In this time of Pandemic

[MiscarriageSucks]

It's called coronavirus, not the wuhan virus. What is wrong with you racists? 

[Nihil Obstat]

I think that post is roughly equivalent to grabbing whatever guy is closest to you and hitting him over the head with your bottle. Efficient way to start a bar brawl.

Or at least it would be if people still posted here regularly. 

[Ice_nine]

On 2/3/2021 at 1:53 PM, MiscarriageSucks said:

It's called coronavirus, not the wuhan virus. What is wrong with you racists? 

Is the Spanish Flu racist?

When people overuse the word "racist" it loses its meaning.

 

[fides' Jack]

On 2/3/2021 at 11:53 AM, MiscarriageSucks said:

It's called coronavirus, not the wuhan virus. What is wrong with you racists? 

 

On 2/3/2021 at 4:48 PM, Nihil Obstat said:

I think that post is roughly equivalent to grabbing whatever guy is closest to you and hitting him over the head with your bottle. Efficient way to start a bar brawl.

 

On 2/8/2021 at 5:02 PM, Ice_nine said:

Is the Spanish Flu racist?

When people overuse the word "racist" it loses its meaning.

 

BAM.  Thank you both.

Scientifically speaking, the term Wuhan Virus is actually more correct in the public sphere.  It has always been the practice to name a virus after where it originates from.  And doing so is no more racist than saying that humans came originally from Africa or the Middle East.

[Hna.Caridad]

On 2/12/2021 at 11:00 AM, fides' Jack said:

 

 

 

BAM.  Thank you both.

Scientifically speaking, the term Wuhan Virus is actually more correct in the public sphere.  It has always been the practice to name a virus after where it originates from.  And doing so is no more racist than saying that humans came originally from Africa or the Middle East.

Hmmm...  Using that logic, the "Spanish" flu would be called the American flu, since it was first diagnosed in the United States.  But it's not.  Why do you think that is?

[fides' Jack]

7 hours ago, Hna.Caridad said:

Hmmm...  Using that logic, the "Spanish" flu would be called the American flu, since it was first diagnosed in the United States.  But it's not.  Why do you think that is?

There's no real consensus about where the "Spanish Flu" originated.

At the time it was thought it came from Spain.  Thus: "Spanish Flu".

We know the Wuhan Virus originated in Wuhan.  Thus: "Wuhan Virus".

[Hna.Caridad]

Actually, at the time, U.S. officials knew that it didn't come from Spain (because it had already been diagnosed in the U.S. before it was reported in Spain), yet government officials and U.S. media referred to it as the "Spanish" flu.  It's important to recognize context:  at the time, the U.S. had recently (within 20 years) fought a war against Spain.  Also important to note what other countries were calling it:  Spain called it the "French" flu, Germany called it the "Russian" flu, Russia called it the "Chinese" flu.

So, is tying a virus' name to a (real or perceived) enemy racist? 

 

[Ice_nine]

19 hours ago, Hna.Caridad said:

Actually, at the time, U.S. officials knew that it didn't come from Spain (because it had already been diagnosed in the U.S. before it was reported in Spain), yet government officials and U.S. media referred to it as the "Spanish" flu.  It's important to recognize context:  at the time, the U.S. had recently (within 20 years) fought a war against Spain.  Also important to note what other countries were calling it:  Spain called it the "French" flu, Germany called it the "Russian" flu, Russia called it the "Chinese" flu.

So, is tying a virus' name to a (real or perceived) enemy racist? 

 

I could really be a grammar Gestapo here and tell you that the proper way to show possession is to add an 's after the noun, UNLESS the noun contains two sibilant sounds or the noun is a plural, and that it's a common mistake to just assume if the noun ends in s you can just end its possessive with a lone apostrophe . . . but I won't do that. I eschew proper grammar from time to time.

Instead thanks for the history lesson. That's cool. You still haven't directly answered my question, so I can only go ahead and infer that you think that calling the 1918 virus "The Spanish Flu," is indeed racist.

Okay.

I don't think calling the coronavirus the "Wuhan Flu," is racist. I do not hate the Chinese people, or believe them to be inferior. I DO believe their government and their Marxist underpinnings pose significant threats to not only foreign nations, but to their own people. So I agree with you, the name is in the vein of geo-political strategy, but that is not synonymous with racism.

It is too bad if people cannot distinguish the difference between those two things, but this is largely at the fault of the word "racism" being used and overused as a blunt object to wield against political opponents.

But I still subscribe to "racism" as the belief that certain races are inherently superior to others. Most people outside of the American intelligentsia and progressive left have the same understanding. However as their influence increases they and they gain more control of the public sphere they get to define the discourse of more and more everyday folk.

Which is a beaver dam shame because we need the nuance to understand how political strategy and nationalism are different from racism, but we can't do that when "racism" has morphed into a catch-all term for all of the institutions and ideas you don't like.

[fides' Jack]

Irony:

https://www.history.com/news/china-epicenter-of-1918-flu-pandemic-historian-says

 

[Machine_Washable]

On 12/1/2020 at 11:54 AM, Jaime said:

that is a fair point.  I didn't realize until I researched it that 10% of school age children have grandparents in the house.  That's a lot higher than I thought it would be.  But I don't think it has to be an either or situation either.  90% could attend school while the rest do it online.  I think that would mitigate the damage being done to students (at least a bit)

We lost a distant family member because of this situation. The child got Covid and was basically a symptomatic and passed it along to an older member of the family who lived in the house and died from it.
 

It’s a very difficult situation because I’ve seen from children in my family how the schools being closed has impacted learning. It’s different from learning in a classroom and not in a good way. But a lot of families have an older relative living at home and it becomes a very dangerous situation in times like these. 
 

It really is one of those situations where there just aren’t easy answers. Both sides Cary very serious downsides. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Machine_Washable

[fides' Jack]

I just found this.  Very interesting and strong stance from some of our Protestant brothers:

https://media2.kgov.com/files/95-theses-covid-DBC-to-Jeffco-20210228.pdf-lr.pdf

[Luigi]

I'm so sick of living this way. If the Covid doesn't kill me, the pandemic will...

[tinytherese]

On 3/26/2021 at 10:47 PM, Luigi said:

I'm so sick of living this way. If the Covid doesn't kill me, the pandemic will...

 

[homeschoolmom]

On 11/21/2020 at 10:40 PM, Jaime said:

I believe teachers are essential workers.

 

come at me

Why do the education threads always die just as I get here? 

[Monoxide]

I think teachers are essential workers insofar as they are state subsidized day care to enable parents to work. Giving them any more credit than that is ridiculous and fundamentally flawed.