AD1184
Celestial
In an editorial, the formerly prestigious scientific journal Nature has issued a grovelling apology (to no one in particular) for 'associating' the SARS-Cov-2 virus with Wuhan and China.
Stop the coronavirus stigma now
Nature has no evidence that its own previous use of language has fuelled any racism or stigma. Stupid people react to facts stupidly. It is by their nature of being stupid. The correct response to this behaviour is not to pretend that the facts are otherwise, as Nature seems to favour. Its credibility as a scientific journal is at stake if it claims that pointing out that an event did in fact occur in a location 'fuels racism and discrimination', and for this reason becomes an 'error'.
I wonder if there might be a sinister hand behind all of this. It has been pointed out that the Chinese state holds an inordinate sway over the World Health Organization, a body which used to be consistently critical of China's management of infectious disease until there was a diplomatic bust-up, and there were a few organizational changes and successive heads sympathetic to China were appointed. A body which now consistently praises China's management of infectious disease, despite little of its attitude actually changing.
Since 2015, the WHO has gone on a crusade against 'stigma' associated with disease pandemics by giving new viruses names which bear no relation to locations, peoples, nations or species of animal. One country in the world has a particularly strong association with diseases of pandemic potential, owing to state-sanctioned agricultural and economic practices.
One wonders to what extent that has informed the WHO's opinion that the 'stigma' associated with mentioning where viruses are first known to originate is to be avoided at all costs. One wonders to what extent this influence holds over other institutions around the globe one might have thought were independent.
It is in the Chinese state's interest to confuse the historical record of where this pandemic originated and how it was initially dealt with by them. It is also compelling to useful Western idiots for China to dress this up under the guise of fighting racism and national stigma. Couched in those terms, these people will do China's work for them.
Stop the coronavirus stigma now
What exactly is meant by 'erroneously [...] associating the virus with Wuhan and with China'? What on earth could they possibly think makes this association 'erroneous'? Is it an error to point out that the first outbreak of the disease was there? Is that what they mean? Since when is it an error to correctly state factual, correct and truthful things? If one is to maintain that this is not what they are saying here, then why did they not state exactly what they mean in a more forthright manner, rather than this mealy-mouthed nonsense?Stop the coronavirus stigma now
The pandemic is fuelling deplorable racism and discrimination, especially against Asian people. Education and research will also pay the price.
When the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in February that the disease caused by the new coronavirus would be called COVID‑19, the name was quickly adopted by organizations involved in communicating public-health information. As well as naming the illness, the WHO was implicitly sending a reminder to those who had erroneously been associating the virus with Wuhan and with China in their news coverage— including Nature. That we did so was an error on our part, for which we take responsibility and apologize.
Nature has no evidence that its own previous use of language has fuelled any racism or stigma. Stupid people react to facts stupidly. It is by their nature of being stupid. The correct response to this behaviour is not to pretend that the facts are otherwise, as Nature seems to favour. Its credibility as a scientific journal is at stake if it claims that pointing out that an event did in fact occur in a location 'fuels racism and discrimination', and for this reason becomes an 'error'.
I wonder if there might be a sinister hand behind all of this. It has been pointed out that the Chinese state holds an inordinate sway over the World Health Organization, a body which used to be consistently critical of China's management of infectious disease until there was a diplomatic bust-up, and there were a few organizational changes and successive heads sympathetic to China were appointed. A body which now consistently praises China's management of infectious disease, despite little of its attitude actually changing.
Since 2015, the WHO has gone on a crusade against 'stigma' associated with disease pandemics by giving new viruses names which bear no relation to locations, peoples, nations or species of animal. One country in the world has a particularly strong association with diseases of pandemic potential, owing to state-sanctioned agricultural and economic practices.
One wonders to what extent that has informed the WHO's opinion that the 'stigma' associated with mentioning where viruses are first known to originate is to be avoided at all costs. One wonders to what extent this influence holds over other institutions around the globe one might have thought were independent.
It is in the Chinese state's interest to confuse the historical record of where this pandemic originated and how it was initially dealt with by them. It is also compelling to useful Western idiots for China to dress this up under the guise of fighting racism and national stigma. Couched in those terms, these people will do China's work for them.
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