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Very interesting how in a matter of days, the Spanish flu has been renamed to the 1918 flu. Cancel culture writ large. It’s actually impressive.
by devmunchies 7y ago
Very interesting how in a matter of days, the Spanish flu has been renamed to the 1918 flu. Cancel culture writ large. It’s actually impressive.
- i_haz_rabies 7y agoThe "Spanish" part has always been a misnomer, since it likely began in the United States.
- devmunchies 7y agoYeah I don’t care why. Theres a lot of things that are misnamed. I was just commenting on the power of the internet and outrage culture. I don’t use social media outside HN so I don’t feel the same sense of injustice.
- Frondo 7y agoIt's never a bad thing to use more accurate terminology, or to update language as society and culture develop. If my grandmother can learn a better word for "brazil nuts," you can learn a better name for the 1918 flu that started in Kansas.
- devmunchies 7y agoThis has nothing to do with accurate terminology. It’s 100% political.
- qqqqquinnnnn 7y agowhat's political, not calling an epidemic that was carried by migrant workers and Frontline soldiers into Fort Funston Kansas thé "Spanish Flu?"
- devmunchies 7y agoin the 90s i would imagine seeing a "Fun Fact" on the back of a cereal box saying "Did you know the Spanish flu actually started in Kansas?". And me going, "huh, mildly interesting" These days people choose weird things to focus on. To the point where they will correct you if you say Spanish Flu like its offensive. There's is definitely an effort to remove any instance of "The <country name> <disease name>". Regardless of accuracy. Renaming something isn't inherently political, but the choice of which misnamed things to rename is political.
- SilverCurve 7y agoIt's more like people are talking about the Spanish flu a lot, and at the same time realizing that the "Spanish" part actually misinformed them. I was talking to someone about the Spanish flu and they casually commented "oh last time it's Europe now it's Asia's turn". Took me a few more minutes to inform them it's not from Spain. Both of us now realized that's a bad name. It's also the first time we mention "Spanish flu" in our lives, there's no problem using a more accurate name. I see this as a community effort to use a more convenient word. It's not that political, no political party or government agencies are actively pushing for it.
- qqqqquinnnnn 7y agoI'd also add that there is a very real possibility of people using the origin of the flu for political purposes - and it's worth asking yourself if you want to play into that ugly game - left or right. Speak and think for yourself, and recognize that language is the only thing we've got. What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want your legacy to look like?
- qqqqquinnnnn 7y agoCalling it "Spanish Flu" is like calling oxygen phlogiston or saying that you get scorpions when you leave a few leaves of basil between two bricks. it's a colloquial name that results in confusion down the line. call things technical, scientific names so that you can trace back a historical line of thought. or don't and pick the opposite groupthink to cancel culture and keep the whole thing plowing along