So Novak gets a medical exemption to play in Oz

[Scotty]

I don't even watch tennis, I don't know why this topic has sparked my interest so much. Anyway...

If it turns out that Djokovic and/or Serbian authorities falsified documents, which is looking more and more likely, it could potentially mean the end of his career.

The ID number (which are sequential) on his positive test result is 50,000 above his negative result, taken on the 22nd December. This would suggest the positive test result was added to the system around the 26th December, not the 16th. Or, that it was completely falsified using a test from around the 26th. Either way, it does not tie in with the Serbian test system.

[Scotty]

Visa cancelled, again! Will be deported. Automatic 3 year ban from Australia.

[schmittel]

Bye bye Novak!! Visa cancelled, again! Will be deported. Automatic 3 year ban from Australia.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer fella by all accounts!

Apparently his lawyers have issued an injunction to try and challenge it! Aussie journalist just on Newstalk saying that in the unlikely event challenge is successful, the minister will just cancel it on criminal and character grounds which would be quite a slap in the face.

As much as I supported his position on defending his choice whether or not to take the vaccine, I definitely think Novax should start accepting that there are consequences to that choice.

[JONJO THE MISER]

I support him on his vaccine stance but its looking like he lied in documents to get to Australia and they are right to deport him out of there country.

[Calahonda52]

Be interesting to see what reception he gets at home: The president seems to be in his pocket, or visa versa, the PM less so.

[isha]

Feelings are still running very high with all this pandemic stuff, so it is understandable that there is considerable emotive divide on this one. But in my opinion, in the long run, looking back across the great expanse of history at this time from the future, Djokovic is going to look like the reasonable one. Or at least the one that should have been backed.

He 1) exercised his right to bodily autonomy ie his completely justifiable right to refuse to take any medication that he did not want, did not need, and especially one that was on trial.
And 2) he stood up for that, and was among very few public figures to do so, against what is looking increasingly like the unhinged exercise of massive executive over-reach by almost all countries globally, but in particular the Australian state.

There are picky details that don't look good on Djokovic's side, but on a macro scale and especially over broad time and into the future, this hyperbolic government response to someone who does not pose any epidemiological threat, who is a symbol of all the many other people who have not posed epidemiological threats but have been mandatorily confined, repressed from ordinary family, social and commercial life, coerced and mandated in various unethical ways for a long time, is going to historically reflect much worse on the coercive state than on the individual concerned in this case.

As an interesting and IMO related aside, Simon Ruda who in 2010 formed the so called Nudge Unit (Behavioural Insights Team) working within the UK govt, which used behavioural science techniques to bring about behavioural change or actions in broader society, has warned that the same behavioural science was abused by the UK govt and many governments worldwide to manufacture and then co-opt excessive fear to control populations during this pandemic. He says what has happened has constituted propaganda, effectively. I think history will surprise many with its retrospective analysis.

In my mind, the most egregious and far-reaching mistake made in responding to the pandemic has been the level of fear willingly conveyed on the public. Initially encouraged to boost public compliance, that fear seems to have subsequently driven policy decisions in a worrying feedback loop. Though I don’t think it’s fair to blame behavioural scientists for propagating fear (I suspect that this was more to do with Government communicators and the incentives of news broadcasters), it may be worth reflecting on where we need to draw the line between the choice-maximising nudges of libertarian paternalism, and the creeping acceptance among policy makers that the state should use its heft to influence our lives without the accountability of legislative and parliamentary scrutiny. Nudging made subtle state influence palatable, but mixed with a state of emergency, have we inadvertently sanctioned state propaganda?

https://unherd.com/2022/01/how-the-gove ... ge-theory/

[PogMoThoin]

Regardless of his antivax stance He lied on his application, hasn't he ever watched the border Patrol on daytime TV??

The 3 year ban is going to be the hard pill to swallow!

[JONJO THE MISER]

Regardless of his antivax stance He lied on his application, hasn't he ever watched the border Patrol on daytime TV??

The 3 year ban is going to be the hard pill to swallow!

I'd say Novak prefers murder she wrote for his afternoon viewing.

[Scotty]

He is a very public global figure who has bravely stood up for bodily autonomy and the civil right not to be compelled into participation in medical research or to have anything injected into one's body that one does not wish to voluntarily take.

He 1) exercised his right to bodily autonomy ie his completely justifiable right to refuse to take any medication that he did not want, did not need, and especially one that was on trial.
And 2) he stood up for that, and was among very few public figures to do so, against what is looking increasingly like the unhinged exercise of massive executive over-reach by almost all countries globally, but in particular the Australian state.

I have to disagree. He stood up for no one but himself. He refused to pin his colours to the mast on numerous occasions.

But in my opinion, in the long run, looking back across the great expanse of history at this time from the future, Djokovic is going to look like the reasonable one. Or at least the one that should have been backed.

He lied on his application! He said he hadn't travelled when he had, he said he had isolated when he hadn't. It's yet to be confirmed if he presented a faked covid positive cert but if it turns out he did then he'll be facing a lengthy ban from tennis.

He's never going to be seen as the reasonable one. This is a HUGE taint on his career and one he may regret for a very long time.

[Scotty]

Apparently his lawyers have issued an injunction to try and challenge it!

I don't think Hawke made his announcement at 6.03pm on a Friday evening regarding a tennis tournament starting Monday morning by accident. He had almost a week to decide and left it till all courts were closed for the weekend.

[isha]

I have to disagree. He stood up for no one but himself. He refused to pin his colours to the mast on numerous occasions.

He lied on his application! He said he hadn't travelled when he had, he said he had isolated when he hadn't. It's yet to be confirmed if he presented a faked covid positive cert but if it turns out he did then he'll be facing a lengthy ban from tennis.

He's never going to be seen as the reasonable one. This is a HUGE taint on his career and one he may regret for a very long time.

In my opinion, on the moral balance of things, the badness he MAY have committed is much less that the badness the Australian state HAS committed. And in time I think it will be proven to be so.
It was illegal for some people to sit down at the front of the bus, to drink from some places, but some of those banned people did it, and at the time other people said it was appalling how they behaved so ILLEGALLY. Some babies were born outside marriage and many people thought it was perfectly okay to call them bastards or discriminate against them for being ''illegitimate'' because it was LAW. Etc Etc Etc. Disobeying unjust law is not as morally reprehensible as making unjust law. Some notables have said that disobeying unjust laws should be done.

[Scotty]

In my opinion, on the moral balance of things, the badness he MAY have committed is much less that the badness the Australian state HAS committed. And in time I think it will be proven to be so.
It was illegal for some people to sit down at the front of the bus, to drink from some places, but some of those banned people did it, and at the time other people said it was appalling how they behaved so ILLEGALLY. Some babies were born outside marriage and many people thought it was perfectly okay to call them bastards or discriminate against them for being ''illegitimate'' because it was LAW. Etc Etc Etc. Disobeying unjust law is not as morally reprehensible as making unjust law. Some notables have said that disobeying unjust laws should be done.

Ah c'mon! Race segregation VS preventing infectious disease entering the territory!? The two are hardly comparable.

[490808]

I just think its stupid of the Australians to run one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world in the middle of a Covid pandemic and not have some system specific to the tournament in place to allow all the top players to play.

It really is one fool against a bunch of fools.

[isha]

Ah c'mon! Race segregation VS preventing infectious disease entering the territory!? The two are hardly comparable.

The principle of unjust laws being justly repudiated or disrespected is comparable though. It is that principle to which I am refering. And the long term historical perspective that may frame these events.

[isha]

It really is one fool against a bunch of fools.

That description I accept as another possibly true way of looking at it. The bunch of fools though are exercising vast power over many people which adds weight to their immorality.

[765489]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2022/01 ... cancelled/

[490808]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2022/01 ... cancelled/

From that link .....

Djokovic headed straight to Melbourne Park after leaving the hotel on Monday and has practised every day since, including early on Friday morning, but his hopes of staying in the country have faded as the week has gone on following revelations about his conduct.

If they were allowing him out to practice then it makes a complete joke of the whole thing

[isha]

Massive win!!! People like me have been elevated from being anti-vaxxer loons to being "vaccine skeptics".

I think I will wear my good outfit today

[490808]

Massive win!!! People like me have been elevated from being anti-vaxxer loons to being "vaccine skeptics".

I think I will wear my good outfit today

You mean the one in your avatar?

[isha]

You mean the one in your avatar?

[Calahonda52]

I just think its stupid of the Australians to run one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world in the middle of a Covid pandemic and not have some system specific to the tournament in place to allow all the top players to play.

As Chris Rea might pen: On the road to Apartheid-like policies.

give it the full 7 minutes: loud

[kadman]

As Chris Rea might pen: On the road to Apartheid-like policies.

give it the full 7 minutes: loud

I think we are well down the road since he penned that.

[JONJO THE MISER]

Massive win!!! People like me have been elevated from being anti-vaxxer loons to being "vaccine skeptics".

I think I will wear my good outfit today

And this time next year we will be called people who had reservations about vaccines when the rest of the public will be outraged with all the damage vaccines have done.

[DeletedUser]

No you won’t.

[DeletedUser]

If that happens and in a year we realise all the scientists and doctors were wrong and the Serbian tennis player, random punters with no qualifications on internet forums and Katie Hopkins were right all along, can we turn to you guys for expertise? Or will our faith in science see us blackballed?

I’d be hugely disappointed that the person I work with with the public heath medicine qualification was wrong and a slapper from reality Tv and a moronic tennis player were right!!