Aaron Rodgers, who I hear is a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers--I accept this because I am a Chicago Bears fan and there are no other players in the NFL that matter to me (I kid, a little bit)--apparently thought it was a good idea to go on a SiriusXM talk show and call people who think he was duplicitous for not revealing he was unvaccinated for COVID-19 until after he contracted it, a "woke mob". He also claims to be a "critical thinker" (who critically and evasively used immunized instead of vaccinated earlier in the pre-season to answer the question "Have you been vaccinated?") and who got treatment advice from Joe Rogan, who I hear is a radio personality, though I vaguely remember him from a funny sit-com called "News Radio" where no one let him near the dials.
So, those confounding variables aside, Rodgers then went on to invoke Martin Luther King during the interview by paraphrasing him thusly, “The great MLK said you have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense.” In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Rev. King wrote: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.”
In the case of Rodgers, it was a policy of the NFL player's association he violated. Rodgers is part of the player's union who agrees or disagrees with management decisions via collective bargaining. The NFL mandates that all employees who have contact with players to be fully vaccinated, but the players and coaches are not subject to any mandates due to "labor concerns." It would seem that the NFLPA has not decided whether vaccine mandates are just, but are very okay with everybody else having them. As for the players, they have informally agreed either to be vaccinated or be tested every day, if they are unvaccinated. Also, according to the USA Today:
Unvaccinated players are required to wear face masks at all times while at the team's facilities and are also required to observe social distancing. The mask usage also applies when in teams' weight rooms. Unvaccinated players are not allowed to eat meals with teammates and cannot do any media or marketing opportunities when traveling. They also aren't allowed to use the sauna or steam rooms in the team facilities and are not allowed to leave the team hotel or have any outside interactions with people on the road who are not affiliated with their respective team.
The lockers of unvaccinated players are required to be six feet apart from the ones of other players. Unvaccinated players are also prohibited from traveling on team charters and must make their way to road games separately. Upon landing, they need to show negative COVID-19 tests in order to rejoin the team. Upon arrival, unvaccinated players are not allowed to eat with the rest of their teammates and are not allowed to mingle with other teammates. They also are barred from using a hotel's common spaces, such as the pool.
They are restricted from attending indoor events — such as bars, nightclubs, concerts or other events — with more than 15 people where masks were not being worn.
Unvaccinated players are also subject to a five-day quarantine period if they are deemed to be close contacts of a person infected with COVID-19.
Presuming the NFLPA is acting in good faith, the only "woke mob" that Rodgers should be concerned about is likely the players themselves who are vaccinated at a rate of 94.1%--much higher than the general population. As for Martin Luther King's thoughts on this subject, he once said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
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