4 ms·

Ebola is from the river it originated. Zika, West Nile, etc. It's not racist to name a virus based on its origin.

by s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago

notacoward 7y ago
It's not racist, but it's stigmatizing and that facilitates racists. Let's stop doing that.
- s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
  No it's not stigmatizing, it's a location, you are mind reading the entire population. There is precedent (I listed them above) for how viruses are colloquially named based on their location. Let's stop trying to find racial issues where they don't exist.
  - notacoward 7y ago
    > There is precedent Appeal to tradition (i.e. a well known fallacy). Denied. > Let's stop trying to find racial issues where they don't exist. Translation: "Let's turn a blind eye to racism-enabling behaviors where they do exist."
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - CodiePetersen 7y ago
      > Appeal to tradition. Denied. That's rich coming from the guy who just said we can call it Spanish Flu because it's old.
      - notacoward 7y ago
        That's an exceptionally non-constructive comment. There's nothing hypocritical or inconsistent about suggesting that we change what we can and not what we can't. We can't change the "Spanish flu" moniker. It's too late, it having been written into textbooks for generations. If we could erase those references, I'd say we should, but we can't. The best we can do is refer to it by a different name - "1918 flu" seems common - when discussing it now. The appeal to tradition here is the idea that we should continue that practice even when we know better and have an opportunity to do better. I reject that. Is "cling to tradition regardless of effect" really the hill you feel you must die on? An odd attitude for anyone in tech, I must say.
ajross 7y ago
Maybe not, but this disease is not named "Wuhan", it's named COVID-19. Insisting that we call a virus by a different name to try to blame a specific region when the rest of the world has decided to call it something else... I dunno, that smells off to me.
- s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr... > Because the strain was first discovered in Wuhan, China, it is sometimes referred to informally as the Wuhan coronavirus I would suggestion you to look at the sources linked after that statement in the Wikipedia article. Colloquial names are not designated, they form naturally by people. The location of the origin of the virus is a natural place to start. Yes they now have an official name for the virus, as they do other famous viruses that don't go by their official name by the general public.

Ebola is from the river it originated. Zika, West Nile, etc. It's not racist to name a virus based on its origin.

notacoward 7y ago

It's not racist, but it's stigmatizing and that facilitates racists. Let's stop doing that.

s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
No it's not stigmatizing, it's a location, you are mind reading the entire population. There is precedent (I listed them above) for how viruses are colloquially named based on their location. Let's stop trying to find racial issues where they don't exist.
- notacoward 7y ago
  > There is precedent Appeal to tradition (i.e. a well known fallacy). Denied. > Let's stop trying to find racial issues where they don't exist. Translation: "Let's turn a blind eye to racism-enabling behaviors where they do exist."
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - CodiePetersen 7y ago
    > Appeal to tradition. Denied. That's rich coming from the guy who just said we can call it Spanish Flu because it's old.
    - notacoward 7y ago
      That's an exceptionally non-constructive comment. There's nothing hypocritical or inconsistent about suggesting that we change what we can and not what we can't. We can't change the "Spanish flu" moniker. It's too late, it having been written into textbooks for generations. If we could erase those references, I'd say we should, but we can't. The best we can do is refer to it by a different name - "1918 flu" seems common - when discussing it now. The appeal to tradition here is the idea that we should continue that practice even when we know better and have an opportunity to do better. I reject that. Is "cling to tradition regardless of effect" really the hill you feel you must die on? An odd attitude for anyone in tech, I must say.

ajross 7y ago

Maybe not, but this disease is not named "Wuhan", it's named COVID-19. Insisting that we call a virus by a different name to try to blame a specific region when the rest of the world has decided to call it something else... I dunno, that smells off to me.

s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr... > Because the strain was first discovered in Wuhan, China, it is sometimes referred to informally as the Wuhan coronavirus I would suggestion you to look at the sources linked after that statement in the Wikipedia article. Colloquial names are not designated, they form naturally by people. The location of the origin of the virus is a natural place to start. Yes they now have an official name for the virus, as they do other famous viruses that don't go by their official name by the general public.