Aug. 4, 2022 - Epoch Times
13:23
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| Over the past year, all sorts of vaccine mandates went into effect across the entire country. | |
| And while there are still people who argue that, hey, no one was forced to take the vaccine, no one was held down with a needle to their arm, no, they say, it was always a choice. | |
| However, when we look at the actual real world examples of these different mandates, well, that argument seems to just fall apart. | |
| And along that line, there was the vaccine requirement imposed on players of the NBA. These were, of course, individuals who worked for years at perfecting their game, drilling down on their physical conditioning, and many times neglecting their social lives in order to become world-class athletes. | |
| And so, last year, when NBA teams across the entire country suddenly began imposing the requirement that all players must be vaccinated in order to play, well, many players did it, even if they didn't want to. | |
| In fact, more and more players are coming out now saying that they regret it, because, among other things, they felt like they were being coerced. | |
| For instance, Mr. | |
| Andrew Wiggins, who plays for the Golden State Warriors, he recently came out and expressed his regret, despite the fact that he actually won a championship. | |
| Here's what he said in a recent interview, quote, I still wish I didn't get it, to be honest with you, meaning the vaccine. | |
| I did it, and I was an all-star this year and champion, so that was the good part, just not missing out on the year, the best year of my career. | |
| But for my body, I just don't like putting all that stuff in my body, so I didn't like that. | |
| It wasn't my choice. | |
| I didn't like that it was either get this or don't play. | |
| He added that last year he had requested a religious exemption, and only when that exemption request was denied did he give in and take the shot. | |
| However, there are a few players in the league who stood firm against these mandates all along and never gave in. | |
| For instance, Mr. Jonathan Isaac, who plays for the Orlando Magic, he said the entire thing made him uncomfortable, since he felt like he was being forced into doing something medically that he didn't want to, and therefore he didn't. | |
| Here's specifically what he said during an interview with ESPN. Quote, Now, this actually was not the first time that Jonathan Isaac, you can say, stood against the grain. | |
| In fact, back in the year 2020, during the height of the George Floyd protests, well, while all of his teammates were kneeling for the national anthem, Jonathan was the only player that remained standing. | |
| And so, in order to get an insight into his thinking, what made him refuse the shot while everyone else got theirs, and what made him stand while everyone else was kneeling, I actually got a chance to speak with Jonathan Isaac and ask him directly. | |
| Take a listen. | |
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| And now, Mr. | |
| Jonathan Isaac. | |
| So can you sort of set the stage? | |
| How did that play itself out in the middle of 2021 when the NBA suddenly said, hey, you know, the players need to be vaccinated? | |
| How did that messaging reach you? | |
| What did the managers tell you? | |
| And what did they say would happen if you didn't get vaccinated? | |
| Yeah, it was just all out craziness, to be honest. | |
| So everyone is viewing how COVID and the pandemic is affecting not only America, but the entire country. | |
| And everyone is disastrously afraid and terrified about what could happen. | |
| The NBA shuts down the season. | |
| And then we go into what's called the NBA bubble. | |
| After we leave the NBA bubble, that's when the vaccine mandates start to get rolled out. | |
| And there's whispers about the NBA mandating the vaccine for the players. | |
| But thank God that we have a players union that was able to kind of, you know, I didn't argue on our behalf that the vaccine doesn't need to be mandated, but that didn't stop the NBA from putting a lot of restrictions in place and things in place that if you weren't vaccinated, it would help you to kind of push you towards getting vaccinated. | |
| You wouldn't be able to eat with your teammates, you wouldn't be allowed in the locker room, a couple of different things. | |
| But for me, I just took a step back and said, you know what, I'm not sure if this vaccine is for me. | |
| I'm young. | |
| I'm healthy. | |
| I have no comorbidities. | |
| I'm in the best shape of my life. | |
| I already had COVID in the past, so I learned a great deal about natural immunity and other things as it went to COVID and the 99.97 survival rate. | |
| And so I made a decision that the vaccine wasn't for me. | |
| And I just happened to be the only one on my team and one of the very few in the league who decided not to take the vaccine. | |
| Yeah, and you know, I'd love to just flesh out maybe the human aspect of that story more because it seems like your story is an example of kind of the age-old story of one person who has his own beliefs and convictions standing up against sort of, you know, the mass consensus. | |
| So once you, let's say, announced or made that decision, how did everybody react? | |
| How did your teammates react? | |
| How did the management and the ownership of the team react? | |
| So we have to go back just a little bit. | |
| So actually, before it was known that I was unvaccinated and I wasn't going to take the vaccine, there was a lot of talk about the vaccine, obviously, and players were getting it around this time. | |
| I think it was around March. | |
| And as players were getting it, they were talking to me, are you going to get the vaccine? | |
| And I was like, ah, you know, I'm hesitant. | |
| Management and even the trainers and all the people who were administering the vaccine for the players were asking me, hey, when are you getting your shot? | |
| And I was like, oh, I'm going to wait just a little bit longer. | |
| I'm not sure. | |
| And then we got a call from Rolling Stone, the publication, and they wanted to feature me in some article that I didn't really know about. | |
| And so I got on the phone with the reporter and he was great. | |
| We talked in on the phone. | |
| He's like, oh, I agree with you, your hesitation, all the different stuff. | |
| And then the article drops and it's called the NBA's anti-vaxxers are pushing around the league and they're winning. | |
| And in that article, he detailed that I came to my vaccination status by watching Donald Trump press conferences and studying black history. | |
| Just a complete mischaracterization of my thoughts. | |
| And so it went obviously went viral. | |
| Kyrie was in the article as well. | |
| Everybody's calling me crazy online. | |
| But thankfully, the next day was media day. | |
| And so to take you back, I was on the phone with my pastor the night before, and I'm telling him, like, yo, this is crazy. | |
| People are going to think I'm stupid because of what's in this article. | |
| And he's like, well, you have tomorrow for media day. | |
| And so I was able to really flesh out my ideas and my thought process around COVID and why I felt that the bullying and the pressure that everyone was receiving for even having questions was unnecessary and only made people not want to take the vaccine even more. | |
| A lot more ideas and that video went viral. | |
| I thank God. | |
| I'm grateful that I live in a society where vaccines are possible and we can protect ourselves and have the means to protect ourselves in the first place. | |
| But with that being said, it is my belief that the vaccine status of every person should be their own choice and completely up to them without the Without bullying, without being pressured, without being forced into doing so, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm uncomfortable with taking the vaccine at this time. | |
| The press conference went viral, so now everyone knew that I wasn't vaccinated and that I wasn't going to take the vaccine because I wanted to stand with the people who were losing their jobs and having their medical and religious exemptions denied. | |
| And so that's how it went. | |
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| So that article, I wonder, because it seemed like before that article, you were saying you were still kind of on the fence thinking about it. | |
| But once that article came to be and it painted you in such a negative light, did that actually harden your resolve to not take it and to say, wait a minute, this is a little bit too much. | |
| I feel like I'm getting coerced. | |
| Do you feel like that was the case that actually pushed you in that direction? | |
| 100%. | |
| And honestly, I was already there. | |
| I was already there. | |
| But it was for me coming to the realization that this thing, it wasn't just about a vaccine. | |
| It wasn't just about public health. | |
| It was politics. | |
| It was political. | |
| It had an agenda behind it. | |
| And for Rolling Stone to be a great publication, I don't necessarily know them, but I know that they're large, for them to purposefully mischaracterize my position. | |
| And no one else can tell me that they didn't because I was on the phone with a reporter. | |
| And so to see that happen, it was unfortunate and it only helped me to better understand the reason why people's medical and religious exemptions were being denied, the reason why no questions of natural immunity or, you know, where the vaccine came from or where the virus came from and all these different things, why those questions had to be shut down. | |
| And so I understood it more and just kind of found my position on wanting to stand with those people. | |
| Once you made that decision and you had that press conference, what happened afterwards? | |
| How did your teammates treat you? | |
| How did the management treat you? | |
| And what type of restrictions did they apply against you? | |
| Well, honestly, the management was fine. | |
| I think the Magic came out with a statement and said something along the lines of, Jonathan is a fine young man who can make his own decisions and things like that. | |
| He's still, you know, on their position on they want their players to be vaccinated. | |
| But, you know, from the players, I honestly got respect. | |
| A lot of guys felt even pressured themselves. | |
| And we had kind of small conversations on the side where they were like, Honestly, if I had thought about it a little bit more, I wouldn't have taken it just like you. | |
| And even during the season, every single one of my teammates got COVID. But me. | |
| Really? | |
| And I got the glory, but I like protection. | |
| But, yeah, I was the only one who didn't get COVID. You know, some players got it two and three times. | |
| And so, yeah. | |
| So, again, it's not even... | |
| It's not even so much to knock the vaccine. | |
| I'm not saying that you're a terrible person if you took the vaccine or that there's something inherently wrong with the vaccine. | |
| It was me taking a step back as an individual and saying, hey, I don't see the wisdom in putting this into my body where I could have an adverse reaction and then still catch the virus and pass it on anyway. | |
| That doesn't seem wise to me. | |
| And so for somebody else who wants that extra protection, it feels wise for them. | |
| Go ahead and do it. | |
| It was, for me, the pressure that was being applied and no conversation being had. | |
| And even those several players talking about, hey, I didn't feel like I had a choice. | |
| I just went along with it because I didn't want to ruffle any feathers. | |
| And so, again, just wanting to stand with those people who had a hard time and lost their jobs and felt like they didn't have a face in the matter, that they could see somebody who, you know, was somewhat well-known and says, you know, I understand you. | |
| Yeah, and actually, I mean, you touched on it, but this is something that I was very interested in, and I feel like a lot of people are too. | |
| The question of whether the people actually have a different belief than what they express, right? | |
| Because like you said, a lot of people in the locker room actually said, hey, I really respect your decision. | |
| I wish I had made that decision. | |
| Even though publicly a lot of people don't come out and say, hey, you know, this vaccine madness has gotten out of hand. | |
| But it seems like you're saying that maybe privately they agree with you, but publicly they're a little bit more cautious because maybe their careers or so much money is on the line. | |
| Is that correct? | |
| Well, I mean, I can understand it at the same time. | |
| Like, you know, at the end of the day, pressure affects us all. | |
| And then the pressure of society, the pressure of societal norms or whatever way that the mass consensus of people is going, it's hard to go against the grain. | |
| And so, you know, I'm not knocking anybody for making the invitation to get the vaccine, even if they had hesitations. | |
| I think for me, it was more so just highlighting that somebody in this time could stand up and go against the grain and Be a forerunner for those people. | |
| You know, I had guys say, listen, if they try to do this again, I'm not taking it. | |
| I'm going to do what you did. | |
| And so guys that were able to see some type of representation that went against the grain, who are then going to follow suit if it happens again, I think it's the way to go. | |
| Now, what we just watched was not the full interview. | |
| If you'd like to watch that interview in its glorious entirety, you can do so over on Epic TV, our awesome no-centorship video platform. | |
| The link to the full interview will be right there at the very top of the description box. | |
| I hope you check it out. | |
| And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times. |
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