Why is calling Coronavirus 'China Virus' considered racist?

[Sanghyeok]

And yet there's documented cases of individuals of Japanese and Korean extraction being on the receiving end of hate crimes over this too.

Quite a few people cannot even tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

And yet there's documented cases of individuals of Japanese and Korean extraction being on the receiving end of hate crimes over this too.

Quite a few people cannot even tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese.

I myself confuse Japanese people with Koreans and vice versa. So instead of outright asking, or assuming, I just listen to the language they speak. I can’t always tell Asians apart upon first seeing them. That probably sounds awful but it’s what happens to me.

[-Ocelot-]

China isn't the entirety of Asia.

(at least not yet)

except non Chinese asian-americans still get attacked.

Why? Aren't they Americans?

[Albrenia]

except non Chinese asian-americans still get attacked.

Why? Aren't they Americans?

Because some people see an ethnically Asian person and assume 'Chinese or Japanese'.

[Kowani]

except non Chinese asian-americans still get attacked.

Why? Aren't they Americans?

Turns out, racists don't care what country is on your passport-they only care what you look like.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

except non Chinese asian-americans still get attacked.

Why? Aren't they Americans?

Lemme give you an example to answer that question. Right after 9/11, Muslim Americans were targeted. The president at the time had to come out and address the population, asking them to calm down. Fear makes people irrational. Being American doesn’t save you from it. If you share a trait with those who committed a crime or, in this case, have a hand in the spread of a deadly virus, some will, out of fear, and unable to discern, try to pin it on you.

[Sanghyeok]

Turns out, racists don't care what country is on your passport-they only care what you look like.

They're pretty bad at that too.

[Imperium of Dragonia]

We know why Trump and his fanbase use it despite it being the wrong name for the virus, and it's not racism. He wants to look like he's 'tough on China' while not doing anything about it, and wants to put up smoke to obscure the fact that many thousands of Americans are dead from his poor handling of the pandemic.

It’s a deflection technique. Pin it on China, what’s happening on the US. Get off the hook for not doing his job. And while China is to blame for staying mum about the virus, the minute it got to the US, it was this administration’s job along with governors to do something. That can’t be pinned on China.

Hey remember when Trump ordered all traffic to and from China to be halted due to the virus, then everyone, especially Blue Checkmarks, the WHO, and Biden, called him a xenophobe for attempting something like that for "no reason" over a disease that's "less dangerous and infectious than the average flu"? Remember when they, two weeks later, blasted Trump for "not doing anything about the virus", completely forgetting what they just said? I know I do.

[Kowani]

It’s a deflection technique. Pin it on China, what’s happening on the US. Get off the hook for not doing his job. And while China is to blame for staying mum about the virus, the minute it got to the US, it was this administration’s job along with governors to do something. That can’t be pinned on China.

Hey remember when Trump ordered all traffic to and from China to be halted due to the virus, then everyone, especially Blue Checkmarks, the WHO, and Biden, called him a xenophobe for attempting something like that for "no reason" over a disease that's "less dangerous and infectious than the average flu"? Remember when they, two weeks later, blasted Trump for "not doing anything about the virus", completely forgetting what they just said? I know I do.

Hey, remember when the strain of the virus that caused the most deaths came from Italy and Trump did nothing about that for a whole month after he banned travel from China? (a ban that still let thousands of people in)
crazy stuff

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

It’s a deflection technique. Pin it on China, what’s happening on the US. Get off the hook for not doing his job. And while China is to blame for staying mum about the virus, the minute it got to the US, it was this administration’s job along with governors to do something. That can’t be pinned on China.

Hey remember when Trump ordered all traffic to and from China to be halted due to the virus, then everyone, especially Blue Checkmarks, the WHO, and Biden, called him a xenophobe for attempting something like that for "no reason" over a disease that's "less dangerous and infectious than the average flu"? Remember when they, two weeks later, blasted Trump for "not doing anything about the virus", completely forgetting what they just said? I know I do.

I also remember him downplaying the danger until he was forced to admit it on national TV. And how he keeps downplaying it now, even after he supposedly had it himself. Not just him, apparently his wife and teen son too.

The WHO, Blue Checkmarks and anything else not withstanding, this emergency was not handled properly at the fed level. And many governors acted like idiots too.

[Greed and Death]

President Trump has often referred to the Coronavirus as 'China Virus' or 'Kung Flu' or even 'Wuhan Virus' for which he has been criticised on the grounds of racism. Racism can be viewed as systemic and active structural discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity. It differs from stereotype and prejudice in that it is the outward and practical manifestation of the same. In this context, calling coronavirus as 'China Virus' or 'Kung Flu' may be considered racist because it perpetuates the cause of the virus being those from the Asian American community (in the US) or from China. It may perpetuate the member of such community to be victim of hate crime.

However, merely calling the Coronavirus as 'China Virus' is not racist because:

1. The virus originated form Wuhan, China. Often the organisms are named on the basis of the place they were discovered/originated from eg., the New Delhi Super Bug.

2. Even though the WHO has named the virus, in common parlance, diseases are often referred to in terms of the places eg., Spanish flu.

3. Calling it the China virus is not aggression against the Chinese but merely a reiteration of the responsibility that China must bear in being the originating country of the virus and then deliberately obfuscating facts and manipulating data, not to mention its attempt to hide/downplay the outbreak initially.

4. It emphasises that China must be held responsible for the current state of global economy and receding of millions into the state of poverty and hunger, potentially reversing hard gained global efforts in these areas.

5. There is no evidence that calling it the 'Wuhan Virus', the 'China Virus', or 'kung flu' has led to rise in incidence of hate crime against Asian Americans or the Chinese.

6. Terminology depicting racial characters are often in Medicine without prejudice to any community for eg., Mongoloid facies in Thalessemia.

Still, do you think that calling the virus by such terms should be considered racist? How do you counter the above arguments?

Because of how it was used.

[Diarcesia]

Hey remember when Trump ordered all traffic to and from China to be halted due to the virus, then everyone, especially Blue Checkmarks, the WHO, and Biden, called him a xenophobe for attempting something like that for "no reason" over a disease that's "less dangerous and infectious than the average flu"? Remember when they, two weeks later, blasted Trump for "not doing anything about the virus", completely forgetting what they just said? I know I do.

I also remember him downplaying the danger until he was forced to admit it on national TV. And how he keeps downplaying it now, even after he supposedly had it himself. Not just him, apparently his wife and teen son too.

The WHO, Blue Checkmarks and anything else not withstanding, this emergency was not handled properly at the fed level. And many governors acted like idiots too.

But hey, that's states rights!

[Vassenor]

It’s a deflection technique. Pin it on China, what’s happening on the US. Get off the hook for not doing his job. And while China is to blame for staying mum about the virus, the minute it got to the US, it was this administration’s job along with governors to do something. That can’t be pinned on China.

Hey remember when Trump ordered all traffic to and from China to be halted due to the virus, then everyone, especially Blue Checkmarks, the WHO, and Biden, called him a xenophobe for attempting something like that for "no reason" over a disease that's "less dangerous and infectious than the average flu"? Remember when they, two weeks later, blasted Trump for "not doing anything about the virus", completely forgetting what they just said? I know I do.

So we're ignoring all the times Trump declared it to be just like the flu and that the Democrats were blowing it out of proportion to deflect attention from the impeachment? And all the times Trump and company undermined individual states' attempts to handle the virus themselves?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I also remember him downplaying the danger until he was forced to admit it on national TV. And how he keeps downplaying it now, even after he supposedly had it himself. Not just him, apparently his wife and teen son too.

The WHO, Blue Checkmarks and anything else not withstanding, this emergency was not handled properly at the fed level. And many governors acted like idiots too.

But hey, that's states rights!

Er, what?

[The Black Forrest]

It’s a deflection technique. Pin it on China, what’s happening on the US. Get off the hook for not doing his job. And while China is to blame for staying mum about the virus, the minute it got to the US, it was this administration’s job along with governors to do something. That can’t be pinned on China.

Hey remember when Trump ordered all traffic to and from China to be halted due to the virus, then everyone, especially Blue Checkmarks, the WHO, and Biden, called him a xenophobe for attempting something like that for "no reason" over a disease that's "less dangerous and infectious than the average flu"? Remember when they, two weeks later, blasted Trump for "not doing anything about the virus", completely forgetting what they just said? I know I do.

Actually that is a fabrication. Chinese nationals were blocked....well with exceptions. Many others were allowed in. A friend is Chinese and was visiting china when this went down. He expected to be quarantined for 2 weeks. Didn’t happen.

The flu is more dangerous? Seriously? You believe that?

[Tokora]

Because us white Americans are collectively too stupid to realize that Chinese Americans aren't PRC sleeper agents so when China's blamed we go to our locally sourced scapegoats.

[The Black Forrest]

Because us white Americans are collectively too stupid to realize that Chinese Americans aren't Chinese sleeper agents so when China's blamed we go to our locally sourced scapegoats.

Only a sleeper agent would suggest that!

[Borderlands of Rojava]

And yet there's documented cases of individuals of Japanese and Korean extraction being on the receiving end of hate crimes over this too.

Quite a few people cannot even tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese.

It's like when a Sicilian guy gets brutally beaten cause "You 9/11'd America"

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Because us white Americans are collectively too stupid to realize that Chinese Americans aren't Chinese sleeper agents so when China's blamed we go to our locally sourced scapegoats.

It's funny how last year Asians were seen as a model minority and this year many people think they're all Chinese agents.

BTW it isn't all white peoples fault. Alot of the attacks have been perpetrated by black and Latino folks, communities with a less than stellar relationship overall with Asian Americans.

[Vassenor]

Quite a few people cannot even tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese.

It's like when a Sicilian guy gets brutally beaten cause "You 9/11'd America"

Or more tragically the cases of Sikhs and Hindus murdered in reprisal attacks.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

It's like when a Sicilian guy gets brutally beaten cause "You 9/11'd America"

Or more tragically the cases of Sikhs and Hindus murdered in reprisal attacks.

We all remember that one sikh temple shooting. That was a really awful attack and it happened during a celebration at the temple.

[Tokora]

Because us white Americans are collectively too stupid to realize that Chinese Americans aren't Chinese sleeper agents so when China's blamed we go to our locally sourced scapegoats.

Only a sleeper agent would suggest that!

As a White I'd be accused of being a Russian agent, not Chinese (though personally I would've liked to have been Cuban or Yugoslavian).

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Only a sleeper agent would suggest that!

As a White I'd be accused of being a Russian agent, not Chinese (though personally I would've liked to have been Cuban or Yugoslavian).

Are you eastern European? In the 50s they might think you're a soviet spy.

[Tokora]

As a White I'd be accused of being a Russian agent, not Chinese (though personally I would've liked to have been Cuban or Yugoslavian).

Are you eastern European? In the 50s they might think you're a soviet spy.

Western, but I consider myself a Titoist (with some minor variation to ideology) at heart. Besides, Mccarthy was accusing everybody, the difference is I actually am red, or at least a very dark pink. The Soviets and PRC were fascists that completely sabotaged the true left from coming to power outside Tito.

Ideological rant aside though White Americans have a very bad habit of accusing the refugee of being the tyranny they were fleeing.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Are you eastern European? In the 50s they might think you're a soviet spy.

Western, but I consider myself a Titoist (with some minor variation to ideology) at heart.

Eh a commie was a commie in mid-20th century America.