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It was irresponsible and harmful to declare that it definitely was a Chinese lab's fault, too.

by MisterBastahrd 5y ago

Rerarom 5y ago
Yup. I was pissed off from the start by people who were absolutely sure it was/wasn't a lab leak.
- ta0x9 5y ago
  And that you were a racist xenophobic bigot for even considering the possibility of a lab leak.
  - happytoexplain 5y ago
    >for even considering the possibility This is an exaggeration/cherry-picked. Many people were in fact using the assertion primarily to express xenophobia, and had no compelling thoughts beyond that. Those people were not the same as the people "considering the possibility", which describes a more reasonable subset of people.
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    - ta0x9 5y ago
      >This is an exaggeration/cherry-picked. Not at all, it's what happened. Even considering it makes you racist and xenophobic adjacent, because "people were in fact using the assertion primarily to express xenophobia, and had no compelling thoughts beyond that." Even if you were 100% not racist, just alluding to the possibility makes you a Nazi ally.
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briefcomment 5y ago
Who was saying that?
- happytoexplain 5y ago
  The lab leak origin is the subject of a popular conspiracy theory that failed to put forward evidence and served mostly as an expression of hatred and political side-taking (and therefore predictably engendered similar attitudes against the theory). This is irrelevant to its status as an actual theory in good faith (sort of like how mask wearing has a left-vs-right flavor independent of legitimate arguments).
  - loopz 5y ago
    Yep. Just taking a 50:50 bet on the popular side doesn't mean anything, unless backed up by something substantial. There's no meaning to saying you were right or wrong, unless how you got there can be followed by facts and verification.
  - briefcomment 5y ago
    As far as I remember, the prominent people who were talking about this a year ago did not say "it definitely was a Chinese lab's fault", just that it was seriously suspicious and needed further investigation, and that they were upset that people who were bringing it up were getting prematurely dismissed. Who exactly (other than random conspiracy theorists) was saying it was definitely a Chinese lab?
    - MisterBastahrd 5y ago
      Maybe English isn't your first language. They were using the "some people are saying" Trumpian rhetorical technique of blaming the Wuhan labs and Chinese leadership directly for the outbreak. The virus had TWO names and instead they wanted to refer to it as the China Virus and Kung Flu because they didn't want to take responsibility for the lack of political leadership by this country during a time when we could have limited the spread and effects of the virus. The result is that Asians were being assaulted because "they brought it here."

It was irresponsible and harmful to declare that it definitely was a Chinese lab's fault, too.

Rerarom 5y ago

Yup. I was pissed off from the start by people who were absolutely sure it was/wasn't a lab leak.

ta0x9 5y ago
And that you were a racist xenophobic bigot for even considering the possibility of a lab leak.
- happytoexplain 5y ago
  >for even considering the possibility This is an exaggeration/cherry-picked. Many people were in fact using the assertion primarily to express xenophobia, and had no compelling thoughts beyond that. Those people were not the same as the people "considering the possibility", which describes a more reasonable subset of people.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - ta0x9 5y ago
    >This is an exaggeration/cherry-picked. Not at all, it's what happened. Even considering it makes you racist and xenophobic adjacent, because "people were in fact using the assertion primarily to express xenophobia, and had no compelling thoughts beyond that." Even if you were 100% not racist, just alluding to the possibility makes you a Nazi ally.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

briefcomment 5y ago

Who was saying that?

happytoexplain 5y ago
The lab leak origin is the subject of a popular conspiracy theory that failed to put forward evidence and served mostly as an expression of hatred and political side-taking (and therefore predictably engendered similar attitudes against the theory). This is irrelevant to its status as an actual theory in good faith (sort of like how mask wearing has a left-vs-right flavor independent of legitimate arguments).
- loopz 5y ago
  Yep. Just taking a 50:50 bet on the popular side doesn't mean anything, unless backed up by something substantial. There's no meaning to saying you were right or wrong, unless how you got there can be followed by facts and verification.
- briefcomment 5y ago
  As far as I remember, the prominent people who were talking about this a year ago did not say "it definitely was a Chinese lab's fault", just that it was seriously suspicious and needed further investigation, and that they were upset that people who were bringing it up were getting prematurely dismissed. Who exactly (other than random conspiracy theorists) was saying it was definitely a Chinese lab?
  - MisterBastahrd 5y ago
    Maybe English isn't your first language. They were using the "some people are saying" Trumpian rhetorical technique of blaming the Wuhan labs and Chinese leadership directly for the outbreak. The virus had TWO names and instead they wanted to refer to it as the China Virus and Kung Flu because they didn't want to take responsibility for the lack of political leadership by this country during a time when we could have limited the spread and effects of the virus. The result is that Asians were being assaulted because "they brought it here."