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Nobody is saying that China caused the pandemic intentionally.

mullingitover 3y ago
You'd think nobody would be enough of a wacko to say this. You'd be wrong, there was at least one wacko saying it.[1] [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/06/18/trump-suggests-china-may-have-intentionally-allowed-coronavirus-to-spread/?sh=27125f233f1c https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/06/18/trump-su...
- memefrog 3y ago
  He said they may have done so and that there's a chance it was intentional, which is entirely true and quite a reasonable thing to say. He acknowledges that it's unlikely, and he doesn't think that they would do that or that they did. But it is absolutely possible. You'd have to be crazy to think it wasn't possible. The same article says: > As the pandemic began spreading in earnest in the United States, President Trump and other high-ranking officials in his administration began to circulate a controversial theory that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, though there is no evidence supporting this claim either. ...which is a lie. There was evidence supporting that claim even back in June 2020. The mere fact of the lab's existence in the city at the time and the subject matter that it was studying is evidence. It is not enough evidence of its own, but it is (circumstantial) evidence. People get convicted of crimes based on circumstantial evidence every day, and rightly so.
  - mullingitover 3y ago
    It took me five seconds of googling to find the president floating that theory. To say nobody is accusing China of using Covid as a bioweapon is a howler - we have a whole community of cranks who are saying there's a conspiracy to conceal the fact Earth is flat, of course there are legions of cranks saying Covid was spread on purpose. It took me five more seconds of googling and I found "Nearly 30% think China likely to have spread Covid on purpose, UK poll finds."[1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/09/29-of-britons-think-china-likely-to-have-spread-covid-on-purpose-poll-says https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/09/29-of-britons-...
    - dumbfounder 3y ago
      Do I think China did this on purpose? No. Was it a very effective economic weapon? Yes. Should we be on the lookout for others trying to do this on purpose? Hell yes. Just because you’re paranoid…
      - mullingitover 3y ago
        > Was it a very effective economic weapon? Yes. I'm trying to wrap my head around this statement. If Covid was a weapon, it was a breathtakingly bad one at every conceivable strategic and tactical level. It's like saying "nuking your own country in order to poison the rest of the world with the fallout is a very effective economic weapon."
        jazzyjackson 3y ago
        /tinfoil you're thinking internationally, you should be thinking supra-nationally. Some elements within China and USA wanted economic warfare (sanctions, dependence-decoupling) to prove they can come out on top Every war inflicts damage to both sides, as soon as you lob one bomb you should expect more lobbed back at you what war really is is applying enormous economic strain (both offense and defense) until one side collapses From that view, the decision to release a virus that plausibly emerged from a Chinese lab performing research tied with US scientists creates a solid fog of who's responsible, both sides deny an attack happened at all, and the war mongers get to have their economic game that ideally (for them) leads to such jingoism on both sides that hot war becomes a likely outcome /tinfoil

You'd think nobody would be enough of a wacko to say this. You'd be wrong, there was at least one wacko saying it.[1] [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/06/18/trump-suggests-china-may-have-intentionally-allowed-coronavirus-to-spread/?sh=27125f233f1c https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/06/18/trump-su...

memefrog 3y ago
He said they may have done so and that there's a chance it was intentional, which is entirely true and quite a reasonable thing to say. He acknowledges that it's unlikely, and he doesn't think that they would do that or that they did. But it is absolutely possible. You'd have to be crazy to think it wasn't possible. The same article says: > As the pandemic began spreading in earnest in the United States, President Trump and other high-ranking officials in his administration began to circulate a controversial theory that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, though there is no evidence supporting this claim either. ...which is a lie. There was evidence supporting that claim even back in June 2020. The mere fact of the lab's existence in the city at the time and the subject matter that it was studying is evidence. It is not enough evidence of its own, but it is (circumstantial) evidence. People get convicted of crimes based on circumstantial evidence every day, and rightly so.
- mullingitover 3y ago
  It took me five seconds of googling to find the president floating that theory. To say nobody is accusing China of using Covid as a bioweapon is a howler - we have a whole community of cranks who are saying there's a conspiracy to conceal the fact Earth is flat, of course there are legions of cranks saying Covid was spread on purpose. It took me five more seconds of googling and I found "Nearly 30% think China likely to have spread Covid on purpose, UK poll finds."[1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/09/29-of-britons-think-china-likely-to-have-spread-covid-on-purpose-poll-says https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/09/29-of-britons-...
  - dumbfounder 3y ago
    Do I think China did this on purpose? No. Was it a very effective economic weapon? Yes. Should we be on the lookout for others trying to do this on purpose? Hell yes. Just because you’re paranoid…
    - mullingitover 3y ago
      > Was it a very effective economic weapon? Yes. I'm trying to wrap my head around this statement. If Covid was a weapon, it was a breathtakingly bad one at every conceivable strategic and tactical level. It's like saying "nuking your own country in order to poison the rest of the world with the fallout is a very effective economic weapon."
      - jazzyjackson 3y ago
        /tinfoil you're thinking internationally, you should be thinking supra-nationally. Some elements within China and USA wanted economic warfare (sanctions, dependence-decoupling) to prove they can come out on top Every war inflicts damage to both sides, as soon as you lob one bomb you should expect more lobbed back at you what war really is is applying enormous economic strain (both offense and defense) until one side collapses From that view, the decision to release a virus that plausibly emerged from a Chinese lab performing research tied with US scientists creates a solid fog of who's responsible, both sides deny an attack happened at all, and the war mongers get to have their economic game that ideally (for them) leads to such jingoism on both sides that hot war becomes a likely outcome /tinfoil