Tennis racket?

If you're a tennis fan, January in Australia means the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year. Cast your mind back to January 2022, when Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia for being unvaccinated, and banned from entering Australia for three years. He had unsuccessfully sought a medical exemption. This ban was later overturned, and he made a triumphant return to the 2023 tournament. In doing so, he has become a figurehead for the so called anti-Covid vaccination freedom movement, who rallied around him at the time. 

In a February 2022 interview with BBC News, Djokovic denied that he wanted special treatment, saying that, "So I take this very seriously, I really don't like someone thinking I've misused something... in my own favour, in order to, you know...eventually go to Australia."

Even so, being a high profile and wealthy athlete gave him the power to challenge Covid rules, whereas ordinary Australians could not. These were the ones who were kept from leaving their homes, earning a living, visiting ill or ailing family members or friends in hospital and aged care. Where has Djokovic ever expressed any empathy for them? The freedom movement may have supported him, but he didn't support them. As far as I know, he has never expressed any support for ordinary people who suffered under harsh covid restrictions. It is hard not to conclude that he was only standing up for his own rights, not anybody else's. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/novak-djokovic-vaccine-australia-special-treatment/621270/

An open letter to Christian Covid conspiracy theorists

I write this to push back against Christians who are using the current global pandemic to push conspiracies on social media. Do you stop to think about what you are doing?

If you don't accept the highly plausible, but as yet not conclusively proven, belief that the virus originated in a Chinese virology lab, and want to let the corrupt and oppressive Chinese government, one of the world's worst persecutors of Christians, by the way, off the hook.

If you want to push the conspiracy narrative, and if there really are shadowy figures orchestrating these events, I'm not going to lose sleep over arrogant people who think they can defy God and His purposes for the world.

If you have no problem with promoting conspiracy theories that are often latently anti-Semitic. This is a cancer on church history that still lingers today. anti-Semitic Christians are coming out of the woodwork on social media recently.

If your understanding of eschatology means think that you should live in constant suspicion, fear, or paranoia, and you don't offer people any hope, and that other Christians who don't see things the same way as you are deceived. How does any of this help you live a fruitful Christian life?

Tragic

Eight teenage girls have committed suicide in the first 7 months of this year in Victoria, a marked increase in the number of young women taking their lives in a tragic toll being closely watched by the Victorian Coroners Court. The alarming rise has been recorded by the court amid a deepening youth mental health crisis that expert professor Patrick McGorry has described as a “shadow pandemic”. New court data reveals 8 girls committed suicide to July 31, up from just one in the first 7 months of last year. In the same period in 2019, Coroner’s Court statistics show three teenage girls took their own lives while the number was four in 2018 and three in 2017. “The court has noted a potentially higher than expected number of suspected suicides among women under 18 this year,” a court spokeswoman said.

“While it is too early to determine whether this represents a trend, the court is continuing to monitor closely.” The rise in suicides comes as the state is gripped by a teen mental health crisis that experts are linking to Covid-19 and lockdowns. Teenage girls are among the hardest hit with increasing eating disorders, self-harm and suicidal thoughts or actions during the 18-month pandemic. Professor McGorry, who heads youth mental health service Orygen, said problems suffered by young Victorians had grown worse and health services were overwhelmed. “The system is drowning or crumbling,” he said. “This is the shadow pandemic. And every lockdown makes it even worse.

“It’s not that the government hasn’t recognised the problem, it’s that they don’t have the same sense of urgency, federal or state, about addressing it like they do with Covid.” Professor McGorry described this year’s eight suicides as a “real phenomenon” and said they needed to be considered in the broader context of the pandemic and lockdowns. “There is an increase in deaths and that is occurring from a rising base of suicidal behaviour particularly among young women,” he said. “There has been a very substantial surge, 20 to 30 per cent of deliberate self-harm and suicidal behaviour that is occurring in particularly young women and that is what is flooding into emergency departments. “The coroner is cautious about over-reacting. You have to put the number of suicides in context of the rising tide of suicidal behaviour amongst young women.” Girls have been hit during the pandemic as they battle eating disorders.

There was a sharp increase in new eating disorder cases early this year, from a weekly average of 654 in 2020 to 878 this year, a 34% jump. The number of teenagers rushed to hospital after self-harming and suicidal thoughts spiked 51%, rising from a weekly average of 98 in 2020 to 148 this year. The most serious cases, where teenagers have needed resuscitation and emergency care, jumped 44.9%, with the 2020 weekly average of 19.8 rising to 28.7 this year. Victorian Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick said he was concerned the Andrews government did not understand how lockdowns affected the mental health of young people. “They have been saying they have been spending huge amounts of money on mental health, and yet children who need help can’t get access to it,” he said.

Limbrick went on “The mental and physical health effects of lockdowns on children are catastrophic. They are becoming socially isolated.” Mr Limbrick said schools should be immediately opened, and the government should set a date when all pandemic restrictions end. Resilience speaker Graeme Cowan has spoken about his 5 year battle with depression, and the habits he has cultivated to look after his mental health amid uncertainty. The Victorian government acknowledged the emotional toll of lockdowns. “We know how tough repeated lockdowns are on all Victorians, and that the emotional, social and financial toll of the pandemic is profound for so many people, but we just can’t risk the devastation of an uncontrolled outbreak of the Delta variant spreading rapidly across the state,” a spokeswoman said.

The government said it had invested more than $225m to help boost mental health services during the pandemic, and also referred to its $3.8bn delivered in this year’s state budget to implement the findings of the mental health royal commission. A spokeswoman for youth mental health organisation Headspace said their national online and phone counselling service noted a spike in demand “associated with strict lockdown periods both in Victoria and in other states experiencing heavier restrictions, such as Greater Sydney and NSW.” The government did not respond to questions about the eight suicides, pointing to broader court data that showed overall suicide numbers in 2020 were in line with those in 2019.

A senior child psychiatrist said the rise in teenage girls committing suicide reflected health department data confirming a mental health crisis. “There has been a sustained increase in referrals and presentations of young people with self-harm and severe emotional distress,” the expert said. “The data shows this demand has persisted independent of whether the state has been in lockdown or not. “One might hope there could be as much attention paid by the press and the government to suicides, and the monthly reports on children’s mental health presentations as there is on Covid cases and hospitalisations each day. “ But we in the field are no longer holding our breath. “The continuing injury, fear and despair will continue to take their toll, long after the active trauma of restrictions ever ends.”

Source: Compiled by APN from media reports

Not so cut and dry

Former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is spearheading a campaign against News Limited, Australia's largest media company, attacking it for what he sees as a protection racket for Liberal politicians, state governments, and the Morrison Liberal government. In practical terms, Rudd believes that its newspapers fail to hold them to account for corruption, incompetence, and maladministration, especially during the pandemic. 

One weakness in Rudd's argument is the situation in Victoria. As a Victorian, and a long time observer of Victorian politics, unlike Kevin from Queensland, I am qualified to comment. The Herald Sun, published in Victoria, and the best selling newspaper in Australia, often attacks the Victorian state government for using  lockdowns in its pandemic management. Even so, this has had little influence on public sentiment. While Labor has lost some voter support, Premier Daniel Andrews is still popular, and the Liberal opposition is unable to cut through. It is very likely that the Victorian Labor government will be returned in the 2022 election, just like Labor governments in Queensland and Western Australia in their most recent state elections. How would Rudd explain that?

As a student of history, Rudd is presumably aware that since 1982, when the Bolte/Hamer/Thompson government ended, having held power under three different leaders since 1955, Victoria has had Liberal governments for 11 of those years, and the Labor Party for 28. Clearly, Labor has been far more successful electorally than the Liberals. If there is a Liberal protection racket in Victoria, then Murdoch's minions didn't get the memo. 

Ancient evil

By some measures, Australia has not been impacted as greatly by the worldwide pandemic as comparable nations. Even so, many Australians are fed up to the teeth with the constant lockdowns, and underlying anxiety about contracting the virus, to say nothing of the economic impacts of rising unemployment, business failures, and home evictions, the rise in demand for mental health services, and families whose children's education has been disrupted. 

No doubt some of these aggrieved citizens attended the anti-lockdown protests held in Australian capital cities this past weekend. If I was in the same position, even though we are in a public health crisis, I might have attended the protest. How else would I get my voice heard? 

It's a pity that those people were overshadowed by extremist elements, including those who are convinced that the pandemic is a Jewish conspiracy, orchestrated so that they can take over the world. They get all the media coverage on television news reports, and in the legacy print media. 

As New South Wales Shadow Minister for Police and Shadow Minister for Counter-Terrorism Walt Secord said in an interview with J-Wire: 

“What we saw on the weekend was an insidious collection of anti-Semites, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and thugs..."

Elsewhere, Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, said that, since the beginning of the pandemic: 

“...there has been a significant rise in accusations that Jews, as individuals and as a collective, are behind the spread of the virus or are directly profiting from it...The language and imagery used clearly identifies a revival of the mediaeval ‘blood libels’ when Jews were accused of spreading disease, poisoning wells or controlling economies."

Rising anti-Semitism is another consequence of the pandemic, fueled by social media. Much like the pandemic itself, it shows no signs of abating. 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/26/where-freedom-meets-the-far-right-the-hate-messages-infiltrating-australian-anti-lockdown-protests

https://www.jwire.com.au/secord-expresses-alarm-at-antisemitic-conspiracy-theorists-at-anti-lock-down-rally/

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/revealed-the-fringe-groups-where-sydney-s-lockdown-protest-began-20210725-p58cqm.html

Staying apart keeps us together

Whilst it's unusual to write a review of a book that you haven't finished reading, this is an example of a history book that speaks to the present day, and the current world situation. Richard J Evans is a prolific historian, specializing in Nazi Germany. Published in 2020, his latest work, The Hitler Conspiracies: The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination, deconstructs and debunks conspiracy theories involving Hitler and the Nazis: that the Jews had a secret plot to undermine civilization, as outlined in the Protocols of Zion, that Germany lost the First World War because it was "stabbed in the back" by socialists and Jews in 1918, that the Nazis burned down the Reichstag in February 1933 in order to seize power, Rudolf Hess's 1941 flight to the UK to offer the British a peace deal was sanctioned by Hitler, and that Hitler escaped the bunker in 1945 and fled to South America. 

One way to counter conspiracy theories is with sober, factual analysis. The author offers this book for "our own troubled times." It was published before the start of the Covid pandemic, but plenty of conspiracy theories have arisen surrounding it, circulated rapidly by alternative news outlets and social media, perhaps adding to the general sense of fear and uncertainty that presently pervades the world. For this reason, this type of book is needed more than ever.  

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-hitler-conspiracies-9780241413463

https://www.richardjevans.com

Cabin fever

To keep up the spirits of my reader during this third Coronavirus lockdown in the People's Republic of Victoria, I have repurposed Australian country singer Chad Morgan's 1969 single, In the Nuthouse, as a humorous lockdown song. Think of Victoria as a metaphorical "nuthouse", and the home as a "little padded cell." Enjoy. 

https://chadmorgan.com.au

https://www.discogs.com/Chad-Morgan-Its-All-So-Nice-In-The-Nuthouse/release/15529233

Irreverence

Andrew Cuomo, and not Andrew Cuomos

Who is Andrew Cuomos? I have only ever heard of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo. 

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/covid-map-democrats-claim-trump-administration-hid-reveals-worst-virus-hot-spots-after-biden-publishes-secret-stats/news-story/692584dbd28c7cb8d685fdab3d91c8db

Brain fade

Can you spot the error?

Snub this secret handshake

The normally reclusive Gary Ablett, retired champion Australian rules football star, posted a video outlining his views on the Coronavirus, calling it a conspiracy. The video itself runs for 25 minutes. He blames the pandemic on the Illuminati and the Freemasons. I find these theories interesting at an academic level, but let me make this clear; I am not a conspiracist. 

On the other hand, none of the Christian commentary I have seen in response to this video, such as from a well known Pentecostal pastor, has mentioned Freemasonry. Take the Masonic lodge out of Ablett's conspiracy scenario, and from a Christian point of view, it is still a problematic organisation. 

Initiates are required to take oaths and invoke curses upon themselves if they break these obligations. Having read the text of these oaths, which I do not want to quote from here, it is clear that they are highly occultic. It goes without saying that Christians need to stay well away from this stuff (Deuteronomy 18:9-12, Acts 19:18, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:20, Revelation 21:8).

Another objection is that it requires Christians to worship the God of the Bible as The Great Architect. They do not worship the one true God. This is idolatry, which the Bible consistently condemns, warning both the ancient Israelites and the early Christians against it (Genesis 35:2, Deuteronomy 10:20, 13:4, Joshua 24:14, Judges 2:13, 10:6, 1 Samuel 7:3, Matthew 4:10, Luke 4:8, 1 Corinthians 10:14, Galatians 5:20, Colossians 3:5, 1 Peter 4:30). These warnings are just as applicable today.

Lastly, as the authors of a report into Freemasonry prepared by the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Australia, Masonic teachings on salvation are at odds with those of Christianity. In Christianity, it is unequivocal that peace with God can only be found through faith in Christ (Acts 4:12), and through the experience of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Masonic literature asserts that:

"by our own actions we can be pure in God’s sight and ascend to heaven. By acting in accordance in the laws of the Divine creator, Masons believe that we can gain entrance at death into the Grand Lodge above “where the Great Architect lives and reigns forever.”

In other words, the Freemason can earn their salvation by living a righteous life as defined by Masonic teachings. 

Even if Freemasonry is not involved in any global conspiracies, its requiring members to take oaths, promoting idolatrous worship of a false god, and a works based system of salvation that excludes or marginalises Jesus Christ places it in direct conflict with Christianity. 

http://pcv.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/pcv-and-freemasonry.pdf

https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/affiliates/kayo/deliberately-made-gary-ablett-snrs-shares-radical-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories/news-story/0fa2b3c0208fb291dda20df31cc7666b

Not happy, Dan

https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/victoria-has-locked-itself-into-a-lockdown-blunder-20200916-p55w1z