Novak Djokovic and LeBron James can fight it out as to which is the world’s greatest athlete right now or even which one has more international influence. But without regard as to which of the two might come out on top, Djokovic’s negative stance toward vaccinations matters on several levels, the first being – quite obviously, he’s not American, and thus one cannot easily chalk the entire thing up to belonging to a political cult and is owning the libs.
Djokovic’s stance is political in nature. He doesn’t like people telling him what to do, Of course, “public health” necessarily involves an agreement that specialists know the best means to keep public health as stable as possible, and we as laypeople trust them and follow their recommendations.
Djokovic insists he is not anti-vaccination, but then essentially turns around and states that he’s against vaccinations, so much so that he’s willing to skip the major tournaments, (French Open, Wimbledon, likely the U.S. Open) to avoid the vax requirements. We thank Mediaite for the quotations:
I have never said that I am part of that movement,†Djokovic told the BBC’s Amol Rajan, adding that he’ll keep his mind open to getting vaccinated in the future. “I was never against vaccination. I understand that globally, everyone is trying to put a big effort into handling this virus and seeing, hopefully, an end soon to this virus.â€
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Right. “An end to this soon” involves vaccinating as many people as fast as possible so that the virus isn’t as easily transmitted. Djokovic just told the world that it’s great that everyone else is getting jabbed but he is an exception. He explains further:
“Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay…Because the principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else. I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can.â€
Well, unlike the MAGAs who demand access to businesses and other places where people’s health is at risk, at least Djokovic is willing to accept the consequences. Of course, he is skipping right over the fact that he’s heavily reliant now on herd immunity (or sheer wealth to travel on private jets and have everything done for him) and that if everyone had the same attitude, the disease would envelop the world, mutating along, exponentially faster.
The bigger problem is that he has a big voice. With social media, it takes only seconds for anyone, anywhere in the world, to hear his rationale and decide for themselves that if this healthy man doesn’t need it, surely they don’t either. Given humanity’s approach to global climate change and even a vaccination, one wonders if there could ever be anything that all reasonable people could agree upon as a sacrifice for the greater good.
Amazing. Many public health experts consider putting fluoride in community water as the single greatest public health achievement in history. It happened before social media, back when nearly all (there were some conspiracy theorists) agreed that public health experts knew what they were doing and it would provide a net benefit. The results exponentially exceeded the planners’ greatest hopes. One doubts it could be done today. Djokovic, and millions like him, are in tune with their bodies and they don’t need anyone telling them what to do.
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact with any concerns.
