COVID Naming Controversy

you can just call it covid-19 instead of the insert racist nickname here for it and then discuss where the origin it may be from. those two things are not mutually exclusive. hell, the spanish flu is generally not thought to be originated in spain but they were the only ones talking about because the other countries had a gag on discussing it.

You got downvoted but that's essentially what happened with Covid. You're not even allowed to say the original name anymore [1][2].[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidenti

Honestly, I think it's a deflection from calling it the UK variant. Calling it the Chinese virus or the South African virus can be perceived as having racist overtones and could also imply that the disease was caused by being simply being Chinese or South African. This could offend someone of said origin, offend someone on behalf of people of those origins, or not offend someone at all. Your next question is probably, "Why was it okay to call the 1918 pandemic the Spanish Flu?" I

It's not the name.It's the WAY Trump et al said it + their political motivations & bias. Context is very important."ChiNe A", almost the verbal version of slanting your eyes with your fingers.And the more obvious 'kung flu.'For what it's worth I've read that there has been attempts to reframe virus names from using state names as to not cast blame (though 'blame' is muddled in this case if it was leaked or worse GOF->leak).&

Your meaning is presumably the opposite of what you say: that since the 1918 influenza was and is commonly called "the Spanish flu", it's unreasonable to complain at certain politicians calling the current pandemic something like "the Chinese virus".I agree with the analogy, but I think it goes the other way.The "Spanish flu" was, so far as anyone can tell, not originally from Spain, nor was it especially bad there. It got called "the Spanish

I think intent matters here. Spanish Flu is from so long ago it already has a universal name, whereas I think referring to COVID-19 as the Chinese virus is usually only done by people who'd like to blame China.

Maybe not, but this disease is not named "Wuhan", it's named COVID-19. Insisting that we call a virus by a different name to try to blame a specific region when the rest of the world has decided to call it something else... I dunno, that smells off to me.

I don't get the logic behind terming "China virus" as malicious use, while we call past viruses names such as "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome" and "Spanish flu" and "Japanese encephalitis". The only difference between one and the rest is that its host country it was named after raised a ruckus about it in a highly biased and obliging media under a belligerent president, while the other countries either did not care enough in the past or in the prese

We don't name viruses after geographic locations anymore to avoid stigmatization. I don't know why you all wants to hold on to such an unnecessary practice, especially when so many viruses and diseases were named based on an incorrect origin.

Nobody said that those who use the term "Chinese virus" are necessarily racists. That's beside the point; in my other reply to this subthread, I linked a StackExchange thread which has good responses to why "Chinese virus" should not be considered OK, even considering previous namings as "Spanish flu", including those from experts (such as the WHO). The influenza epidemic of 2009 started in the US. Nobody calls that "North American virus".