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Why was calling this “the Chinese virus” met with so much criticism, but saying “the $country variant” is fine?

dkobia 6y ago
The context in which "Chinese Virus" or "Kung Flu" (by the same person) was used is very telling for the message they're trying to send. The same person is also well known for other slurs. Additionally it was used at the time, to deflect blame for inaction. I suspect that if a scientist had called it "The Chinese Virus" or "The Wuhan Virus" no one would have thought twice about it. They probably did too.
- djbebs 6y ago
  It was originally called Wuhan virus and then it was changed for PC reasons...
  - SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
    > It was originally called Wuhan virus Was it? "called" In what way? In tabloid headlines maybe. But that was never a formal name for COVID-19, because formal disease names don't work that way. See "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases" (2015) Link above. You can call that "PC reasons" if you like, but IMHO that's trivialising the use of existing agreed best practices, that exist for good reasons. As others here have pointed out, if a politician prefers to say "Wuhan virus" or "China Virus" over "COVID", then they are deliberately using a loaded term for xenophobic purposes.
cdirkx 6y ago
Because at the start of the pandemic, when the virus was just starting to spread outside of China, the prase "the Chinese virus" negatively impacted people in other countries who "looked Chinese" (although in practice this was "looked East-Asian"). They were avoided, not allowed in certain places, harrased, "why are you bringing the virus here", etc. Now is a different situation, the whole world is now a part of the pandemic. The phrase "the UK variant" or "the Brazil variant" is much less likely to negatively effect people.
mikhailfranco 6y ago
It is interesting that Spanish Flu was first observed in the US, and could have been called the Kansas Flu, if it was not for wartime censorship.
SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
The criticism is not "off the cuff", see the "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases" (2015) PDF link: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_... > Disease names may NOT include: Geographic locations > Examples to be avoided: Cities, countries, regions, continents Why this is not applied to “the $country variant” is a very good question.

The context in which "Chinese Virus" or "Kung Flu" (by the same person) was used is very telling for the message they're trying to send. The same person is also well known for other slurs. Additionally it was used at the time, to deflect blame for inaction. I suspect that if a scientist had called it "The Chinese Virus" or "The Wuhan Virus" no one would have thought twice about it. They probably did too.

djbebs 6y ago
It was originally called Wuhan virus and then it was changed for PC reasons...
- SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
  > It was originally called Wuhan virus Was it? "called" In what way? In tabloid headlines maybe. But that was never a formal name for COVID-19, because formal disease names don't work that way. See "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases" (2015) Link above. You can call that "PC reasons" if you like, but IMHO that's trivialising the use of existing agreed best practices, that exist for good reasons. As others here have pointed out, if a politician prefers to say "Wuhan virus" or "China Virus" over "COVID", then they are deliberately using a loaded term for xenophobic purposes.

cdirkx 6y ago

Because at the start of the pandemic, when the virus was just starting to spread outside of China, the prase "the Chinese virus" negatively impacted people in other countries who "looked Chinese" (although in practice this was "looked East-Asian"). They were avoided, not allowed in certain places, harrased, "why are you bringing the virus here", etc. Now is a different situation, the whole world is now a part of the pandemic. The phrase "the UK variant" or "the Brazil variant" is much less likely to negatively effect people.

mikhailfranco 6y ago

It is interesting that Spanish Flu was first observed in the US, and could have been called the Kansas Flu, if it was not for wartime censorship.

SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago

The criticism is not "off the cuff", see the "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases" (2015) PDF link: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_... > Disease names may NOT include: Geographic locations > Examples to be avoided: Cities, countries, regions, continents Why this is not applied to “the $country variant” is a very good question.