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Unfortunately this conflation may have even contributed indirectly to early spread of Coronavirus in SF. After the virus was spreading but before the US lockdo

Unfortunately this conflation may have even contributed indirectly to early spread of Coronavirus in SF. After the virus was spreading but before the US lockdowns, there was an article in one of the SF papers that accused people who were deciding not to eat out in Chinatown of being racist. So I think this conflation doesn't originate here on HN, and it is very difficult in general to discuss some political/governmental issues without triggering the conflation.

AndrewUnmuted 7y ago
Reminds me of this tweet [0] from the chair of the NYC health council committee. He wrote, "If you are staying away, you are missing out!" - called those who stayed away from Chinatown "racist" - then tested positive for COVID-19 a week later. [0] https://twitter.com/marklevinenyc/status/1226566648729133056?lang=en https://twitter.com/marklevinenyc/status/1226566648729133056...
- detaro 7y ago
  Did he get infected in Chinatown? Were there good reasons to assume there would be more infected there? Recent reports suggest the majority of Corona imports into NYC came from Europe. Joining a large event full of people seems like the bigger issue. Around here, somehow people got scared about Taiwanese that haven't left Germany in years, but not their buddies that have been traveling a lot.
  - oh_sigh 7y ago
    > Joining a large event full of people seems like the bigger issue. Which is exactly what he did...in Chinatown.
fzeroracer 7y ago
It can be both. Neither situation excludes the other. Yes, people that refused to eat out in Chinatown were racist, because those people in Chinatown weren't the ones travelling. And the people that were refusing to eat out were still eating at other places which had travelers from all over; they weren't self-quarantining or trying to limit the spread of the virus. There's nuance to discussion where you can discuss a country without being racist, but at the same time I've seen people make obviously racist remarks while trying to pretend it's meant as a criticism of the country and not the people.
- wolco 7y ago
  It is never racist to not eat in a district labelled a certain way. Thinking that way makes you part of the problem. What if people avoided little Italy? Or little Canada. Racist?
  - fzeroracer 7y ago
    If you're avoiding little Italy or little Canada because you think they're diseased then yes, that would make you racist. If you avoid those places because you don't feel like having Italian or Canadian food right now then no, that's not racist. In this case, the reason why people were avoiding Chinatown was because they were avoiding a group of people they were afraid of due to the coronavirus. That's racism. They weren't trying to avoid the virus because they were still going out, eating at other restaurants and still being in the general public.
    - wolco 7y ago
      You feel avoiding little Canada would make you racist? Against what race would that be? I feel like the word racism has lost it's intended meaning if people believe not going to little Canada (for fears of getting a virus) is somehow judging a group of people based on their skin colour. A Canadian can be white/black/asian/native or anything else... A Canadian isn't a race it is a term that includes many races. Unless you are now racist against all races by not going to little Canada I can't imagine how that term applies. Maybe you want to say.. prejudice (to pre-judge) rather than racist (to pre-judge based on race). People were pre-judging when making decisions to go to chinatown. They thought with all of the international travel between China and little China perhaps they would be more likely to get the virus. Calling people who made a decision based on belief of likeliness of getting the virus racist is wrong. They didn't make a decision on race they made it on some other factor that didn't include slin color. Calling them racist makes you racist. You have pre-judged a group of people based on race (little China) when everyone else were basing it on geography. I hope you can accept responsibility and change your views for the future. The world doesn't need people judging others based on race we need to get away from that.

AndrewUnmuted 7y ago

Reminds me of this tweet [0] from the chair of the NYC health council committee. He wrote, "If you are staying away, you are missing out!" - called those who stayed away from Chinatown "racist" - then tested positive for COVID-19 a week later. [0] https://twitter.com/marklevinenyc/status/1226566648729133056?lang=en https://twitter.com/marklevinenyc/status/1226566648729133056...

detaro 7y ago
Did he get infected in Chinatown? Were there good reasons to assume there would be more infected there? Recent reports suggest the majority of Corona imports into NYC came from Europe. Joining a large event full of people seems like the bigger issue. Around here, somehow people got scared about Taiwanese that haven't left Germany in years, but not their buddies that have been traveling a lot.
- oh_sigh 7y ago
  > Joining a large event full of people seems like the bigger issue. Which is exactly what he did...in Chinatown.

fzeroracer 7y ago

It can be both. Neither situation excludes the other. Yes, people that refused to eat out in Chinatown were racist, because those people in Chinatown weren't the ones travelling. And the people that were refusing to eat out were still eating at other places which had travelers from all over; they weren't self-quarantining or trying to limit the spread of the virus. There's nuance to discussion where you can discuss a country without being racist, but at the same time I've seen people make obviously racist remarks while trying to pretend it's meant as a criticism of the country and not the people.

wolco 7y ago
It is never racist to not eat in a district labelled a certain way. Thinking that way makes you part of the problem. What if people avoided little Italy? Or little Canada. Racist?
- fzeroracer 7y ago
  If you're avoiding little Italy or little Canada because you think they're diseased then yes, that would make you racist. If you avoid those places because you don't feel like having Italian or Canadian food right now then no, that's not racist. In this case, the reason why people were avoiding Chinatown was because they were avoiding a group of people they were afraid of due to the coronavirus. That's racism. They weren't trying to avoid the virus because they were still going out, eating at other restaurants and still being in the general public.
  - wolco 7y ago
    You feel avoiding little Canada would make you racist? Against what race would that be? I feel like the word racism has lost it's intended meaning if people believe not going to little Canada (for fears of getting a virus) is somehow judging a group of people based on their skin colour. A Canadian can be white/black/asian/native or anything else... A Canadian isn't a race it is a term that includes many races. Unless you are now racist against all races by not going to little Canada I can't imagine how that term applies. Maybe you want to say.. prejudice (to pre-judge) rather than racist (to pre-judge based on race). People were pre-judging when making decisions to go to chinatown. They thought with all of the international travel between China and little China perhaps they would be more likely to get the virus. Calling people who made a decision based on belief of likeliness of getting the virus racist is wrong. They didn't make a decision on race they made it on some other factor that didn't include slin color. Calling them racist makes you racist. You have pre-judged a group of people based on race (little China) when everyone else were basing it on geography. I hope you can accept responsibility and change your views for the future. The world doesn't need people judging others based on race we need to get away from that.