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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/politics/covid-lab-leak-fauci.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/politics/covid-lab-lea... and https://www.cnn.com

by dekhn 2y ago

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/politics/covid-lab-leak-fauci.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/politics/covid-lab-lea... and https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/27/media/covid-19-origins-lab-leak-media/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/27/media/covid-19-origins-lab-le... In short a few prominent people claimed it was racist to suggest that China's research or wet market contributed to the origins of COVID. They were mistaken but with the highly politicized environment, it helped distort opinions at a critical time. The claims of racism have since been demonstrated to be at least partly false (that is, there is a legitimate case to be made that China's researchers or wet market did contribute to the origin of COVID, and that China's leadership hid most of the evidence that would be used to make a case).

_cenw 2y ago
Conflation of very different factors. Animal origin was always going to be the most likely explanation, so wet market tracks. Lab leak after secret gain of function research is much more of a speculatory accusation than the existence of wet markets.
standardUser 2y ago
It's not racist to blame China, but it is racist to accuse/harass/disparage Asian people and that was what was happening in America. Pushing back on the lab leak theory was at least in part to stop the dumbest among us from blaming their Asian neighbor. That and the lack of evidence.
- ugh123 2y ago
  Both happened. People who merely "suggested" the lab could have leaked, and asked to investigate more, were being called racist.
- SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
  It was racism to suggest that China’s only level4 bio lab that received funding for coronavirus research was the source of the leak… But not racism to declare that the virus must have come from a wet market where the savages eat uncooked bats and pangolin. Now the goal posts have shifted to “lack of evidence” knowing full well china would nuke the city before admitting they caused covid by negligence.
  - wk_end 2y ago
    The WIV was doing research on bat coronaviruses at BSL-2, not BSL-4. See Ralph Baric's testimony covered in this Vanity Fair article: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ralph-baric-wuhan-lab-leak https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ralph-baric-wuhan-lab-...

by dekhn 2y ago

_cenw 2y ago

Conflation of very different factors. Animal origin was always going to be the most likely explanation, so wet market tracks. Lab leak after secret gain of function research is much more of a speculatory accusation than the existence of wet markets.

standardUser 2y ago

It's not racist to blame China, but it is racist to accuse/harass/disparage Asian people and that was what was happening in America. Pushing back on the lab leak theory was at least in part to stop the dumbest among us from blaming their Asian neighbor. That and the lack of evidence.

ugh123 2y ago
Both happened. People who merely "suggested" the lab could have leaked, and asked to investigate more, were being called racist.
SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
It was racism to suggest that China’s only level4 bio lab that received funding for coronavirus research was the source of the leak… But not racism to declare that the virus must have come from a wet market where the savages eat uncooked bats and pangolin. Now the goal posts have shifted to “lack of evidence” knowing full well china would nuke the city before admitting they caused covid by negligence.
- wk_end 2y ago
  The WIV was doing research on bat coronaviruses at BSL-2, not BSL-4. See Ralph Baric's testimony covered in this Vanity Fair article: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ralph-baric-wuhan-lab-leak https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ralph-baric-wuhan-lab-...