Defiance to lifted mask mandates?

I think we're severely under-reacting, not to people who still choose to wear masks for whatever reason they want, but the people who are actually claiming that they're acting in defiance of the mask mandates being lifted.

Either these are people who don't understand what the word "mandate" means. I mean, it's not an act of defiance to do something that nobody is forcing you to do. It's a real problem that a lot of people don't know what these words mean.

What's worse is that it is a sign of a totalitarian mindset. There are a lot of people who seem to think that if people aren't being forced to do something they're immediately being prohibited from doing that thing. It doesn't cross their minds that there's a middle ground where people can be given the free choice to do something without an authority figure either forcing that you do it or telling you that you can't do it.