You may not have thought about individualism and collectivism before the pandemic but I’m sure you do now. The response to Covid was quickly framed as a collective crisis requiring individual sacrifice for the greater good. Mandated lockdowns were justified to save lives whilst personal liberty was ignored. We were told that vaccine and mask mandates would stop the spread of the virus through collective compliance whilst personal risk assessments were regarded as selfish and disregarded.
Still in 2024 the divisions over collectivism and self-determination remain at the fore. Public health continues to overreach into civil freedoms, centring its arguments on caring for the wellbeing of the community over oneself. The pandemic has resurfaced the historical struggles between libertarian yearnings and socialist ideals - what rights we deserve as individuals and what we owe each other as a collective whole.
