a car without a seatbelt, or playing chicken at a highway or the railroad tracks, in many places is a violation of the law. Why should others decide on our own lives? We’re not endangering others. It’s pure intrusion, paternalism, and dictatorship. We must protest this increasing assault on civil liberties.

As we know, the so called liberals, actually the dictates of political correctness, are working at taking away our liberty to speak our mind. Not even to address our right to bear arms. As if the state should own our lives.

Everyone talks about protecting the sensitivities of others but no one thinks of our sensitivities that we don’t want to be straight-jacked.

When we are born, we do not sign that we would do everything to keep ourselves and others alive. I understand that there are a lot of cowards around who’d rather live than live and die truly free, who want to protect themselves from dying through others. Don’t they know they’re gonna die anyway? But in any case, when it comes to our own lives, let’s demand total freedom. It’s no one else’s business what we do with our lives.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1