{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/alyssacovidpolitics","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"alyssa.covidpolitics","excerpt":"There is enough blame to go around the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government isn’t the only culprit. How does the American definition of freedom factor into the country’s response to the pandemic?","headline":"The definition of freedom that cost 300K American lives","author":"Hyeyoon (Alyssa) Choi","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/alyssa.covidpolitics/1alyssa_cover-81319f83f6256ade9c3c32d1d3ca1ecc.jpg","covercred":"Ashley Shue-Lih Ko","coveralt":"Illustration by Ashley Shue-Lih Ko.","articleType":"article","updated":null,"content":[{"type":"text","value":"Stepping into my old room in South Korea – which was to be my solitary cell for 14 days – was ironically freeing."},{"type":"text","value":"After an 11-hour flight to Incheon, South Korea, in July, I was ushered through a lineup of public health officials and government authorities decked out in white overall gowns, full-face visors, masks and gloves. The first person told me to download a self-quarantine application on my smartphone on the spot. The next explained how the application would allow the government to track my location – to ensure I sheltered in place for the mandated two weeks – and allow me to self-report my temperature and symptoms twice a day."},{"type":"text","value":"To last me the two weeks I was to be confined at home, public health officials put together and delivered a gift bag full of masks, spray sanitizer, biohazard trash bags, paper thermometers and a safety manual on how to stay away from family members."},{"type":"text","value":"Government officials frequently called me when I would leave my phone immobile for too long to check that I did not leave home without it. Some days, local public health workers would show up at my front door, occasionally accompanied by a police officer who would ask me to verify my ID."},{"type":"text","value":"The government kept a close eye on me even after quarantine. Whenever I entered a building, a store or a restaurant, a temperature check was the first order of business, and putting down my contact information via QR code or on paper was a must."},{"type":"text","value":"Are you feeling a tinge of discomfort? Rattled, maybe? Any flashbacks to “1984”?"},{"type":"text","value":"Some people may think these procedures are a blatant breach of privacy, that this kind of authority would never be tolerated in the United States because it is a clear-cut violation of individual freedom."},{"type":"text","value":"But the visits, the location tracking and the contact tracing – and of course, mask wearing – were all natural to me because I believed this was my right: to be protected by my government."},{"type":"text","value":"At the end of the two weeks, in mid-July, I was sitting at a quaint indoor restaurant, catching up with an old friend, cutting French toast – without a mask on. Face covered, I was going to pilates, riding populated subways and, if I wanted to, visiting a bar or an amusement park. The weekly case count was in double digits most days of the summer."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"It seems to me that the hallmark of freedom in the U.S. is essentially following one’s heart apart from any mandated control, and it is often touted with a sense of American exceptionalism.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Around the same time, the U.S. averaged a steady five-digit case number – between 20,000 to 80,000 infections daily. Taking the population into account, consider this: South Korea houses 51 million people with 739 COVID-19 deaths as of Dec. 23. By comparison, California is populated by 39 million people. There have been 23,284 COVID-19 deaths as of Dec. 23."},{"type":"text","value":"My American friends were green with envy. Some gave up adhering to COVID-19-related rules altogether."},{"type":"text","value":"I am an international student hailing from Seoul, South Korea. I lived in Seoul for 17 years before coming to UCLA. As COVID-19 trampled every corner of our planet, killing more than 1.3 million people in a matter of 11 months, I hopped between a country with one of the most highly praised COVID-19 responses and one with the most heavily criticized."},{"type":"text","value":"Beyond rating the competencies of government leaders and their political rhetoric, there were two strikingly different axioms held by the people of South Korea and the U.S. that I believe pushed the nations in opposite directions."},{"type":"text","value":"And that difference is the very definition of freedom."},{"type":"text","value":"When I was in the U.S., I frequently heard comments such as, “I went to the beach today with my family, and no one else was wearing masks.” When I was in Korea, spotting a person without a mask on outside an eatery was like finding a needle in a haystack."},{"type":"text","value":"In America, my social media feed picked up memes reflecting America’s stark political division over social distancing rules. One captured Jonathan Van Ness, a professional hairdresser who stars in “Queer Eye,” mockingly commenting “Just because you Ameri-can, doesn’t mean you Ameri-should” dine out or attend parties. Meanwhile, in Korea, the government lit monumental buildings in pink as a show of gratitude toward its citizens for bearing the responsibility of social distancing and wearing masks so responsibly."},{"type":"text","value":"The difference was as vast as the ocean that divides the two countries. The reasons for this are complex and diverse. Korea is experienced in dealing with infectious diseases. Korea is a more collectivist country. Korean leadership took earlier and more drastic measures to curb the spread of the disease."},{"type":"text","value":"But in terms of the political framework, South Korea and the U.S. are both functional democracies. In fact, South Korea used America’s constitutionalism as a blueprint for its own constitution and democratic framework. In 1948, General John R. Hodge, who oversaw Korea’s transition to democracy and commanded the United States Army forces in Korea, issued “The Ordinance on the Rights of the Korean People.”"},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration by Ashley Shue-Lih Ko.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/alyssa.covidpolitics/1Image from iOS (2)-97a1197b22f7e15ff4e78451cda267c7.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Ashley Shue-Lih Ko\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The measure included 12 America-inspired articles that guaranteed fundamental rights such as privacy, property, voting and a speedy trial. It also guarantees freedom of religion, press, assembly and speech."},{"type":"text","value":"If citizens of both countries live under democratic values of freedom, where did they diverge and why?"},{"type":"text","value":"During the COVID-19 pandemic, I watched as thousands of Americans swarmed beaches, merrily and blatantly ignoring government mandates to wear masks or social distance."},{"type":"text","value":"As I was trying to swallow this bizarre phenomenon, I came across another meme, satirically depicting an American man walking on the moon in a bathing suit, flouting health experts’ exhortations to “please wear protective suits in space.”"},{"type":"text","value":"I was not amused. Not when there were 300,000 people already dead."},{"type":"text","value":"The U.S. calls itself the land of the free, and the free people vote, protest, feast, drink and pray. It seems to me that the hallmark of freedom in the U.S. is essentially following one’s heart apart from any mandated control, and it is often touted with a sense of American exceptionalism."},{"type":"text","value":"Merriam-Webster’s definition of freedom is the “absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice of action,” “political right,” “franchise” or “privilege.” But COVID-19 has revealed that freedom has different definitions in different cultures."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I believed this was my right: to be protected by my government.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The conception of freedom in America can be traced back to the American Revolution, when colonists fought for freedom from British rule."},{"type":"text","value":"Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Americans have believed that “America, and America alone, was the place where the principle of universal freedom could take root,” wrote Eric Foner, historian and author of “The Story of American Freedom.” Such belief in American exceptionalism and American nationalism was grounded in the devotion to freedom."},{"type":"text","value":"Beginning in the 20th century, Foner observed that Americans coupled freedom with the Bill of Rights, which subtly named the federal government as the most prominent threat to freedom. Since then, discussions about people’s rights have been a battle to balance liberty and government power."},{"type":"text","value":"Just as freedom of speech allowed for democratic governance and was defended as a protection against government intrusion, according to Foner, I believe that so too are mask-wearing and contact tracing treated as both necessities and violations of freedom today in the U.S."},{"type":"text","value":"In the case of wearing masks, Stephen Gardbaum, an internationally renowned constitutional scholar and law professor at UCLA, said that there exists a misguided view as to whether it is a constitutionally protected freedom or liberty."},{"type":"text","value":"An anti-mask protester interviewed by Vox journalist Emily Stewart in August said she feels justified in defying mask mandates on grounds of the 14th Amendment, which reads: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Citing the 14th Amendment, the protester told Stewart, “No states are allowed to make laws that take our freedoms and liberties away.”"},{"type":"text","value":"In protest, an anti-mask organization called United Patriots Alliance in South Carolina wrote a statement to the state House saying, “the people of SC have been living under multiple and unconstitutional Emergency Executive Orders issued by the Governor.”"},{"type":"text","value":"As I watched drone footage of COVID-19 victims being buried en masse, I could not shake the feeling that such constitutional justifications were painfully and plainly wrong. After having studied constitutional law and civil liberties that quarter, I wondered if a sense of autonomy and privacy was so great that Americans could not perceive the grave danger that COVID-19 posed to the general public."},{"type":"text","value":"I had a way out, so I took it. I flew back home in July. My friends and family thought it was the right choice all along anyway."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I believe that many Koreans, if not most, and definitely at a larger scale than Americans, know that freedom is only made possible by everyone’s – not just a few’s – sacrifice.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"After having months to chew on what might be behind these disparate COVID-19 climates, I talked to Gardbaum, who told me that people who are resisting masks are tapping into the belief that America is a country of extraordinary freedom and that government interference should be almost nonexistent."},{"type":"text","value":"According to constitutional law, he added, there is no constitutionally protected freedom or liberty that allows people to argue a case against mask wearing in light of a public health crisis."},{"type":"text","value":"“(This) reflects a lay person’s ... view that if they have a right, somehow that means it can never be justifiably limited,” he said. “There is an erroneous assumption that the U.S. has a greater list of liberties against the government than it actually does.”"},{"type":"text","value":"This is in part due to the ideologies of President Donald Trump, which lean toward the extreme of conservatism. But it can also be attributed to a constitutional culture that promotes negative rights – the right not to be subject to certain actions – instead of positive rights, Gardbaum said. Positive rights include the rights of the people to receive provisions from the government, such as health care."},{"type":"text","value":"As former President Barack Obama put it during a 2001 interview with Chicago’s WBEZ radio station, “Generally, the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties – it says what the states can’t do to you.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Time and time again, the courts have reaffirmed this American judicial principle that the government cannot breach the people’s inalienable rights – sometimes to the extreme."},{"type":"text","value":"This is the kind of freedom that explains the opposition to mask wearing in many parts of the U.S."},{"type":"text","value":"Gardbaum explained that the U.S. Constitution does not enumerate positive rights unlike the constitutions of other countries such as Korea. For instance, Article 35 of the Korean Constitution reads, “The State shall endeavor to ensure comfortable housing for all citizens through housing development policies and the like.” On the other hand, the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly express any guarantees that the government will do anything for the people."},{"type":"text","value":"Because the constitutional culture of America is founded on negative rights, America’s conception of freedom is that there are things that the government cannot do to you."},{"type":"text","value":"In contrast, the Korean Constitution plainly declares “the health of all citizens shall be protected by the State,” in Article 36 and “the freedoms and rights of citizens may be restricted ... only when necessary … for the maintenance of ... public welfare” in Article 37."},{"type":"text","value":"The Korean government has a constitutional duty to protect its citizenry from harm, such as COVID-19, whereas the American government does not."},{"type":"text","value":"Ju Hui Judy Han, a UCLA gender studies assistant professor who studies Korean protest culture, said it was a given that contact tracing went undisputed in South Korea, except in a few cases involving churches or gay clubs out of fear of societal retribution."},{"type":"text","value":"When any new cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in Korea, a messaging alert notifies people how many tested positive, where they reside and where they have been. I received anywhere from five to 10 such alerts on a given day. Once, when the alert dinged, I was at a cafe with about 15 people in the area. The chime, which has a distinct tone, occurred synchronously, and everybody peered into their screens and began discussing the information they had just received."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration by Ashley Shue-Lih Ko.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/alyssa.covidpolitics/1FINAL-90a7ecefe43565a70d0ca275cd2f846f.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Ashley Shue-Lih Ko\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Can anyone conceive of an American version of this episode?"},{"type":"text","value":"I believe that many Koreans, if not most, and definitely at a larger scale than Americans, know that freedom is only made possible by everyone’s – not just a few’s – sacrifice."},{"type":"text","value":"Political leadership, not citizens’ attitudes, is the most commonly discussed reason for the difference between America and Korea’s responses to COVID-19. Coherent, cogent and consistent communication by a leader, many might say, is the single most important factor in determining the success rate of blocking the spread of COVID-19."},{"type":"text","value":"Dan Schnur, a political communication professor at USC and UC Berkeley and a veteran of four Republican presidential campaigns, said that Trump is divorced from the traditional strain of conservatism, which holds individual freedom and individual responsibility at equally high standards."},{"type":"text","value":"“A traditional conservative would talk about the importance of individual freedoms, but would also say that with those freedoms comes individual responsibility,” he said. “If all you talk about is freedom without responsibility, it’s anarchy.”"},{"type":"text","value":"So let’s consider for a moment the possibility that America had a different president, anyone other than Trump, when COVID-19 arrived at the West Coast. Would Americans – as in those who protested lockdowns, mask-wearing and the likes thereof – have reacted differently to the pandemic if the president were anybody but Trump?"},{"type":"text","value":"Shortly put, yes, Schnur said. He believes those who are inclined to reject that call to take responsibility for the good of the community were tucked under Trump’s rhetoric."},{"type":"text","value":"“They can say, ‘The president of the United States doesn’t think we have to do this, so why should we?’” he said."},{"type":"text","value":"If the president were more traditional in dealing with a public health crisis, whether conservative or liberal, Schnur believes that those who resist public health recommendations would have been less vocal."},{"type":"text","value":"“Even though these people would still exist, they would be more isolated,” he said. “If you take away the authority, it would become a lot harder for that resistance to sustain.”"},{"type":"text","value":"So in conclusion, yes, leadership does matter. But it isn’t everything. A political analysis alone cannot answer the big question: Why did America fare so badly?"},{"type":"text","value":"We have to remember that politics do not occur in a vacuum. Only when we begin to consider the principles each nation is founded upon can we answer the looming question."},{"type":"text","value":"The idea that freedom is an absolute and inalienable right, however extreme or stifled, lives on to this day in America. It was one of the driving forces leading to America’s independence."},{"type":"text","value":"So, sans Trump, would there have been no opposition to mask wearing and contact tracing at all? America’s definition of freedom whispers, “No.”"}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"winter21","slug":"alyssa.covidpolitics"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}