3 ms·

MPX? Mpox? The struggle to replace ‘monkeypox’ with a name that isn’t racist

5 points by orionion 4y ago

ohiovr 4y ago
Who says it is racist?
pmjones 4y ago
TIL: Monkeys are racist, somehow.
- fortnum 4y ago
  Clownworld :) If anything, it may be derogative towards monkeys, which would make it (from a human perspective) speciesist, not racist. And then, which monkey species exactly? But again, clownworld
  - 0xChain 4y ago
    It really is perplexing that the notion, primarily derived from white people, that keeping it labeled as Monkeypox “could” direct hate towards POC isn’t in itself considered racist.
    - fortnum 4y ago
      True, but with all the absurdities these days I really only have one word Clownworld :)
- orionion 4y ago
  Dr Cornelius and Dr Zira are cool, but watch out for Dr Zaius! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
vivegi 4y ago
WHO virus taxonomy team is currently working on the naming. https://www.who.int/news/item/12-08-2022-monkeypox--experts-give-virus-variants-new-names https://www.who.int/news/item/12-08-2022-monkeypox--experts-... Original Monkeypox virus was identified and named in 1958 when naming conventions were different. Currently, the naming best practice tries to avoid including region where the virus/organism is discovered and/or primary/secondary carriers as was the practice earlier. Eg: The COVID-19 coronavirus is named SARS-COV-2 by WHO. Coronavirus refers to a large family of viruses of which the SARS-COV-2 is one of them.
adxl 4y ago
The monkeys are mad? I don’t get it. If you think that the name monkeypox is racist then you are by definition racist.
h2odragon 4y ago
Will we be renaming cowpox too? That's going to make history more fun, "then it was discovered that infection with the disease formerly known as cowpox could confer immunity to the disease formerly known as smallpox in the species formerly known as humans..."

3 ms·

MPX? Mpox? The struggle to replace ‘monkeypox’ with a name that isn’t racist

5 points by orionion 4y ago

ohiovr 4y ago
Who says it is racist?
pmjones 4y ago
TIL: Monkeys are racist, somehow.
- fortnum 4y ago
  Clownworld :) If anything, it may be derogative towards monkeys, which would make it (from a human perspective) speciesist, not racist. And then, which monkey species exactly? But again, clownworld
  - 0xChain 4y ago
    It really is perplexing that the notion, primarily derived from white people, that keeping it labeled as Monkeypox “could” direct hate towards POC isn’t in itself considered racist.
    - fortnum 4y ago
      True, but with all the absurdities these days I really only have one word Clownworld :)
- orionion 4y ago
  Dr Cornelius and Dr Zira are cool, but watch out for Dr Zaius! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
vivegi 4y ago
WHO virus taxonomy team is currently working on the naming. https://www.who.int/news/item/12-08-2022-monkeypox--experts-give-virus-variants-new-names https://www.who.int/news/item/12-08-2022-monkeypox--experts-... Original Monkeypox virus was identified and named in 1958 when naming conventions were different. Currently, the naming best practice tries to avoid including region where the virus/organism is discovered and/or primary/secondary carriers as was the practice earlier. Eg: The COVID-19 coronavirus is named SARS-COV-2 by WHO. Coronavirus refers to a large family of viruses of which the SARS-COV-2 is one of them.
adxl 4y ago
The monkeys are mad? I don’t get it. If you think that the name monkeypox is racist then you are by definition racist.
h2odragon 4y ago
Will we be renaming cowpox too? That's going to make history more fun, "then it was discovered that infection with the disease formerly known as cowpox could confer immunity to the disease formerly known as smallpox in the species formerly known as humans..."