# Racism and "Wuhan virus" - only because Wuhan is a fairly well known large city? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 19, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807 "2020-03-19T15:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/81 "2020-03-20T13:16:29Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > I guess the ethnically Chinese people of Taiwan suffer from internalized racism… You uh… do realize that Taiwan and China are political rivals and have reason to lob barbs at each other, right? At any rate, all these informal names were bouncing around before a formal name was chosen. Now that there’s a formal name, there’s no reason to go back to the original raw reporting except to poke China in the eye. > [@](#): > > The Chinese propaganda machine knew well that they only had to drop the R bomb to deflect criticism away from them, and it worked. Wow, you are _this_ close to getting it. But I’m not holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/82 "2020-03-20T13:18:46Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Misleading Trump propaganda video; all clipped out of context badly hiding that most were news reports about outbreaks of coronavirus IN Wuhan or China. Such trash. Right, people shouldn’t believe their own lying eyes and ears. :rolleyes: By the way I note that “most” is not the same as “all”, so which ones that don’t fall in the “most” subgroup constitude bona fide examples? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/83 "2020-03-20T13:23:21Z")
The WHO changed its naming standards five years ago. At that time, China had no particular reason to be behind the change in naming standards, as the most recent pandemic at that time had originated in North America. And it’s not about eating “exotic animals”. Sure, this time it was from bats. But the last two times before that, it was pigs and chickens. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/84 "2020-03-20T14:04:28Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Right, people shouldn’t believe their own lying eyes and ears. :rolleyes: > > By the way I note that “most” is not the same as “all”, so which ones that don’t fall in the “most” subgroup constitude bona fide examples? Now, I’m apart of the China conspiracy for pointing the manipulative lies in that video? Congrats, you cracked the code. I’m sure as hell not going to waste a minute of my social distancing time sourcing any of the quotes in that weaselly clipped video. Just go ahead, swallow Trump’s “not coronavirus, Chinavirus” propaganda. Give him all the leeway in the world. There’s not one bar that can’t be lowed for his administration. Godforbid that he be held to a standard of competence or responsibility during a crisis. Oh, and something something China. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/85 "2020-03-20T14:35:12Z")
Oh and your own citations seem to have the exact same weaselly misleading problem I pointed out for the clipped video. > [@](#): > > As Chinese authorities struggle to contain the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, > [@](#): > > A month into the coronavirus epidemic that has swept across China, the details of the Chinese government’s political and administrative response remain highly ambiguous. > [@](#): > > Monday morning on Chinese social media platforms, which stoked worries among Chinese netizens that a neighboring country with such a lack of epidemic control and quarantine awareness could potentially repeat a similar mistake Wuhan made in the early stages of COVID-19 outbreak. > [@](#): > > This is the backdrop against which China’s coronavirus outbreak, which has sickened some 2,000 people (link in Chinese) and killed nearly 60, is unfolding in 2020 All seem to be referencing the outbreak IN China, while Trump’s usage seem to solely be based on an exercise of obfuscation and political distraction. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/86 "2020-03-20T14:44:23Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Just go ahead, swallow Trump’s “not coronavirus, Chinavirus” propaganda. Give him all the leeway in the world. There’s not one bar that can’t be lowed for his administration. Godforbid that he be held to a standard of competence or responsibility during a crisis. Oh, and something something China. And what do we call the next virus that comes out of China? Being the most populated country and (once this pandemic calms down) ships stuff all over the world, I would think that the odds are pretty good that there will be more. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/87 "2020-03-20T15:04:49Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Show me where Chairman Xi Jinping blamed the US on Covid 19? If some dork in the Trump admin or Republican congress critter or even beloved leader Trump shoots their mouth off, it’s just free speech. Some douche in China talks smack, and it’s official Chinese national conspiracy. > > Turn about is fair play, I can show you where Trump called it the [Chinese Virus](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=trump+chinese+virus&view=detail&mid=3017D441142B3318A6393017D441142B3318A639&FORM=VIRE). > > (Mao on a pogo stick, I never thought I’d have to explain this. Ain’t no love lost between me and the CCP, but eyes wide open.) Well yeah, because the CCP is just like the Trump administration wrt having a bunch of loose cannons over at state run media, their diplomatic corps, CCP officials in charge of their medical branches, etc just saying stuff without Xi having any knowledge of, and in fact that he totally disagrees with! Yup, it totally works that way…people contradict Xi all the time officially. What can a Presitator for Life do, amiright? 😛 You know better than this. If ANY person in official positions in China is saying something, Xi is well aware of it. Does he actually believe that the US was responsible? No, I’m sure he doesn’t. But then, the point of these assertions coming from several different people and various means isn’t about the truth…it’s about changing the narrative. And Xi has either approved this formally or at least has given tacit approval, because if he hadn’t those people would have been shut down. Instantly. And probably put in the same quarantine that several Chinese journalists and bloggers have been put in when they were trying to report things as they actually are in China, instead of the picture the CCP is trying to paint. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/88 "2020-03-20T15:20:04Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I truly can’t tell if the word “it” in that sentence refers to “partial birth abortion” or “Wuhan virus.” Yeah, I can see your confusion. After all, I’ve been such a constant and vocal pro-life posters (:p) and your digression is so relevant to the question BEING ASKED IN THE OP THAT I’M ACTUALLY RESPONDING TOO. Totally understandable why you would be confused… ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/89 "2020-03-20T15:22:19Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > _Everyone_ including the major media outlets, was calling it the ‘Wuhan Virus’ just a couple of weeks ago. Then the Chinese government started squawking, and suddenly calling a virus by its geographic origin is ‘problematic’, even though that’s been the standard for well over 100 years… _Everyone?_ Because the only places I’ve heard Wuhan virus is out of Trump’s mouth and on this board. But then I’m not in the US, where you seem to make up your own rules. TBH, I have no great love for the Chinese Government, wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them, but the point is that naming a virus after a place causes racist attacks against innocent people of East Asian origin, in every country across the globe, including Asian-Americans. That’s why it’s a really shitty thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/90 "2020-03-20T16:03:08Z")
I heard it when I was in the U.K. and Italy last week. It’s not a race thing it’s where it came from. Of course Trump is a flaming racist right? Jeez ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/91 "2020-03-20T16:26:02Z")
Trump is an incompetent corrupt president and an awful human being, but man, is his troll game is on point. All he does is say “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.” Trump supporters: That’s not racist! It came from China! Is Spanish flu racist!? Anti-Trumpers: We had a name for the virus! Changing it is a racist dog-whistle! Asian Americans are already being attacked! Both: Rabble! Rabble Rabble! Rabble Rabble Rabble Rabble! And just like that everyone is distracted from Trump’s bungling and denial when the virus came, and how he cut funding for the CDC and shut down the pandemic response team years ago. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/92 "2020-03-20T16:29:54Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Trump is an incompetent corrupt president and an awful human being, but man, is his troll game is on point. > > All he does is say “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.” > > Trump supporters: That’s not racist! It came from China! Is Spanish flu racist!? > > Anti-Trumpers: We had a name for the virus! Changing it is a racist dog-whistle! Asian Americans are already being attacked! > > Both: Rabble! Rabble Rabble! Rabble Rabble Rabble Rabble! > > And just like that everyone is distracted from Trump’s bungling and denial when the virus came, and how he cut funding for the CDC and shut down the pandemic response team years ago. I pointed at that too, but most of the ones from the right would prefer that it remains in the Rabble, Rabble stage. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/93 "2020-03-20T16:30:55Z")
Unless my mind is playing tricks on me, I also recall “novel coronavirus”. I suppose by now the novelty has worn off. (And I absolutely did hear early whispers to the effect of “fuck the Chinese, they’re getting what they deserve.”) BTW I have not heard random people refer to it as SARS [virus] or SARS 2. It’s pretty obvious what “coronavirus” people are talking about right now, but it remains to see how people commonly refer to it after a couple of years, since different coronavire are also responsible for SARS 1, MERS, variants of the common cold, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/94 "2020-03-20T16:31:21Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > You uh… do realize that Taiwan and China are political rivals and have reason to lob barbs at each other, right? > > At any rate, all these informal names were bouncing around before a formal name was chosen. Now that there’s a formal name, there’s no reason to go back to the original raw reporting except to poke China in the eye. > Wow, you are _this_ close to getting it. But I’m not holding my breath. So it’s OK if there’s a rivalry between the countries, as opposed to the chummy relationship between the US and China, right. There is a very good reason for Trump to poke China in the eye, it’s because China has started to flex it’s propaganda muscles to pass the blame of the pandemic to the US. [Official Communist Party publication Xinhua has published several articles questioning COVID-19’s provenance, and the state-run Global Times wrote, “As the U.S. COVID-19 situation becomes increasingly obscure, the Chinese public shares the suspicion raised by Zhao Lijian that the U.S. might be the source of the virus and that the U.S. is subject [to] questioning and is obliged to explain [its role to] the world.”](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/inside-chinas-campaign-to-blame-the-us-for-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-03-15) You don’t have a problem with China doing that? I, for one, think calling out an oppressive totalitarian regime attempting to rewrite history in their favour by pointing out that this virus currently causing enormous damage around the world did, in fact, originate in China, is a good thing. It’s not as if it’s the only time China pulls the race card to browbeat other countries over actions they disapprove, like calling the [Australian ban for people coming from China](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/australia-extends-coronavirus-ban-on-travel-from-china-into-fourth-week) (which is not the same as banning Chinese people from Australia) as [_“The border closure was enforced using the excuse of necessary epidemic quarantine, with no evidence-based justification at all. The ulterior motive is to further stoke the infamous China threat theory so as to form an international united front to isolate China.”_](https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178551.shtml) and _“It is alarming that such malevolent approaches and practices have already provoked a new resurgence of racism.”_. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/95 "2020-03-20T16:44:13Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Trump is an incompetent corrupt president and an awful human being, but man, is his troll game is on point. > > All he does is say “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.” > > Trump supporters: That’s not racist! It came from China! Is Spanish flu racist!? > > Anti-Trumpers: We had a name for the virus! Changing it is a racist dog-whistle! Asian Americans are already being attacked! > > Both: Rabble! Rabble Rabble! Rabble Rabble Rabble Rabble! > > And just like that everyone is distracted from Trump’s bungling and denial when the virus came, and how he cut funding for the CDC and shut down the pandemic response team years ago. Calling it ‘Wuhan virus’ is not racist…it’s ignorance. The official name for the virus is COVID-19. Calling it the coronavirus is also ignorance, since that is a whole family of viruses. You could call it the novel coronavirus, and you’d just be out of date. Calling it the ‘Chinese virus’ is probably just a slam, but I could see that being labeled racist. The real issue though is that it’s being called racist because the CCP is saying it is, and has manipulated people into thinking in those terms. They have been extremely successful in changing the narrative and shifting the message, from a complete CCP cluster fuck to the CCP saving the world and showing how mean people are being. And, frankly, you people are falling for it and have shifted things from even thinking about WHY this is even an issue to it being all about Trump and dog whistles and partisan politics as usual. Anyone who is pointing this out is OBVIOUSLY a Trump supporter and dog whistler or whatever because you’ve been told that’s so. If they aren’t, well, they are just racists. Way to really be critical thinkers, Straight Dope! Way to really dig into this and try and look at what’s happening! Way to be skeptical! You guys are really on top of all of this and really fighting ignorance! No way is this just the same old stupid fucking political partisan crap and slams! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/96 "2020-03-20T16:48:32Z")
Yes nothing breeds trust like name calling over a fucking virus. It has a designation - fucking well call it by its name. Then you can bray and stamp about what didn’t happen when by whatever organization you’d like. For right now drop it and fixate on flattening the curve. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/97 "2020-03-20T16:48:36Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > I heard it when I was in the U.K. and Italy last week. It’s not a race thing it’s where it came from. Of course Trump is a flaming racist right? Jeez What would you call it when he crosses out the neutral “coronavirus” and replaces it with China virus? Is it trolling, racism, or lying? What is your preferred term for the current president of the United States – troll, racist, or liar? Hey, maybe he’s all of them! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/98 "2020-03-20T16:53:24Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Calling it ‘Wuhan virus’ is not racist…it’s ignorance. The official name for the virus is COVID-19. Calling it the coronavirus is also ignorance, since that is a whole family of viruses. You could call it the novel coronavirus, and you’d just be out of date. Calling it the ‘Chinese virus’ is probably just a slam, but I could see that being labeled racist. > > The real issue though is that it’s being called racist because the CCP is saying it is, and has manipulated people into thinking in those terms. They have been extremely successful in changing the narrative and shifting the message, from a complete CCP cluster fuck to the CCP saving the world and showing how mean people are being. And, frankly, you people are falling for it and have shifted things from even thinking about WHY this is even an issue to it being all about Trump and dog whistles and partisan politics as usual. Anyone who is pointing this out is OBVIOUSLY a Trump supporter and dog whistler or whatever because you’ve been told that’s so. If they aren’t, well, they are just racists. > > Way to really be critical thinkers, Straight Dope! Way to really dig into this and try and look at what’s happening! Way to be skeptical! You guys are really on top of all of this and really fighting ignorance! No way is this just the same old stupid fucking political partisan crap and slams! > > :rolleyes: Did you mean to quote my post? What you wrote has nothing to do with my point. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/99 "2020-03-20T16:57:36Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Calling it ‘Wuhan virus’ is not racist…it’s ignorance. The official name for the virus is COVID-19. Nah- according to the [official website](https://talk.ictvonline.org/) > [@](#): > > UPDATE:The virus causing the current outbreak of coronavirus disease has been named “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” (SARS-CoV-2). The manuscript describing the name also reports the work of the ICTV _Coronaviridae_ Study Group that determined the virus belongs to the existing species, _Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus._ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807/100 "2020-03-20T17:09:12Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > How does it help to blame a buffoon like Trump more than Xi and the CCP when it was policy for the Chinese government to hide and deny the truth? Maybe calling it the CCP virus would assign blame where it rightly belongs without tarring an entire nation? Most people wouldn’t know what “CCP” stands for. Everyone was fine calling it “Coronavirus,” or COVID-19 for the disease. Those names worked perfectly well. > [@XT](#): > > The official name for the virus is COVID-19. No it’s not. COVID-19 is the disease it causes. The virus is properly called SARS-CoV-2, which is a type of coronavirus, along with its famous cousins, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, and a large number of less dangerous and less well known viruses. The make an analogy, you doubtless know that HIV is a virus, and the disease it causes is called AIDS. “Coronavirus” is like “retrovirus.” “SARS-CoV-2” is like “HIV.” “COVID-19” is like “AIDS.” (There are actually two HIVs, HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-2 is less virulent and less common but can have the same effect.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-and-wuhan-virus-only-because-wuhan-is-a-fairly-well-known-large-city/849807.md?page=6)