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Is it racist to call Covid-19 the "Wuhan Flu"?

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DrScruffleton

DrScruffleton

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Oct 26, 2017
12,548
Racist might not be the right word, I really dont know. Insensitive maybe? It really rubs me the wrong way when people say this. It seems like its always people trying to be edgy or turn it into a joke that say it this way. I was argued with earlier when I pointed it out to somebody that they should just call it "covid". Their reasoning was that its literally a flu and its literally from wuhan, so "Who cares"? is what they told me.

I looked into it more and saw that WHO had said previously that new infectious diseases or viruses should not be named after locations due to unintended negative impact.

WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases

WHO today called on scientists, national authorities and the media to follow best practices in naming new human infectious diseases to minimize unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people.
www.who.int www.who.int

What are your thoughts on this?
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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Oct 25, 2017
115,669
We already have names for it, I don't think it benefits anyone to constantly draw attention to where it came from outside of people with specific agendas trying to stir the pot and make China look like a villain.
 
mattiewheels

mattiewheels

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,107
Every time I look up info about the Spanish Flu, I think the same thing. It's funny that that became completely accepted description where today we'd have none of it.
 
KtotheRoc

KtotheRoc

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Oct 27, 2017
56,645
The WHO is right. Racism against people of Asian descent is on the rise. Trump uses such terms to pander to his racist base.
 
TheGreatMightyPoo

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Oct 25, 2017
15,070
Pointless, not racist.

It doesn't matter where it came from, we have to deal with it.

Blaming the origin isn't being proactive.
 
Cocolina

Cocolina

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Oct 28, 2017
7,988
Viruses and infections are often named after their place of origin like Zika and MERS. But this one is very specifically called SARS-CoV2, and we use the disease name "COVID-19" regularly. "Wuhan flu" is a nickname, and nicknames come with agendas.
 
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grand

grand

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Oct 25, 2017
24,972
  1. It's not a flu
  2. It's not contained solely in Wuhan
  3. Wuhan isn't even the epicenter anymore
  4. The only motivation to rename COVID19 to "Wuhan Flu" is a racist one. There is no other reason to call it that.
 
Speevy

Speevy

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Oct 26, 2017
19,351
I learned that racism doesn't require intent, but the intent behind calling it the "Wuhan flu" is nearly always to disparage the Chinese in some way. So yeah...
 

99nikniht

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,352
Racist insofar that it cause racists to be even more racist towards people of Asian descent, so I guess that makes it both pointless and racist.
 
mbpm

mbpm

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Oct 25, 2017
23,607
We have a two good names for it already.

And a cute name if you like Corvid-19.

Anything else is sketchy to me
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
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Oct 25, 2017
50,030
Wuhan flu name is out of date. We should name it after the current epicenter.
 
Dalek

Dalek

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Oct 25, 2017
38,947
The people using that term tend to be using it from a racist intent. But that being said I learned that other outbreaks like Zika were named after the areas that originated.
 
lush

lush

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Oct 26, 2017
1,803
Knoxville, TN
It already has a name. 100% of the time people going out of their way to link it with China by name have an agenda. In the US, it's a blatant admission that you're MAGA trash and best avoided.
 
Futureman

Futureman

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Oct 26, 2017
9,403
Wuhan Flu, you probably have an agenda and probably racist.

Kung Flu, piece of shit racist.
 
Excuse me

Excuse me

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Oct 30, 2017
2,020
In a sense I don't think it's necessarily racist to name viruses after places they originated. I don't consider MERS or Zika racist terms. Those names took off and I think even WHO used said names. But at this point some one using the name Wuhan Flu is just stirring the pot and probably is a racisist.
 
m_shortpants

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Oct 25, 2017
11,242
Zabo said:
In a sense I don't think it's necessarily racist to name viruses after places they originated. I don't consider MERS or Zika racist terms. Those names took off and I think even WHO used said names. But at this point some one using the name Wuhan Flu is just stirring the pot and probably is a racisist.
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Yeah there's no problem with it inherently. But the issue is that it becomes a stepping stone for xenophobia and racism, so better to not.
 
Lump

Lump

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Oct 25, 2017
16,025
Even if folks were to really try and twist their brains into saying "it cannot be racist because that's where it comes from, hurr", it already has a name. You have to put in the mental effort to call it that. It's simply racist, and contributes to Asians directly experiencing more racism.

There's literally a whole Wikipedia entry solely about the racism that people are experiencing due to the virus.

en.wikipedia.org

Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Atom Heart Mother

Atom Heart Mother

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,298
new jersey
Zabo said:
In a sense I don't think it's necessarily racist to name viruses after places they originated. I don't consider MERS or Zika racist terms. Those names took off and I think even WHO used said names. But at this point some one using the name Wuhan Flu is just stirring the pot and probably is a racisist.
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Yeah, was gonna post the same thing. Anyone using it nowadays is using it out of bad faith. They don't actually care about the name, it's just to be an ass.
 
Nome

Nome

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Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,312
NYC
You could make an argument for "Wuhan coronavirus" not being racist (under the correct circumstances) but COVID isn't a flu, so the term by design appeals to dumb racists--both to insinuate that COVID is as "mild" as a flu, and the insistence to continue using the term when the scientific community, media, and vernacular have moved past its origins.
 
uzipukki

uzipukki

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Oct 25, 2017
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Why not just use Covid, Covid-19 or Corona?
 
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

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Oct 25, 2017
76,193
Providence, RI
Yes.

And anyone who voted "no" in the poll is questionable as fuck and factually wrong.

Virtually no one actually calls this the Wuhan flu. If you are, you have a clear agenda.
 
Inquisitive_Ghost

Inquisitive_Ghost

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Oct 26, 2017
6,123
Yes. It has a proper name. Calling it "Wuhan flu" serves only to draw specific attention to the location, which contributes to the rise in hate crimes we are seeing occur against East Asian people.

Calling something "racist" is a description of effect. The effect the name "Wuhan flu" has, intentional or otherwise, is to disadvantage an ethnic group. It is, by definition, racist.
 
farmland

farmland

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Oct 30, 2017
619
Within the current conditions yes it is, because the push to add an Asian name to the disease is by Fascists.
 
Halbrand

Halbrand

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Oct 27, 2017
19,616
Isn't it "Wuhan Flu" because it started as "Wu Flu"? It's definitely racist, especially when it's inaccurate.
 
Hella

Hella

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Oct 27, 2017
23,404
Inquisitive_Ghost said:
Yes. It has a proper name. Calling it "Wuhan flu" serves only to draw specific attention to the location, which contributes to the rise in hate crimes we are seeing occur against East Asian people.

Calling something "racist" is a description of effect. The effect the name "Wuhan flu" has, intentional or otherwise, is to disadvantage an ethnic group. It is, by definition, racist.
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Threadmark this post OP.

This is the answer.
 
Version 3.0

Version 3.0

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Oct 27, 2017
11,181
In a vacuum, no. But circumstances and intentions matter. If that is what the virus was called in China, for example, and then the name became widely used by the world's medical community, that would be a different set of circumstances. And I have zero doubt that the intent of anyone using that name is to "be accurate about the virus' origin", as they claim.

If someone calls it that now, they're either racist. Or maybe a troll, I suppose.
 

Spine Crawler

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,228
its not racist per se as there are precedents calling the disease after the place of the first major outbreak. spanish flu comes into mind (which originated from US soldiers that brougght it over from america to europe). ebola is also the name of a river in congo. malaria historically was called roman fever etc.

Kungflu however seems really racist.
 
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aznpxdd

aznpxdd

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Oct 25, 2017
1,670
Kinda funny that its still referred to as the Wuhan virus in most of Asia, as there's really no real translation to Covid-19.
 
Saint of Killers

Saint of Killers

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Oct 27, 2017
2,533
Technically it isn't. However, when terms such as that and China plague (or other more blatantly offensive terms) are used by people with highly suspect motives? You know, such as playing to a nationalistic political party base. Abso-fucking-lutely it is racist.
 
Shopolic

Shopolic

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Oct 27, 2017
6,859
Don't know if it's racist or not but I don't like it. And as others said, it has already a famous name (COVID-19) and doesn't need a new name.
 
23qwerty

23qwerty

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Oct 27, 2017
1,500
what a strange question, I've never heard someone who wasn't a blatant racist say it, so probably yeah.
 
TheGreatMightyPoo

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Oct 25, 2017
15,070
Though I voted "yes" in the poll, I said it wasn't racist but changed my mind.

There is no reason to use that unless you are pointing fingers at others.

And the only people that use it are Trumpers and they're pretty much all racists.
 

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mattiewheels said:
Every time I look up info about the Spanish Flu, I think the same thing. It's funny that that became completely accepted description where today we'd have none of it.
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I believe I read that the reason it's known as the Spanish flu is that Spain was the only place that really did any news reporting on the matter and weren't keeping things quiet.
 
Timbuktu

Timbuktu

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Oct 25, 2017
5,234
Perhaps not back in January/ February and before it had an official name. Insisting on calling it that probably is based on intent.
 
Excuse me

Excuse me

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Oct 30, 2017
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Lump said:
Even if folks were to really try and twist their brains into saying "it cannot be racist because that's where it comes from, hurr", it already has a name. You have to put in the mental effort to call it that. It's simply racist, and contributes to Asians directly experiencing more racism.

There's literally a whole Wikipedia entry solely about the racism that people are experiencing due to the virus.

en.wikipedia.org

Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
To be honest even if media had only used name covid/corona these things would happen. I don't even think most racist even know Wuhan is a city, well except for the tinfoil racists. Asian people got beat up because covid came from China and anti China rhetoric has been strong for almost two decades around the globe, but especially strong in US. I think virus being connected to Wuhan is bigger issue in China. People from Wuhan are probably going to get looks long after this all goes away (if it's going to get away).

but still, anyone calling it Wuhan virus is most likely racist.
 
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