Is it unreasonable for a bunch of white people to debate rationale for higher proportion of BAME people dying from Covid-19?

[TGear]

I am part of a professional group on Facebook. A member has asked why people from BAME communities have a higher number of covid-19 related deaths. It's now just a bunch of white people trying to work this out. Is this totally inappropriate? I want to be sensitive to other people and acknowledge that it's not something I can relate to on a personal level, but equally I feel everyone should be asking the answer to this to support those that are disproportionately affected.

the virus was killing a higher majority of white people, can you imagine the comments if someone had come on saying a "bunch of blacks" were discussing it on FB??

Yep there would be absolute outrage. And rightly so. It cuts both ways.

A lot of people seem to have assumed that the 'profession' is science, research, or health related, but I can't see where the OP says that it is? It could be accountants, teachers, builders, outdoor instructors
Given that professional groups on social media involve people discussing topics linked to their profession I think it's fairly reasonable to conclude they're linked to Cornavirus in some way.

Either way, in the world outside of identity politics it's generally assumed that people are more than capable of having a discussion about an issue informally without needing to round up appropriate numbers.

Their professional experience would certainly help.
Doesn't necessarily mean they will understand the groups they are talking about though
They don't have to have first hand experience though.
Do counsellors have to have first hand experience to understand their clients? Do psychiatrists have to have had first hand experience to understand mental illness? Does a social worker have to have experience of being a neglectful parent or have been harmed as a child to understand?

I'm not saying first hand experiences offer nothing, but I think sometimes there's a real danger of some people placing identity politics so they look for any reason to be offended.

If there was outrage, I highly suspect you were all posting your ideas based on offensive stereotypes. I suspect OP you are being disingenous.

Given that professional groups on social media involve people discussing topics linked to their profession I think it's fairly reasonable to conclude they're linked to Cornavirus in some way.

Honestly, I don't think that is a given at all. Everyone is talking about coronavirus right now, regardless of expertise.

Do counsellors have to have first hand experience to understand their clients? Do psychiatrists have to have had first hand experience to understand mental illness? Does a social worker have to have experience of being a neglectful parent or have been harmed as a child to understand

Well - that's a whole debate, isn't it. What experiences can someone bring to a professional discussion vs a professional who has all the qualifications and work experience but hasn't 'lived' the experiences.

What experiences can someone bring to a professional discussion vs a professional who has all the qualifications and work experience but hasn't 'lived' the experiences.
Does someone have to have lived the experiences?
The world becomes a very limited place if we start using 'but you haven't walked in my shoes' as a challenge to entirely reasonable discussion. Nobody has walked in everyone's shoes even if they share a characteristic in common.

Personally if people are in the health professions or biological sciences or related areas I couldn't give a damn if they have lived my experiences if they're trying to prevent me dying of Coronavirus.

I'm not entirely convinced that Coronavirus cares about people's lives experiences.

I'm not entirely convinced that Coronavirus cares about people's lives experiences

People's life experiences probably determine the chances of getting Coronavirus and the impact of it on you though.

Personally if people are in the health professions or biological sciences or related areas I couldn't give a damn if they have lived my experiences if they're trying to prevent me dying of Coronavirus

Their experiences might help them understand the conditions certain groups live in and behaviour which increases the chances of catching it and their chances of surviving it.

Given that professional groups on social media involve people discussing topics linked to their profession I think it's fairly reasonable to conclude they're linked to Cornavirus in some way.

Coronavirus is kind of a hot topic in general, on every form of social media, and many of us are now talking to colleagues via social media instead of in-person. They might be in a profession that is related to this, but they might also just be wondering about all this and want to canvass the opinions of their usual colleagues.

Either way, in the world outside of identity politics it's generally assumed that people are more than capable of having a discussion about an issue informally without needing to round up appropriate numbers.

Yeees, but sometimes in group discussions, where something important is being discussed that doesn't actually affect anyone within the group, one can see an insensitive tone developing.

Over the course of a discussion, participants can begin to treat an issue that impacts horribly on other people's lives as merely a matter of intellectual interest, because they don't have a stake in it. If you are a lurker or come in to the thread when it's halfway through, it looks far less like 'objectivity' and more like horribly distasteful intellectual posturing.

I've seen it with a fair few issues, and probably participated in it myself at other times. (Although I try very, very hard not to slip into that kind of thing now.)

Anyway, it may be that which the OP was reacting to.

Any group discussing on a platform such as Facebook is certainly not professional.

It's a very odd choice of platform for a professional discussion.

It could be but it won't be obvious to a group who doesn't experience it.

Are you suggesting you only consider racism a thing if you’ve experienced it yourself?

Wow - I came back on this thread as the poor nurse (not working) who developed coronavirus was black and the 13 year old that died was Asian decent. Both young, healthy people, not exposed to massive viral load.
Race is a consideration in many health conditions. I'm an Optometrist and for example glaucoma is significantly more common in black populations, tends to progress quicker and causes more visual loss - I would firstly refer at a lower eye pressure than I would a white person and say in a referral that black people are more likely to suffer visual loss and that the referral should be quicker (in case the triager has forgotten).
In the case of macular degeneration, white people with blue eyes, who smoke suffer more. Our referral pathways are more fixed, but they generally have more visual loss.

Anyway, the suggestion that racial phenotyping when it comes to disease is wrong, is wrong in itself as we need to find the people that are more affected by disease and target them first.