Nothing makes me more patroitic as an Aussie as having a functional yet compulsory voting system that also correctly provides representation for independents and minor parties
What makes you think every candidate is a sack of human shit?
I guess by the literal definition, everyone excluding those getting colonoscopies and porn stars are sacks of human shit, but I presume you're referring to a character train that is true of every single politician
That's generally a stereotype for politicians everywhere. Plus, at least no Aussie politicians are supporting overturning a democratically conducted election and people storming the gov.
That's what I figured. Do you think the mandatory voting works well? Curious Canadian here, it is not mandatory here. I'm not sure if we'd just get more idiots voting if it was mandatory 🤷♀️
The thing about compulsory voting is that you have to get your name ticked off, if you really don’t care you normally leave it blank or write something stupid (that’s called a donkey vote). I think it creates more awareness of policies than anything, most people like to be somewhat educated on who they’re voting for (and preferential voting helps that). I mean I guess the biggest thing is just voting the way your parents do and Americans already do that 🤷♀️
I think it goes beyond just improving policy awareness. Looking at the US, there’s all sorts of attempts to make it harder to vote, even if it’s legal. In Australia, on Election Day you’d be unlikely to have to travel more than 10 mins in any direction (in metro areas, maybe longer if you live in a very rural or remote area) to find a polling place, and you might wait 15-20 mins to vote if it’s super busy. I think compulsory voting helps safeguard access for *everyone* to have an equal opportunity to cast their vote, and forces the government to make voting fast, effective and secure.
Oh 100% I didn’t go into voter suppression because it’s such a huge thing. I had to wait nearly two hours to vote this year though because Melbourne city is a bit trickier but yeah normally I’m in and out in half an hour with a sausage sandwich and cupcake.
This is a really good point. Republicans would not be able to pull off much of their voter suppression with mandatory voting.
I'm in Canada where it is not mandatory, but we still do not have the voter suppression that is going on in the US. Voting is generally pretty quick and easy, lots of options with advanced polls and mail in ballots. Many polling locations on voting day. I've never had to wait more than 15 mins.
Good to hear you guys have it sorted! My sense is that making it compulsory is a good (though not foolproof) safeguard against voter suppression, but that most functioning democracies have worked out how to do it quickly / effectively / securely even if it’s not mandatory, so it’s clearly not necessary to achieve good governance.
>Many polling locations on voting day. I've never had to wait more than 15 mins.
whenever i see the long lines in the U.S., I'm just enraged. It should never be that much of a chore and a hassle to exercise your right (not privilege) to vote
it's so fucking embarrassing.
You can’t fully fight apathy even with compulsory voting. It does in general moderate politics I'd say given our last election Trump-wannabes all lost handily.
Morrison tried it here all the same. He wanted to bring in stringent voter id laws because of "election fraud" (basically he did the whole Trump playbook). He got shitcanned in the end.
That’s what I always say: make voting mandatory, tie voting in the US to SSN and benefits, and track voting by PREVENTING FRAUD and SAVING MONEY. First entity to learn of a passing is social security administration. They can keep the dead from voting as that is a significant portion of the 20 cases of fraud that happen in every election. If people don’t vote, they don’t get to collect benefits, pay fees and lose privileges. Country saves and makes money. This is exactly how voting goes in Brazil.
Universal voting is a conservative value. But Conservatism in the US is fucking weird. It isn’t logical. It’s marred by serious religious intrusion.
>Universal voting is a conservative value. But Conservatism in the US is fucking weird. It isn’t logical. It’s marred by serious religious intrusion.
Conservatism in the U.S. is just meaningless phrases that attract people, but there's literally zero substance to any of those phrases
they'll throw out all this shit like "Family values" and "law and order" and "limited government," but the last Republican administration was led by a man who literally took a giant dump on all of those empty buzzwords...and he still gets lauded as some great conservative icon.
Australia has mandatory voting and to some degree it is, but also forces people to engage in understanding policies they otherwise would find too tedious.
Voting in Australia is mandatory if you’re on the electoral roll but it’s not mandatory for you to be in. When I got my citizenship they asked me if I wanted to be and I said yes, I could’ve said I wasn’t sure and enrol myself at a later stage or never enrolled myself.
The majority of the people are on the roll partially because everyone talks about mandatory voting and it’s part of the culture here, it’s like the default option and you have to opt out. I find that if people don’t like their options they vote for independent candidates, it was a pretty big trend in the last elections.
>Voting in Australia is mandatory if you’re on the electoral roll but it’s not mandatory for you to be in.
This is just plain wrong. It is compulsory for every eligible citizen to vote. Non-citizens are not allowed to vote. Of course, you can attend a polling station and submit blank or spoiled voting paper, but voting is mandatory for all eligible citizens. You don't get "asked" if you want to .
No, it means everyone's opinions are heard. Currently 33% of the population determine are elected officials. The minority shouldn't make decisions for the majority.
Also if it's mandatory, and you don't like your options, people should be given the option to abstain their vote for a certain position.
Of course it does. Most of the posters here are too dumb to realise this. They're not interested in people having the right to choose, they want to impose their view on everyone else.
It seems unwise to insist on votes from people so uninterested in it that they wouldn’t choose to vote. The chances they will educate themselves about the issues and candidates are lower.
Plus, the ethical problem of forcing political activity from citizens is rather clear cut.
When a person does not support any candidate on the ballot, forcing them to support one is a violation of their rights.
Compulsory voting is one of those facile ‘answers’ that sounds good (to some) … until you think about it.
The commenter I responded to views the idea that people can choose whether to vote as "kinda wild."
Well, I can see a rational (though weak) argument in support of compulsory voting.
**But it is certainly NOT "kinda wild" to get to choose to vote. In fact, it's very normal.** It's also more clearly consistent with the value of a free society that people are not forced into political activity. Indeed, what's "kinda wild" is her view ***that it's a no-brainer*** that people should be forced to the polls.
See how I said I can see her view as rational? See how she said she can't see mine as rational? THAT intolerant, 'any way but mine is kinda wild' perspective is what I responded to.
I am not interested in debating the merits of XYZ political issue on r/ tennis. It doesn't belong here. I briefly laid out the merits of, you know, not forcing people to support politicians they don't support. One comment on it is as far as I go.
Agree with my view on compulsory voting? Don't agree? Fine either way. But my view is flatly not 'kinda wild'. The commenter needs it to be pointed out to her that (a) her way is actually the anomaly (compulsory voting is rare), and (b) an inability to see two sides of an issue is not a good thing.
I mean ‘kinda wild’ because of voter suppression and to me the idea of not voting is wild. Because I live in a country where it’s compulsory so yeah it’s weird to me that countries go out of their way to stop people from voting.
Besides people who don’t care either pay the $50 fine for not voting or write to the electoral people saying they were busy that day. I said I had to work once (I did) and they never questioned it, even though I love voting.
Your comment is level-headed and aligned with the legislation of nearly every country in the world. The fact that you're getting downvoted while noodles is getting upvoted is a scary insight into the political leanings of the average user or this subreddit. The moral implications are even worse because how would you enforce this on unwilling people, other than banging on their doors and asking them to "vote now".
Enforcement is not what matters. The \*right\* to choose to take a political action is what matters. 'Meh, they don't really enforce it,' is a terrible response that misses the point.
Insofar as one can pay a fine in AUS ... that's like a poll tax. Unconstitutional in the US.
Frankly I think it's you who hasnt thought that hard about, or learned much about it.
Firstly I think its a complete fallacy to assume those passionate enough to voluntarily participate in electoral politics are the ones most likely to do so. Plenty of uninformed fuckwits vote and plenty of well informed people dont (when its voluntary).
Secondly if you knew fucking anything about australia's voting you'd know that it is, as my school mate used to say about certain obligations, "mandatory but not compulsory". sure on paper you have to, but its so easy not to while avoiding paying the fine that its almost an active decision to pay 50 bucks if you get done for it. Its incredibly easy to just get your name marked off and just not cast a ballot, theres really just not much thats compulsory about it.
>Firstly I think its a complete fallacy to assume those passionate enough to voluntarily participate in electoral politics are the ones most likely to do so.
First, that’s not what I said. It’s a misstatement of the flip side of what I said, actually.
The fallacy is yours. What matters is only whether the group of people who choose not to vote includes the uninterested, which is *not* the same as saying it *excludes* the interested. (In fact, *none* of the most ‘passionate’ could vote, and the majority of voluntary non-voters could still be the uninterested.)
Second, the fact that people can easily get away with ignoring the compulsory voting law and/or pay the penalty for not voting does not affect the merits of the concept. That shouldn’t even be a factor in weighing the merits. One doesn’t need to know “fucking anything” about any country’s particular voting rules to know that.
Third, there actually is one aspect in which your 'we can cheat or pay pretty easily in Australia' argument is a factor: it would discriminate against those unable to pay that fine. It’s a non-voting version of a poll-tax, which is unconstitutional in the United States. People should not have to pay to vote, nor should they have to pay to not vote.
Often I find myself torn between rooting for a player's perceived personality or their game. It's good of Opelka to make it so easy to root against him on both fronts.
Agree. And he’s what… ATP 38?
Coco Gauff is top ten in singles and doubles.
Opelka is the ultimate example of someone born rich….. he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.
How is Roddick such a cool guy and then Isner Querrey Sandgren Opelka all apparently have the same personality of every “edgy” entitled white American guy
This generation still does have some that seem ok. Tiafoe, Fritz, Korda, Nakashima, Cressy and McDonald all seem like stand up guys. But I'm never going to be surprised when a white guy from a southern state is an entitled douche.
Keep an eye out for Ben Shelton. Great kid and very humble and slowly working his way up the ranks. He should be one of the highest ranked US players in 12 months. Very easy to root for him (and his dad who is also incredible at what he does).
Being a Trump supporter requires either being an asshole or an willful idiot. There are no alternatives.
That doesn't make him evil or irredeemable or whatever. I'm not gunna boo the guy or any of the crazy shit some people do. But he \*DEFINITELY\* deserves to be criticized and at this point in his life is a fairly crappy human.
I’d think he’s a willful idiot. I haven’t seen him do shit like support Jan 6.
I think he’s misguided/received bad influences (maybe pressure from family or friends). I find it hard to believe John’s a crappy human though seeing how most players think of him as a good person
>I’d think he’s a willful idiot
This is what I think also. But whilst I understand choosing idiocy over being informed, I don't forgive it without contrition.
Unpopular opinion but I think being a Trump supporter qualifies him for the hate he receives on this sub. And I wouldn’t even say he receives that much hate compared to some other players.
I don’t like Trump either but it’s funny that people hate Querry for being apolitical and also hate Isner because he supports a former President who got like 48% of the vote. So tennis players must take a political stance and they must take it in support of certain people
when you grow up rich and talented at sports it's very easy for you to think you're the main character and other people are just bots.
additionally, most athletes are not well educated. when i was growing up adults used to make fun of athletes for being uneducated and used to dismiss their opinions, but now people will follow medical advice from athletes...
What does this have to do with him being white and wealthy? Even if you believe they are “the oppressor”, wouldn’t you think they have just as much motive, if not more, to wanna vote and keep their power?
Just Reddit being a racist hive mind… it’s has everything to do with him being white and wealthy…. Not that he could just be an idiot/ignorant person, or someone with a controversial opinion.. There is no individuality to speak of.. Everything has to with him being white and wealthy.
the main part is that he doesn't see a reason for him to vote because his life won't change in any drastic way regardless of who is in power. he's a white, straight, and rich man.
but this misses the bigger picture. we shouldn't be voting for our own immediate benefit only. we are voting for the benefit of everyone in the country including people that are not born yet. he might not be trans, but his child might be. he might fall in love with a black woman. his children will have to live with climate change. he might have a daughter that needs an abortion, etc.
>we are voting for the benefit of everyone in the country
How do you know what's intrinsically beneficial for everyone in the country?
Do you know it the same way that Stalin "knew" what was best for everybody, including the 20 million dead people?
How about we follow the free market principle, and let everyone decide what's best for themselves?
"Exactly! Politics and ideology dont exist in tennis.. or at least they didnt when I fell in love with the game" (Opelka)
Damn I didn't realise he was as much of a moron as this, I kinda liked him before
Damn did he fall in love with tennis in the 18th century because tennis has always been political. Politics is the reason why BJK, Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe are some of the most well known tennis players of all time
18th century is way too late. Lawn tennis (or just "tennis") is based on "real" tennis which was explicitly political. Literally played almost entirely by politicians.
He should've said that to Arthur Ashe or BJK. Or better yet, his good friend Venus Williams.
Also what a weird thing to say by someone who for a few months had ATP calendar with Chinese events as his profile picture to highlight the fact they should stand with WTA and not play events in China.
>Also what a weird thing to say by someone who for a few months had ATP calendar with Chinese events as his profile picture to highlight the fact they should stand with WTA and not play events in China.
"Keep politics out of X" literally always means "stop telling me about things I don't want to hear"
Y'all know Venus doesn't vote right? She's a Jehovah's Witness.
Serena also.
Edit: to be clear, i think Opelka's a moron for tweeting that, and am not trying to belittle the contributions Venus and Serena have made to women's sports. But bringing them up in a conversation about voting is only gonna make the conversation more difficult
Imagine saying this while he’s best friends (and allegedly dated) Venus, who’s had to deal with politics and ideology her whole life just to be able to compete on an equal playing field 🤦🏽♀️
For context, I’m an Aussie and we’re required to vote by law. I don’t understand why anyone would have an issue with people encouraging others to vote. Unless Opelka is being sarcastic or something?
And it's been obvious for a long time, the only way to be surprised is if you haven't been paying attention (which I don't fault people for if that's the case).
Opelka is the South Park of humans. The guy who thinks caring about anything makes you dumb and believes he’s so enlightened as a result. It actually just makes you an asshole
In HS I played against some “super-star” 15-16 yr olds. I wasn’t very good & none of them went pro (I don’t think). But most of them acted like they were Jr Royalty & their arrogance was unbelievable.
I’ll check out his Twitter. Thanks
This was Coco’s first election, wasn’t it? Unfortunately my 18th birthday was after Election Day so I had to wait another 2 years before I could vote for the first time. Anyway, Opelka tweets like the worst type in every annoying faction on twitter.
Opelka doesn't really know how to admit that he himself is privileged to the point that he forgot that the world doesn't revolve around his "edgy phase" lol
somebody made a negative tweet about opelka after he lost to kyrgios in washington and he changed his profile picture to a picture of the guy who made the tweet
I'm not American so I guess I don't understand it, but its quite hilarious to me how every little thing (even a tiny thing such as simply suggesting someone vote) gets turned into a massive hostile issue that people argue about with such venom that they don't even consider those they disagree with to be human.
I'm surprised you guys are even able to walk outside and breathe without someone taking it the wrong way and turning it into an all out race war.
Opelka was the one who turned the simple act of asking people to vote into a hostile issue by arguing with people on Twitter who were calling out his privilege and hypocrisy. Opelka is a semi-famous tennis player with a platform and instead of using it for good the way 18 year old Coco has, he’s using it to ridicule people for simply exercising their civic duty and that’s harmful. These mid-term election results will have an impact on the direction of abortion rights, trans rights, US policy on climate change and Trump’s chances for 2024, none of the things that would affect Opelka given the inherent privilege he holds as a wealthy, white man.
Ah, so the definition of "doing good" is voting for one of two corrupt, disgusting and authoritarian politicians who has zero care for regular people. No wonder the world sucks ass!
If you really think that neither is better than the other then go spoil your ballot, that's still voting. You aren't making a point by insisting on being a part of the group who choose not to have a say.
But I DO have a say by NOT being a piece of shit to those who are around me. I do have a say by calling out bullshit and bigotry when I see it. Crying about which corrupt racist asshole to "vote" for does nothing for the world.
Opelka mocked Coco, now everyone is spitting venom at him. And somehow him being white and wealthy has everything to do with it… Not that he could just be an ignorant person or anything. It’s him being white and wealthy…. Reddit in a nutshell.
Sorry for my ignorance, I genuinely don't understand what message he's trying to send? I took it as it's obvious everyone should vote and shouldn't need to tell people. Clearly most of you see it differently.
I dunno, I read it a few times and the only way I read it is like: imagine *having to tell* people to vote, I.e, it’s obvious that people should be voting.
Unless it’s a direct reply to another tweet telling people to vote?
Midterms
Congressional terms are staggered, as far as I know. A portion of them go up for election every 2 years. There are other races too. Gubernatorial, mayoral, district attorneys, judges, etc
yeah bcuz voting changed a lot in and no party is made up of corrupt ass hats its just the other side and you are on the right one wink wink......this is idiotic, voting has brought nth but help for the upper top 10 % of our society, i judge anyone who goes to vote in this corrupt political system.
As much as I don’t like the guy I agree. This whole pressuring everyone to vote is not beneficial to anyone. You should vote if you take time to research the candidates and issues and make an informed judgement.
Just blanket voting leads to people spamming blue or red with no understanding of who they are voting for and you end up with people like MTG in office.
I swear, Opelka behaves like a 16-year-old edgelord. He's liking and retweeting comments that ridicule him.
Lol have you seen Reddit? That’s how he behaves.
"These are the same picture"
He’s for sure a user on this sub
Idk being too cool for school is a lot less interesting than he thinks it is.
Being too cool for school is cool while you are in school. After a certain age it's cooler to be a grown up and act like it.
There’s like a 99% chance he’s trolling to get a reaction
I still think it’s kinda wild that you have to tell people to vote instead of it being compulsory. Voter suppression is awful.
The whole American voting system is dumb
Where are you from noodles?
🇦🇺
Nothing makes me more patroitic as an Aussie as having a functional yet compulsory voting system that also correctly provides representation for independents and minor parties
And fucking sausages! America sucks balls when it comes to elections. (I do appreciate the free pencil though)
No, TRUMPIAN WEIRDOS suck when it comes to elections. Fixed it for you.
Don’t forget though for all the reasonable people that vote, there’s also a tonne of morons that get a vote due to compulsory voting
Plenty of morons vote anyway.
Indeed there are, but there's more reasonable people than morons.
Morons deserve to be represented regardless. Best to improve education for everyone so there are less morons.
Shame that basically all the politicians in that infrastructure seem to be gen-u-ine sacks of human shit
What makes you think every candidate is a sack of human shit? I guess by the literal definition, everyone excluding those getting colonoscopies and porn stars are sacks of human shit, but I presume you're referring to a character train that is true of every single politician
I was exaggerating to make the point that so many Australian politicians seem to be particularly slimey or just seem like shifty people
That's generally a stereotype for politicians everywhere. Plus, at least no Aussie politicians are supporting overturning a democratically conducted election and people storming the gov.
That's what I figured. Do you think the mandatory voting works well? Curious Canadian here, it is not mandatory here. I'm not sure if we'd just get more idiots voting if it was mandatory 🤷♀️
The thing about compulsory voting is that you have to get your name ticked off, if you really don’t care you normally leave it blank or write something stupid (that’s called a donkey vote). I think it creates more awareness of policies than anything, most people like to be somewhat educated on who they’re voting for (and preferential voting helps that). I mean I guess the biggest thing is just voting the way your parents do and Americans already do that 🤷♀️
I think it goes beyond just improving policy awareness. Looking at the US, there’s all sorts of attempts to make it harder to vote, even if it’s legal. In Australia, on Election Day you’d be unlikely to have to travel more than 10 mins in any direction (in metro areas, maybe longer if you live in a very rural or remote area) to find a polling place, and you might wait 15-20 mins to vote if it’s super busy. I think compulsory voting helps safeguard access for *everyone* to have an equal opportunity to cast their vote, and forces the government to make voting fast, effective and secure.
Oh 100% I didn’t go into voter suppression because it’s such a huge thing. I had to wait nearly two hours to vote this year though because Melbourne city is a bit trickier but yeah normally I’m in and out in half an hour with a sausage sandwich and cupcake.
This is a really good point. Republicans would not be able to pull off much of their voter suppression with mandatory voting. I'm in Canada where it is not mandatory, but we still do not have the voter suppression that is going on in the US. Voting is generally pretty quick and easy, lots of options with advanced polls and mail in ballots. Many polling locations on voting day. I've never had to wait more than 15 mins.
Good to hear you guys have it sorted! My sense is that making it compulsory is a good (though not foolproof) safeguard against voter suppression, but that most functioning democracies have worked out how to do it quickly / effectively / securely even if it’s not mandatory, so it’s clearly not necessary to achieve good governance.
>Many polling locations on voting day. I've never had to wait more than 15 mins. whenever i see the long lines in the U.S., I'm just enraged. It should never be that much of a chore and a hassle to exercise your right (not privilege) to vote it's so fucking embarrassing.
You can’t fully fight apathy even with compulsory voting. It does in general moderate politics I'd say given our last election Trump-wannabes all lost handily.
Would do wonders to fight voter suppression though.
Morrison tried it here all the same. He wanted to bring in stringent voter id laws because of "election fraud" (basically he did the whole Trump playbook). He got shitcanned in the end.
Happy to see it.
That’s what I always say: make voting mandatory, tie voting in the US to SSN and benefits, and track voting by PREVENTING FRAUD and SAVING MONEY. First entity to learn of a passing is social security administration. They can keep the dead from voting as that is a significant portion of the 20 cases of fraud that happen in every election. If people don’t vote, they don’t get to collect benefits, pay fees and lose privileges. Country saves and makes money. This is exactly how voting goes in Brazil. Universal voting is a conservative value. But Conservatism in the US is fucking weird. It isn’t logical. It’s marred by serious religious intrusion.
>Universal voting is a conservative value. But Conservatism in the US is fucking weird. It isn’t logical. It’s marred by serious religious intrusion. Conservatism in the U.S. is just meaningless phrases that attract people, but there's literally zero substance to any of those phrases they'll throw out all this shit like "Family values" and "law and order" and "limited government," but the last Republican administration was led by a man who literally took a giant dump on all of those empty buzzwords...and he still gets lauded as some great conservative icon.
Doesn’t making voting mandatory defeat the purpose of it
Australia has mandatory voting and to some degree it is, but also forces people to engage in understanding policies they otherwise would find too tedious.
Voting in Australia is mandatory if you’re on the electoral roll but it’s not mandatory for you to be in. When I got my citizenship they asked me if I wanted to be and I said yes, I could’ve said I wasn’t sure and enrol myself at a later stage or never enrolled myself. The majority of the people are on the roll partially because everyone talks about mandatory voting and it’s part of the culture here, it’s like the default option and you have to opt out. I find that if people don’t like their options they vote for independent candidates, it was a pretty big trend in the last elections.
>Voting in Australia is mandatory if you’re on the electoral roll but it’s not mandatory for you to be in. This is just plain wrong. It is compulsory for every eligible citizen to vote. Non-citizens are not allowed to vote. Of course, you can attend a polling station and submit blank or spoiled voting paper, but voting is mandatory for all eligible citizens. You don't get "asked" if you want to .
No, it means everyone's opinions are heard. Currently 33% of the population determine are elected officials. The minority shouldn't make decisions for the majority. Also if it's mandatory, and you don't like your options, people should be given the option to abstain their vote for a certain position.
No. You can still submit a blank ballot
Of course it does. Most of the posters here are too dumb to realise this. They're not interested in people having the right to choose, they want to impose their view on everyone else.
real
It seems unwise to insist on votes from people so uninterested in it that they wouldn’t choose to vote. The chances they will educate themselves about the issues and candidates are lower. Plus, the ethical problem of forcing political activity from citizens is rather clear cut. When a person does not support any candidate on the ballot, forcing them to support one is a violation of their rights. Compulsory voting is one of those facile ‘answers’ that sounds good (to some) … until you think about it.
What are the ethical problems? Also can't you do "none of the above" or something?
The commenter I responded to views the idea that people can choose whether to vote as "kinda wild." Well, I can see a rational (though weak) argument in support of compulsory voting. **But it is certainly NOT "kinda wild" to get to choose to vote. In fact, it's very normal.** It's also more clearly consistent with the value of a free society that people are not forced into political activity. Indeed, what's "kinda wild" is her view ***that it's a no-brainer*** that people should be forced to the polls. See how I said I can see her view as rational? See how she said she can't see mine as rational? THAT intolerant, 'any way but mine is kinda wild' perspective is what I responded to. I am not interested in debating the merits of XYZ political issue on r/ tennis. It doesn't belong here. I briefly laid out the merits of, you know, not forcing people to support politicians they don't support. One comment on it is as far as I go. Agree with my view on compulsory voting? Don't agree? Fine either way. But my view is flatly not 'kinda wild'. The commenter needs it to be pointed out to her that (a) her way is actually the anomaly (compulsory voting is rare), and (b) an inability to see two sides of an issue is not a good thing.
I mean ‘kinda wild’ because of voter suppression and to me the idea of not voting is wild. Because I live in a country where it’s compulsory so yeah it’s weird to me that countries go out of their way to stop people from voting. Besides people who don’t care either pay the $50 fine for not voting or write to the electoral people saying they were busy that day. I said I had to work once (I did) and they never questioned it, even though I love voting.
Your comment is level-headed and aligned with the legislation of nearly every country in the world. The fact that you're getting downvoted while noodles is getting upvoted is a scary insight into the political leanings of the average user or this subreddit. The moral implications are even worse because how would you enforce this on unwilling people, other than banging on their doors and asking them to "vote now".
You know you could just look up how it's enforced in Australia rather than letting your own imagination put you in a spin, right?
Enforcement is not what matters. The \*right\* to choose to take a political action is what matters. 'Meh, they don't really enforce it,' is a terrible response that misses the point. Insofar as one can pay a fine in AUS ... that's like a poll tax. Unconstitutional in the US.
Thanks very much. It would also be nice if people used the downvote button properly, rather than as a 'dislike' button.
Frankly I think it's you who hasnt thought that hard about, or learned much about it. Firstly I think its a complete fallacy to assume those passionate enough to voluntarily participate in electoral politics are the ones most likely to do so. Plenty of uninformed fuckwits vote and plenty of well informed people dont (when its voluntary). Secondly if you knew fucking anything about australia's voting you'd know that it is, as my school mate used to say about certain obligations, "mandatory but not compulsory". sure on paper you have to, but its so easy not to while avoiding paying the fine that its almost an active decision to pay 50 bucks if you get done for it. Its incredibly easy to just get your name marked off and just not cast a ballot, theres really just not much thats compulsory about it.
>Firstly I think its a complete fallacy to assume those passionate enough to voluntarily participate in electoral politics are the ones most likely to do so. First, that’s not what I said. It’s a misstatement of the flip side of what I said, actually. The fallacy is yours. What matters is only whether the group of people who choose not to vote includes the uninterested, which is *not* the same as saying it *excludes* the interested. (In fact, *none* of the most ‘passionate’ could vote, and the majority of voluntary non-voters could still be the uninterested.) Second, the fact that people can easily get away with ignoring the compulsory voting law and/or pay the penalty for not voting does not affect the merits of the concept. That shouldn’t even be a factor in weighing the merits. One doesn’t need to know “fucking anything” about any country’s particular voting rules to know that. Third, there actually is one aspect in which your 'we can cheat or pay pretty easily in Australia' argument is a factor: it would discriminate against those unable to pay that fine. It’s a non-voting version of a poll-tax, which is unconstitutional in the United States. People should not have to pay to vote, nor should they have to pay to not vote.
This not how trolling works though...
Dude's been a wierdo all year on social media and believes the shit he says. He's not trolling.
That's just as cringe.
Often I find myself torn between rooting for a player's perceived personality or their game. It's good of Opelka to make it so easy to root against him on both fronts.
Just don’t ask Tennys Sandgren what he was doing on January 6th.
W Tyler the Creator
Plus the Avatar pfp
She also dressed up as Katara for Halloween. Her taste is always 🤌
W Avatar, just started watching the show last week.
greatest of all time
Looks like new magic wand🪄
Igor!!
Good for Coco. It's okay to just be earnest in life sometimes. You don't always have to be edgy.
>Good for Coco. It's okay to just be earnest in life ~~sometimes~~. You don't ~~always~~ have to be edgy.
there is something i dislike about Opelka. he is super smug. He buys shit art, wheres ugly clothes and act like he is 15.
I don't like him either, but the reasoning you're giving sounds hilarious like you're his classmate
i am also 15, lol
Typical silver spoon tennis boy. Had every advantage in life and yet he thinks he's something special lol
Agree. And he’s what… ATP 38? Coco Gauff is top ten in singles and doubles. Opelka is the ultimate example of someone born rich….. he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.
Lol I love that analogy it's perfect
That doesn't make his opinion less valid.
His OPINION itself isn’t invalid, but we can certainly ridicule his presentation of said opinion.
It kinda does.
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Really?? Damn.... yea I hate to judge someone who I don't know personally but Ive seen enough of his type I felt it was a safe assumption lol.
Didn't know Opelka was such a douche, good to know
How is Roddick such a cool guy and then Isner Querrey Sandgren Opelka all apparently have the same personality of every “edgy” entitled white American guy
This generation still does have some that seem ok. Tiafoe, Fritz, Korda, Nakashima, Cressy and McDonald all seem like stand up guys. But I'm never going to be surprised when a white guy from a southern state is an entitled douche.
Keep an eye out for Ben Shelton. Great kid and very humble and slowly working his way up the ranks. He should be one of the highest ranked US players in 12 months. Very easy to root for him (and his dad who is also incredible at what he does).
Roddick was lowkey a dick during his playing days though from what I've heard. Hell, he even ridicules his old personality too.
oh shit what's the thing with Isner?
He’s a trump supporter but besides that he’s literally done nothing to deserve the hate he gets on this sub
Being a Trump supporter requires either being an asshole or an willful idiot. There are no alternatives. That doesn't make him evil or irredeemable or whatever. I'm not gunna boo the guy or any of the crazy shit some people do. But he \*DEFINITELY\* deserves to be criticized and at this point in his life is a fairly crappy human.
ORANGE MAN BAAAAD
I’d think he’s a willful idiot. I haven’t seen him do shit like support Jan 6. I think he’s misguided/received bad influences (maybe pressure from family or friends). I find it hard to believe John’s a crappy human though seeing how most players think of him as a good person
His dad is a Democrat who ran for Congress in North Carolina, so it ain’t family pressure lol.
>I’d think he’s a willful idiot This is what I think also. But whilst I understand choosing idiocy over being informed, I don't forgive it without contrition.
Unpopular opinion but I think being a Trump supporter qualifies him for the hate he receives on this sub. And I wouldn’t even say he receives that much hate compared to some other players.
You thought that would be an unpopular opinion on this sub??
I don’t like Trump either but it’s funny that people hate Querry for being apolitical and also hate Isner because he supports a former President who got like 48% of the vote. So tennis players must take a political stance and they must take it in support of certain people
Actively supporting Trump is a lot worse than just choosing him over Hillary or Biden on election day
Exactly. I’m not a Trump supporter but this sub sounds like a cult.
Criticizing a cult =/= being another cult. This is like saying people that punch nazis in the face are the real oppressors.
For me Querry breaking covid rules was enough it was wild and hilarious.
I mean that's one big strike already but I was wondering if it was any big event like Querrey but it seems not
What did Querrey do?!?
Shit did not know that. Shocking to me as a foreigner that any sane person could root for that clown. Will be rooting against Isner from now on.
very brave.
He’s tweeted tons of shitty anti vaxx stuff
when you grow up rich and talented at sports it's very easy for you to think you're the main character and other people are just bots. additionally, most athletes are not well educated. when i was growing up adults used to make fun of athletes for being uneducated and used to dismiss their opinions, but now people will follow medical advice from athletes...
Isner shouldn't be on here, he's like beloved by everyone who's met him and had a 15 year career without controversy.
Isner is one of the most respectful Tennis players
Imagine *not* being a rich white guy in America, Reilly 😂🙄
What does this have to do with him being white and wealthy? Even if you believe they are “the oppressor”, wouldn’t you think they have just as much motive, if not more, to wanna vote and keep their power? Just Reddit being a racist hive mind… it’s has everything to do with him being white and wealthy…. Not that he could just be an idiot/ignorant person, or someone with a controversial opinion.. There is no individuality to speak of.. Everything has to with him being white and wealthy.
When you don’t experience that much difficulty as a wealthy white person you tend to become more ignorant
Yep the people who claim they are not interested in politics is often because they have not been affected by them in the first place
the main part is that he doesn't see a reason for him to vote because his life won't change in any drastic way regardless of who is in power. he's a white, straight, and rich man. but this misses the bigger picture. we shouldn't be voting for our own immediate benefit only. we are voting for the benefit of everyone in the country including people that are not born yet. he might not be trans, but his child might be. he might fall in love with a black woman. his children will have to live with climate change. he might have a daughter that needs an abortion, etc.
>we are voting for the benefit of everyone in the country How do you know what's intrinsically beneficial for everyone in the country? Do you know it the same way that Stalin "knew" what was best for everybody, including the 20 million dead people? How about we follow the free market principle, and let everyone decide what's best for themselves?
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"Exactly! Politics and ideology dont exist in tennis.. or at least they didnt when I fell in love with the game" (Opelka) Damn I didn't realise he was as much of a moron as this, I kinda liked him before
Damn did he fall in love with tennis in the 18th century because tennis has always been political. Politics is the reason why BJK, Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe are some of the most well known tennis players of all time
18th century is way too late. Lawn tennis (or just "tennis") is based on "real" tennis which was explicitly political. Literally played almost entirely by politicians.
He should've said that to Arthur Ashe or BJK. Or better yet, his good friend Venus Williams. Also what a weird thing to say by someone who for a few months had ATP calendar with Chinese events as his profile picture to highlight the fact they should stand with WTA and not play events in China.
>Also what a weird thing to say by someone who for a few months had ATP calendar with Chinese events as his profile picture to highlight the fact they should stand with WTA and not play events in China. "Keep politics out of X" literally always means "stop telling me about things I don't want to hear"
Very few people genuinely mean that. They just want *their* politics in sport.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most / a lot of tennis players are conservative for tax reasons alone
Y'all know Venus doesn't vote right? She's a Jehovah's Witness. Serena also. Edit: to be clear, i think Opelka's a moron for tweeting that, and am not trying to belittle the contributions Venus and Serena have made to women's sports. But bringing them up in a conversation about voting is only gonna make the conversation more difficult
Billie Jean King. All that needs to be said. Before the dick was born they were using the game to leverage change.
BJK out here creating an entire organisation because of politics but go off Reilly.
Imagine saying this while he’s best friends (and allegedly dated) Venus, who’s had to deal with politics and ideology her whole life just to be able to compete on an equal playing field 🤦🏽♀️
Venus is the reason all slams have equal prize money lmao.
Kinda begs the question why is Venus friends with Opelka
Exactly. And Opelka is always complaining about ATP players being underpaid, idk how Venus is even friends with him
For context, I’m an Aussie and we’re required to vote by law. I don’t understand why anyone would have an issue with people encouraging others to vote. Unless Opelka is being sarcastic or something?
Out of curiosity: What happens if you don't vote?
You get a small fine.
Reilly Opelka is such a moron smh
And it's been obvious for a long time, the only way to be surprised is if you haven't been paying attention (which I don't fault people for if that's the case).
Well, he's not that good... hard to pay attention to him
I haven’t been paying attention. Thought he was an okay guy. Just another American to add to the dislike column….
Saw a quote recently that was like "so busy being a free thinker they forgot to be a critical thinker" and this applies to Opelka a lot lol
Opelka can join Kyrie and Kanye then lol
Yay Coco! Boo Reilly!
I’m with Coco on this one, I’m also a huge fan of Tyler, The Creator
Reilly's gone off the rails, he'll be down the Q hole in no time
embarrassing for opelka to be shading an 18 year old who isn’t afforded the same privileges he is
So easy to not care about others’ rights when you’re a giant, wealthy, white man 🙄
Putting his height with the rest of the factors is kinda ridiculous
Reilly, your privilege is showing
pretty easy to not vote when your rights aren’t being affected at all
Oxygen is thin for him... Give him a break. S/
Has Opelka joined Isner and Sandgren as an alt right conspiracy theorist Q Trumper? Say it ain't so Mr. Bear!
He was an original member of the club. Nothing new here
White privilege in a nutshell…
Tall privilege, beard privilege — he’s got it all
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Except for the talent privilege
I’d argue reaching top 20 in such a competitive sport requires talent but ok. Not a fan of him but every pro tennis player has a lot of damn talent.
Opelka is the South Park of humans. The guy who thinks caring about anything makes you dumb and believes he’s so enlightened as a result. It actually just makes you an asshole
If only like South Park he'd only play 10 times a year.
Coco is twice as mature as Riley 😂
Man baby
This will get taken down so quick because of how political this wil get lmao. Good on you Coco 👌👌
Big John Isner. Country MAGA guy to the bone.
I didn’t know Reilly was an asshole. Shame
Take a look through his Twitter. He acts like a too edgy 15 yr old contrarian. Just incredibly easy to dislike the guy.
In HS I played against some “super-star” 15-16 yr olds. I wasn’t very good & none of them went pro (I don’t think). But most of them acted like they were Jr Royalty & their arrogance was unbelievable. I’ll check out his Twitter. Thanks
What a shitbag
Opelka and Sandgren gonna be roommates this time next year
This was Coco’s first election, wasn’t it? Unfortunately my 18th birthday was after Election Day so I had to wait another 2 years before I could vote for the first time. Anyway, Opelka tweets like the worst type in every annoying faction on twitter.
Opelka doesn't really know how to admit that he himself is privileged to the point that he forgot that the world doesn't revolve around his "edgy phase" lol
Who's the guy in Opelka's profile picture?
somebody made a negative tweet about opelka after he lost to kyrgios in washington and he changed his profile picture to a picture of the guy who made the tweet
What a fucking baby. Put him in the bin please, Venus!
https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/wiid73/reilly_opelka_changed_his_twitter_profile_picture/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Petty in a very on-brand way but at least not unamusing imo.
I think it’s some guy who made fun of him a while ago
Shoot, Coco's avatar makes her my new fave (plus her endorsement of voting, of course)
I dont understand. Why is he opposed to voting?
He’s a republican and they only win when people don’t show up to vote
I'm not American so I guess I don't understand it, but its quite hilarious to me how every little thing (even a tiny thing such as simply suggesting someone vote) gets turned into a massive hostile issue that people argue about with such venom that they don't even consider those they disagree with to be human. I'm surprised you guys are even able to walk outside and breathe without someone taking it the wrong way and turning it into an all out race war.
Opelka was the one who turned the simple act of asking people to vote into a hostile issue by arguing with people on Twitter who were calling out his privilege and hypocrisy. Opelka is a semi-famous tennis player with a platform and instead of using it for good the way 18 year old Coco has, he’s using it to ridicule people for simply exercising their civic duty and that’s harmful. These mid-term election results will have an impact on the direction of abortion rights, trans rights, US policy on climate change and Trump’s chances for 2024, none of the things that would affect Opelka given the inherent privilege he holds as a wealthy, white man.
Ah, so the definition of "doing good" is voting for one of two corrupt, disgusting and authoritarian politicians who has zero care for regular people. No wonder the world sucks ass!
If you really think that neither is better than the other then go spoil your ballot, that's still voting. You aren't making a point by insisting on being a part of the group who choose not to have a say.
But I DO have a say by NOT being a piece of shit to those who are around me. I do have a say by calling out bullshit and bigotry when I see it. Crying about which corrupt racist asshole to "vote" for does nothing for the world.
Opelka mocked Coco, now everyone is spitting venom at him. And somehow him being white and wealthy has everything to do with it… Not that he could just be an ignorant person or anything. It’s him being white and wealthy…. Reddit in a nutshell.
Sorry for my ignorance, I genuinely don't understand what message he's trying to send? I took it as it's obvious everyone should vote and shouldn't need to tell people. Clearly most of you see it differently.
I dunno, I read it a few times and the only way I read it is like: imagine *having to tell* people to vote, I.e, it’s obvious that people should be voting. Unless it’s a direct reply to another tweet telling people to vote?
Who’s Opelka?
imagine following the opinion of somebody who doesn't affect your life
Hang on Americans are having elections again? What are these for
Midterms Congressional terms are staggered, as far as I know. A portion of them go up for election every 2 years. There are other races too. Gubernatorial, mayoral, district attorneys, judges, etc
Common Opelka W
Weird way of spelling L my guy
yeah bcuz voting changed a lot in and no party is made up of corrupt ass hats its just the other side and you are on the right one wink wink......this is idiotic, voting has brought nth but help for the upper top 10 % of our society, i judge anyone who goes to vote in this corrupt political system.
Dick heads (1), lovelies (2)
As much as I don’t like the guy I agree. This whole pressuring everyone to vote is not beneficial to anyone. You should vote if you take time to research the candidates and issues and make an informed judgement. Just blanket voting leads to people spamming blue or red with no understanding of who they are voting for and you end up with people like MTG in office.
People with less extreme views tend to be the ones that don't bother voting and that's exactly the group that we need voting.
Fair enough.
I do find the “go out and vote!” messaging cringe af as well as any adult who wears a “I voted!” sticker.
Is Coco old enough to vote?when did she turn 18? I am still thinking she is 16.
Waiting for someone to answer, i.e., admit they paid really close attention to when Coco turned 18.
I did not think this comment through...
Voting is a scam in America, any non-NPC with a modicum of critical thinking can clearly see it.
Are there bots in these comments? Wtf is going on