Seems Significantly Ironic to Me

I really am not interested in discussing or debating opinions about what I am about to observe, even though I expect some sometimes strong reactions. Rather, I am fascinated by ironic juxtapositions of seemingly unrelated things.

Perhaps because they both involve commercial air travel, the group of people singing Christian hymns on a flight and the lifting of the mask mandates for interstate flights seem oddly connected. In both cases, groups of people are in close proximity for an extended time in an enclosed environment. Once in the air, no one has any where to escape, whether they don’t want to listen to group singing (whether or not Christian hymns) or don’t want to risk catching a virus from someone else on the flight (especially since we know that wearing a mask protects those around you more than it protects you). My own gut reaction is that group singing (or any other noisy activity) and going on an airline flight without wearing a mask seem insensitive to the other people on the flight, whose preferences and health are not known.

As this rumbled around in my head today, I couldn’t help pondering the meme I have seen recently comparing democracy and republic forms of government by suggesting that in a democracy the majority could impose its will on the minority and confiscate their property, while a republic builds in protections for minorities from being oppressed by the majority. Though this seems a grotesque oversimplification to me, it suggested to me that commercial air flights with group singing and flying maskless qualify for the caricature of democracy in the meme. Having lived in urban areas where growth of auto traffic pushed building freeways and rail lines, thousands of homes were taken by eminent domain (with often protested “fair” compensation), perhaps more like a democracy than a republic as cast in the meme.

Again, I am interested in the ironies of popular opinions as they intersect with messy realities, and not in arguing about singing or masks or eminent domain, nor about a democracy and a republic.