This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!
My theme is “You’re the Australian Immigration Minister in charge of Novak Djokovic’s visa and thus participation in the Australian Open: how will you decide and why?” and it was submitted by Part-Time Working Hockey Mom.
Let me start by somewhat apologizing here as I’m sure this isn’t going to necessarily be what Tamara had possibly hoped for when she submitted this theme.
Alas, the one thing I’ve tried to do with my blog in the nearly 20 years I’ve had it is to try and stay away from most current events and/or controversial topics. That being said, I think I can answer this theme decently without going too crazy.
I titled this post “Choose your own adventure” as this is basically what the world has become with the pandemic. I’m willing to say 95 percent of people dealing with this have gone stir crazy and no matter if you agree with mandates or don’t, you are ready for this to be over and get back to something along the normal lines we had before March 2020.
I know I am.
Alas, the issue is between regular ol’ joes like myself, and government people, and rich people, and other countries, and extreme left and right people, and others who somehow have a say in all of this … can’t agree and can’t get along. What happens, of course, is people disagree, get all mad at one another, and this just triggers many more things.
It’s not a very nice cycle.
So, when a famous athlete arrives in a country for a sporting event and hasn’t done what is required; and then we find out his paperwork to forego said requirements was done wrong; and we also find out he hasn’t followed a lot of mandates and requirements in his own country — it’s hard to feel bad for him.
Let me preface this by saying it’s rare for me to feel bad for an athlete, especially somebody as top of the sport at the one we are speaking about. He’s rich and famous and probably has hundreds of people working for him — if not more.
The fact that paperwork was done wrong means maybe he needs better people in big spots. These are the types of “oopsie” moments that shouldn’t happen when you have that kind of power and money.
All that being said, I don’t feel bad for him.
If I was in the position of Australia, I would have done the same as they did. And I would have done it quite pissed off, too. And why pissed off? Because the tournament is better with him in it. It likely draws more money etc. People want to see the best. And because he was sloppy and careless, the country was forced to follow its own mandates.
Which is the right thing to do.
Again, no matter if you agree with or don’t agree with the mandates, they are out there. Each country is different. But if they are in place you need to follow them, or you could face repercussions. And if and when that happens, you deal with it — no matter if you are a top-level athlete or not.
What are your thoughts on celebs/entertainers and stories about them?
Five others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!
I think you did a great job of addressing the issue. It’s less a political issue, and more one of ego. I like when we see examples of rules applying to everyone, that’s how it should be.
I don’t know if I was “hoping” for anything here. It was an open question that entails so many aspects and interests, and you did a great job addressing them.
Of course the bottom line (for me) is: nobody is (should be) above the law, and Australia had the balls to say so.
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I totally agree with you. All he had to do was follow the rules just like all of the other opponents. I don’t think it’s fair to them and the people who organized it. It’s very disrespectful which is what you find with a lot of power and/or money. They think everybody should follow the rules but not them. People have a choice no matter how loudly they scream that they aren’t given one. Just because you don’t like one of the options doesn’t change the facts.Great job!
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