4 ms·

I was under the impression that they started intentionally calling it the Wuhan virus only after the Chinese government started making propaganda that the virus

I was under the impression that they started intentionally calling it the Wuhan virus only after the Chinese government started making propaganda that the virus came form aboard.

boomboomsubban 6y ago
Other way around. People started saying it was developed by the Chinese as a weapon almost immediately, and the originator of the "Chinese propaganda" specifically called out such claims before blaming the US.
- dependenttypes 6y ago
  We are talking about politicians specifically though.
  - boomboomsubban 6y ago
    Still, a congressman blamed the Chinese on TV before the start of the Lijian twitter incident.
cma 6y ago
They started calling it the Chinese virus after that, Wuhan virus was earlier (if you are referring to the NYT timeline article from yesterday).
jml7c5 6y ago
My understanding is that intentionally misnaming the virus/disease is done to mock perceived political correctness. Particularly after the WHO officially named it SARS-CoV2/COVID-19, if someone on twitter referred to the virus/disease as "Chinese coronavirus"/"Wuhan virus"/etc, someone would usually respond saying that such language was xenophobic. This happens to a few prominent people, screenshots are made, screenshots are shared around, people pile in on one side or the other, the issue quickly becomes partisan. In the end, right-leaning media/individuals/presidents coalesce and intentionally emphasize the Chinese origin as a protest against perceived oversensitivity. Normally I'm loathe to suggest that things which happen on twitter direct wider social discourse, but I believe this is the most accurate characterization of events in this case.
- thu2111 6y ago
  Bear in mind also, China put out a video in Italy just before the outbreak encouraging Italians to hug Chinese tourists because they were suffering from "xenophobia" due to the virus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNMdg4morQs&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNMdg4morQs&feature=youtu.be That video ... didn't age well, shall we say. And here's a virologist claiming political correctness slowed Italy's response to the virus: https://www.theblaze.com/news/italy_political_correctness_china_coronavirus https://www.theblaze.com/news/italy_political_correctness_ch... Conservatives in general have developed into an opposition to globalism ("one world government"), a cause the left has championed since the earliest days of the COMINTERN. It's not a huge surprise that they'd emphasise the origins of the virus and nature of the local government there, especially given the recommended course of action is strong border control. The WHO is an especially clear example of what "one world government" looks like, and there's an established history of criticism of the WHO from conservatives dating back long before COVID-19. For instance in this article: https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/05/world-health-organization-swine-flu-pandemic-opinions-contributors-michael-fumento.html#6b6773df48e8 https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/05/world-health-organization-... it's alleged that the WHO changed its own definition of pandemic so swine flu would qualify, massively exaggerated its impact and deadliness vs normal flu, lied about its own change of definitions and that its chief gave a speech using swine flu to promote various hard-left ideas in e.g. this quote (but there are others from the same speech) https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2009/euro_regional_committee_20090815/en/ https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2009/euro_regional_committee... "Leaders in sectors with far more clout than health are making a similar point. At the April G20 summit in London, world leaders called for a fundamental re-engineering of the international systems to incorporate a moral dimension and make them responsive to genuine social values and concerns. They voiced a need to invest these systems with values like community, solidarity, equity, and social justice. While this is welcome new thinking for world leaders, this is a familiar vocabulary for public health" I don't think it actually makes sense to use names based on where a virus was first detected, but it's also pretty common and of course diseases named after the people who first found them is even more common. But there's far more background to this than mere reaction against over-sensitivity. Respiratory viruses have a history of being exaggerated and used to push for certain political ideas.

I was under the impression that they started intentionally calling it the Wuhan virus only after the Chinese government started making propaganda that the virus came form aboard.

boomboomsubban 6y ago

Other way around. People started saying it was developed by the Chinese as a weapon almost immediately, and the originator of the "Chinese propaganda" specifically called out such claims before blaming the US.

dependenttypes 6y ago
We are talking about politicians specifically though.
- boomboomsubban 6y ago
  Still, a congressman blamed the Chinese on TV before the start of the Lijian twitter incident.

cma 6y ago

They started calling it the Chinese virus after that, Wuhan virus was earlier (if you are referring to the NYT timeline article from yesterday).

jml7c5 6y ago

My understanding is that intentionally misnaming the virus/disease is done to mock perceived political correctness. Particularly after the WHO officially named it SARS-CoV2/COVID-19, if someone on twitter referred to the virus/disease as "Chinese coronavirus"/"Wuhan virus"/etc, someone would usually respond saying that such language was xenophobic. This happens to a few prominent people, screenshots are made, screenshots are shared around, people pile in on one side or the other, the issue quickly becomes partisan. In the end, right-leaning media/individuals/presidents coalesce and intentionally emphasize the Chinese origin as a protest against perceived oversensitivity. Normally I'm loathe to suggest that things which happen on twitter direct wider social discourse, but I believe this is the most accurate characterization of events in this case.

thu2111 6y ago
Bear in mind also, China put out a video in Italy just before the outbreak encouraging Italians to hug Chinese tourists because they were suffering from "xenophobia" due to the virus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNMdg4morQs&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNMdg4morQs&feature=youtu.be That video ... didn't age well, shall we say. And here's a virologist claiming political correctness slowed Italy's response to the virus: https://www.theblaze.com/news/italy_political_correctness_china_coronavirus https://www.theblaze.com/news/italy_political_correctness_ch... Conservatives in general have developed into an opposition to globalism ("one world government"), a cause the left has championed since the earliest days of the COMINTERN. It's not a huge surprise that they'd emphasise the origins of the virus and nature of the local government there, especially given the recommended course of action is strong border control. The WHO is an especially clear example of what "one world government" looks like, and there's an established history of criticism of the WHO from conservatives dating back long before COVID-19. For instance in this article: https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/05/world-health-organization-swine-flu-pandemic-opinions-contributors-michael-fumento.html#6b6773df48e8 https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/05/world-health-organization-... it's alleged that the WHO changed its own definition of pandemic so swine flu would qualify, massively exaggerated its impact and deadliness vs normal flu, lied about its own change of definitions and that its chief gave a speech using swine flu to promote various hard-left ideas in e.g. this quote (but there are others from the same speech) https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2009/euro_regional_committee_20090815/en/ https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2009/euro_regional_committee... "Leaders in sectors with far more clout than health are making a similar point. At the April G20 summit in London, world leaders called for a fundamental re-engineering of the international systems to incorporate a moral dimension and make them responsive to genuine social values and concerns. They voiced a need to invest these systems with values like community, solidarity, equity, and social justice. While this is welcome new thinking for world leaders, this is a familiar vocabulary for public health" I don't think it actually makes sense to use names based on where a virus was first detected, but it's also pretty common and of course diseases named after the people who first found them is even more common. But there's far more background to this than mere reaction against over-sensitivity. Respiratory viruses have a history of being exaggerated and used to push for certain political ideas.