When I learned to drive, I was taught something called ‘defensive driving.’ The basic idea was that I should always assume that there people out there driving around who are crazy, impaired, stupid, or just careless; and therefore it was my responsibility to watch out for them, and to keep myself safe because all the laws in the world couldn’t keep them off the road.
Related: You want me to wear a mask? Sure, just sign this…
I don’t know whether defensive driving is taught anymore. In the age of ‘safe spaces’, perhaps kids are taught that it’s everyone else’s responsibility to keep the roads safe for them to drive on — in the same way it’s become everyone else’s responsibility to make sure they never have to come into contact with ideas that might upset them. To use a metaphor I’ve always liked, maybe they’re taught that the world is being covered in leather so they don’t have to wear shoes.
It seems silly, but isn’t that what we’re trying to do with things like mask mandates, centralized micromanagement of restaurants and retail establishments, and so on?
It’s one thing to child-proof a house, where there’s a toddler crawling around who might unknowingly be harmed by dangerous objects he doesn’t understand. It’s quite another to try to do the same thing to the whole world, so that adults can’t benefit from situations where they knowingly accept the risks that are a normal and necessary part of the pursuit of happiness.
What would happen if we started teaching people that they need to ‘breathe defensively,’ in the same way that they need to drive defensively, dress defensively, invest defensively, and generally live defensively — making their own assessments regarding risk and reward, and allowing others to do the same?
The alternative is to effectively sacrifice adulthood at the altar of ‘public health.’
