Boris will pull through because he's a "fighter"

[HavelockVetinari]

AIBU to find this extremely offensive? Are the thousands of people who've died of Covid dead because they just didn't fight hard enough?

Not acceptable, Raab.

@knittingaddict - I have been in this world a long time, and I am not easily offended. I don't need to "go away and think about it for 5 minutes and then perhaps you'll see why this stock phrase upsets people" I am the sort of person who doesn't analyse everything people say and try to work out the meaning of it. It is a commonly used phrase and it doesn't imply to me that someone who dies didn't fight. To be honest people who find such things offensive irritate me - there are much bigger issues to worry about, now and at any time, than a stock phrase.

@eaglejulesk There are basically always bigger things to worry about, so that argument is meaningless.

No one personally cares what does or doesn't irritate you. You are allowed to be irritated, others are allowed to be offended. That's how the world works, but it is quite funny that you are so huffy about it as though your irritation trumps other people's feeling of offence.

It's a term of phrase I also find very distasteful, because it so easily parses as a "yeah well YOUR loved one who died of x just didn't work hard enough not to die".

So OP, YANBU.

However, the Conservative party isn't where I'd look for politicians who think about the wider social implications of banal phrases. Dominic Raab has probably never said "I think [insert word/phrase] is problematic because..." in his entire life!

twitter.com/garnob/status/1248005996468826112?s=21
If you can access this, it's a tweet showing Emily Maitlis talking about this exact thing on Newsnight last night.
You don't beat the virus because of your personality.
Our poorest paid are the most exposed to the virus and our poorest paid are most likely to be negatively affected by the inevitable economic downturn.

I dont think its hysterical. I hate the phrase too!

Be prepared for more fighting and wartime metaphors and turns of phrase. Would be entirely unconnected to any political desire to represent the deaths, and especially the deaths of HCPs, to be casualties of war and heroic rather than due to government's decisions about PPE and testing for the last few months.

Would be entirely unconnected to any political desire to represent the deaths, and especially the deaths of HCPs, to be casualties of war and heroic rather than due to government's decisions about PPE and testing for the last few months.

I think it's also because the government stuck too rigidly and for too long to the advice to only test people who had been overseas in an infected region' or who had had contact with a confirmed case'.

Hence on March 6th, we called 111 about our DD2 (8), who had a high temperature, headache, chest pains and was really achy and distressed. They told us to bring her into our local A&E, which we did. Not only did they stick to the standard questions, but there was no protective equipment in sight. DD2 was diagnosed with an 'upper respiratory infection'.

DD2 had it badly for 4 days. Two days afterwards, I went down with COVID-19 symptoms. So yes I'm angry. Not just for us, but for the consequences for a lot of other people.

They did do the right thing in the end, with regards to implementing lockdown measures, but they were licking the stable door after the horse had bolted.

And it's so bad that they still haven't provided all the PPE needed.

It's a bad turn of phrase. I much preferred "clap for Boris". genius!

Oh hats of OP, I can’t bear that phrase. Even worse is the battling cancer one. Did my friend die in her forties because she just couldn’t be arsed to fight. Makes my blood boil.

I agree with whoever said words DO matter and he could have said ‘Boris has got a really positive attitude to his recovery’ or something but being a ‘fighter’ or ‘battling a disease’ is just fucking awful.

It's a meaningless and thoughtless comment but he obviously isn't meaning what op is implying But should the man who is effectively running the country at the moment stand up at a press conference and make thoughtless comments? Someone said on TV yesterday that Raab has a brilliant mind, I nearly choked. The man who had a revelation when he visited Dover and realised it was an important route for goods coming into the country and could be a problem. Who'd have thought it a large ferry point being important in the supply chain and traffic jams round a ferry port. Yes he's a genius.

Yanbu. If you’re not positive or brave enough you’ll die? Stupid phrase. My DM really didn’t want to die from cancer, she didn’t feel brave, she really had no choice but definitely wanted to stay alive. Did it make a difference? No.

It's a stupid expression. I also hate though that we are being told that Boris will be fine because he is "fit and healthy". As if! He is obviously overweight and also looks pasty and unlike he has a healthy diet

I agree @lynsey that he does not look fit or healthy. He looks like a candidate for high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, especially given the nature of his job.

It is not only a stupid and potentially offensive phrase: during a pandemic it is actually dangerous.

If we know one thing about how MPs have handled the contagion as individuals it is that they have been incredibly reckless: exposing themselves to people with symptoms, refusing to withdraw from public life, or even take basic precautions, after they knew they might be infected, refusing to keep their distance even after they were showing full symptoms. Because they really believed they themselves had qualities that meant they could not come to harm.

Even if they are individually lucky enough to pull through, other people may well die from being exposed to them, people will almost certainly die from their example.

And it is part of a whole belief system where if you are the right kind of person, these things can't touch you. Boris only needs to be the right kind of fighter, and his corona won't be like other people's corona.

There has a been a plethora of comments from their circles about how surprising they find it that this disease takes no account of person. They really thought it would. And that the people who would die would be the losers who didn't really deserve to live anyway. Old people- but not of course our own old people. People with underlying health conditions- but surely not an overweight, overdrinking, possibly drug-taking PM. Surely not the Real Fighters.

If they had really thought people they felt mattered might die, they'd have been off the mark a lot quicker. And yes, morally that is wrong. They ought to feel, as human beings, that all human beings matter. But since they don't and won't, we'd all be a lot safer without this special fighter discourse around disease.

they were licking the stable door after the horse had bolted.

You probably don't want to be doing that in this current climate....

The updates are meant to reassure the public. Please try not to take personal offence. My opinion is that whatever updates are given, someone is going to be offended by the words used, frequency of updates, be offended that how dare Boris got a hospital bed/oxygen etc.

Haha, oh dear! 🤣😃 'Locking' I meant.

He is obviously overweight and also looks pasty and unlike he has a healthy diet

What do you mean by pasty? I don't know if you intended it that way, but it's a slur that's often levelled at people purely because of their naturally pale skin which is apparently 'unacceptable'. I would have hoped that, in 2020, we would be long over insulting people because of the natural colour of their skin, however pale, dark or anywhere in between.

Haha, oh dear! 🤣😃 'Locking' I meant.

Sorry, couldn't let that wonderful typo go without comment

As far as I’m aware, stable doors don’t have anti viral properties

Ps I’ve stolen part of this phrase from someone, anyone know who?

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. I agree, I'll have to tell my DH, he'll love that one. 🤣

I loathe that phrase. When my dear sister died of liver cancer, did she not "fight" hard enough ?

Words do matter, in terms of how a range of different people interpret them. War metaphors aren't helpful.

www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/beyond-the-battle-far-from-the-frontline-a-call-for-alternative-ways-of-talking-about-covid-19

Beyond the battle, far from the frontline: a call for alternative ways of talking about Covid-19

Two Lancaster University linguistics experts have launched an appeal for examples of inspirational non-war-related metaphors which encourage people to stick to the rules while enabling them to have hope.

Dr Veronika Koller and Professor Elena Semino are seeking alternatives to the war metaphors heard on a daily basis.

Since the beginning of the global Covid-19 crisis, politicians and commentators have resorted to war metaphors to describe the virus, its impact and measures taken in response.

However, as linguists who have worked in healthcare communication, Professor Semino and Dr Koller are also aware that metaphors are ways of seeing one thing in terms of another, and that no single metaphor can capture the full complexity of a condition, let alone a global pandemic.

“Some aspects of hostile language such as ‘the fight against the coronavirus’ help to communicate how serious the situation is, and can foster a spirit of solidarity in the face of an external threat,” said Professor Semino.

“But some features of the war metaphor may actually have adverse effects in that they lead to anxiety or indeed aggression towards people who may be seen as guilty of causing or spreading the virus.

“We know from the literature on public health communication that war metaphors are ill-equipped to make people abstain from their usual behaviours.

“This is particularly relevant in the Covid-19 crisis, where whole populations are required to passively stay at home.”

Yes, he is...