Hate for people based on variant

[allmixedup12]

Before I start, for context I am a mixed race brit with British-Indian parents. I live in London and think it is an incredible place to be able to live and work.

Here is my issue - My father recently died of COVID19 in India, so I rushed from the UK to Delhi to be with my mom. It was sudden and devastating, and we are slowly trying to heal. However, we are grateful he did not suffer for long and have tried to make sense of it all. The situation in the country is truly appalling with so many senseless deaths. I am with my mother as long as it will take to help her heal and then return to the UK. Dont worry I have already recovered from COVID and wont pose a risk to anyone back home!

However, I have recently noticed a trend in the UK media which I find very disturbing and it is making me very uncomfortable to read some articles. Soon after the pandemic took force in India in April, the UK government put India on the red list, which I guess was understandable to protect the public health. UK was one of the first countries to do this, well ahead of the US and many european countries. So while the UK media goes to town on Johnson and co, they were reasonably fast compared to most others.

However, i note that my iphone news feed from most major news outlets - BBC, The telegraph and guardian - have a constant stream of articles about "indian variant" - the tone of many articles smacks of racism to me and it is really bothering me.

Travel restrictions aside, more recently the amount of media noise and articles quoting the "indian variant" as the source of all evil in the UK seems to be rife. Little known detail is that the increase in many parts of the UK has nothing to do with this variant as clarified here - www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-variants-genomically-confirmed-case-numbers/variants-distribution-of-cases-data

This feels very much like a vitrolic building up against Indian-origin people to me. I guess chinese/east asian origin people may have felt this way in Feb/March 20.

Sure, there is a variant and it was first detected in India. But there is so much media reporting which constantly keeps talking the variant as being Indian, it is almost as if the Indians all got together and came up with a variant to make the worlds life a misery (rest assured it is hurting people in India more than anyone else).

The WHO have also cautioned against naming variants in this manner because it is accusatory to the country where it is first detected - it could easily have been imported into the country from elsewhere.

On top of this, why call the variants as "Indian" or "Brazilian" but the virus is not called "Chinese". Two wrongs do not make a right, so i do not think it should be the Chinese virus, but I also think "Indian variant" demonizes Indians, "Brazilian variant" demonizes Brazilians. I am also curious why the variants detected in the UK are named according to local areas such as "Kent" but not british. Ironically, I live in Kent.

There is also no sympathy for British citizens who have ties to India and who have no choice but to travel to India to fulfil their duties as sons/daughters/grandchildren/nieces/nephews etc. So many people went to India to care/grieve for their dying/dead family members - and the media seems to be baying for blood as if to never let those brits ever come back to the UK and close the shutters. See article below as context

www.lbc.co.uk/news/revealed-over-100-direct-flights-from-india-landed-in-uk-since-country-was-place/

Sure many brits may not have international ties, but so many people who live in the UK do - it is such an extraordinarily global place. In this day and age, how can people act as if having the necessity to travel abroad is frivolous should somehow be stopped/punished and it is somehow bad...brits do not come in one shape and size i.e. white british with all family in buckhingamshire ffs

Just feel completely disillusioned. is this how you all feel about the news reporting/general feel on social media or AIBU?

@KurtWilde

I suppose the worry is that people don't quarantine properly after returning from India.

To the best of my knowledge, This is not possible as you have to book and pay for hotel before you reach UK border and you're shepherded to the hotel in a bus and you have to stay in the room for 10 days - while security guards roam the hotel

www.bbc.com/news/business-56095362
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/quarantine-hotels-uk-rules-who-pays-what-2021-countries-how-work/

should watch briefing from Nicola Sturgeon from yesterday, she stated she wasn't going to call it the Indian variant and would henceforth refer to it as the April02 variant, probably to appease the forever offended, and not upset her Glasgow constituency where a large proportion of residents are from and/or have links to the Indian subcontinent. Meanwhile, she kept referencing the Kent variant

@BoodlesPoodle

I’m very sorry to hear about your father. You did the right thing to go to support your mother.

YANBU

In Australia, we only refer to the UK variant.

But, in Australia - this has been the only time Australian citizens were forbidden to return to their own country from India (with jail penalties if they did). Australia did not do this at the time other variants were taking off.

There was no justification for the new rule for India - which has now lapsed. The only reason for treating India flights (for Australian nationals) differently was ...racism.

While I completely agree Australia was racist in how they handled their nationals travelling back from India, the same cannot be said for UK. I don't believe UK have treated Indians any differently from nationals of any other country where covid is spreading rapidly with new mutations

All the people going on about the UK not closing their boarders? What’s that got to do with the OP’s post or indeed her very sad situation? She is not the UK immigration decision maker, she is not Priti Patel.

@allmixedup12 so I completely sympathise with what you've said in terms of a country named variant. The understanding of the distress this causes minority groups would never truly be understood by those who haven't been subjected to racial targeted comments or innuendos. If we look at the whole BLM/Respect and inclusion conversations that have gone on in the past year, we've tried to get across examples to which have been on the surface accepted, with conversations like 'oh where are you from?' 'England' 'yeah but where are you really from?'. I look back to SARS and everyone treated east Asians like dirt. Look to covid and everyone has called east Asians as 'dirty' and 'animals'. I understand that it's easier to call the variant out as the country of origin and there isn't really an easier way to call it, but I don't think everyone appreciates how this makes these communities feel.

The negative press which I have seen is due to the Indian government having sat on their hands and not actually done anything until the proverbial shit hit the fan in their own country and now it’s too late and spreading globally. That’s the only message that I am seeing or hearing about it via the press but I haven’t read anything vitriolic or racist toward the people.

Is this a post where your citing racism but it’s actually just criticism? The government is getting criticised but that’s completely reasonable given the state of the country and the affect it has on others outside India? It would be the same for anywhere.

@allmixedup12 but as far as I'm aware though people coming from red band countries are mixing with those from green and amber. Surely it just makes better sense to not allow any travel to and from a country in red band.

[quote Nesski]**@allmixedup12* so I completely sympathise with what you've said in terms of a country named variant. The understanding of the distress this causes minority groups would never truly be understood by those who haven't been subjected to racial targeted comments or innuendos. If we look at the whole BLM/Respect and inclusion conversations that have gone on in the past year, we've tried to get across examples to which have been on the surface accepted, with conversations like 'oh where are you from?' 'England' 'yeah but where are you really* from?'. I look back to SARS and everyone treated east Asians like dirt. Look to covid and everyone has called east Asians as 'dirty' and 'animals'. I understand that it's easier to call the variant out as the country of origin and there isn't really an easier way to call it, but I don't think everyone appreciates how this makes these communities feel.[/quote]
there have been Indians on this thread (myself included) who do not find “Indian variant” to be offensive. Please do not speak for everyone in “these communities”

@allmixedup12

I agree with many posters here that freewheeling travel without restrictions cannot be allowed and despite the costs involved, I can see the logic for the quarantine system to go back home

My concern has been about the hostility with which UK media is portraying the fact that a flight channel is open to go to India - despite the strict quarantine measures being in place. Maybe I am seeing it in a particular way given the situation...

Don’t doubt yourself. You know what this is.

@WickedQueen

covid19 should be called the Chinese virus...which is clearly insane, at least from my vantage point

I don’t think it’s that insane 🤷🏻‍♀️ I mean I’m not wandering around calling it the Chinese virus myself, but that’s where it came from. What’s the issue with speaking about that?

I’m sorry about your dad, that’s awful

Did you call SARS, MERS etc by their country of origin name?

I don’t refer to Covid as the Chinese virus. I don’t however agree that it’s racist to do so. No right thinking person holds it against any Chinese person they see.

It is racist because it’s a departure from the norm.

It’s stifling. How can we ever learn from it or stop it happening again if we aren’t allowed to talk about where and how it originated?!

Today 20:46allmixedup12

The issue with covid19 being called the Chinese virus is it propagates prejudice against Chinese people

But that argument is asking for less clarity of language. Again. The virus originated in China. Do we have to pretend that isn't the case? Can we never mention the nationality of say, a murderer, in case shitty people decide to use that for racism? This argument that certain things Must Not Be Said actually fans the flames of racism among racist people as then they have an argument that "the elites are telling us" what to think etc - which leads to things like Trump becoming president. It fans the flames of conspiracy theorists who would claim free thought and freedom of speech are being suppressed etc. It leads to right wing populist movements. And frankly it's primary grade level thinking.

Better to be strident about standing against racism etc rather than shrill about words being dangerous. I'm in a Facebook group where someone said "fuck the CCP" in relation to their handling and lack of transparency regarding CCP. They said nothing about Chinese people or even China as a country. Yet this person was called xenophobic, banned, and comments turned off. The CCP is a government party. No one is being racist when they say "fuck the tories" are they? This trigger happy sensitivity around stopping people speaking is making right wing populism and racism worse, not better. Is that person likely to go away with their opinion changed?

Also I think we your help need to rename MERS, Ebola, Lyme, West Nile Virus, Zika, Norovirus (umbrella term: root - Norwalk virus), Marburg Virus, Lassa fever etc.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@northstars correction then if it makes you and the other Indians you're referring to in this group happier on a Saturday evening...
'distress this can cause blah blah blah'

@Jenala I dont get the sarcasm about renaming other viruses and nor your logic. Country of detection is not the same as country of origination, please appreciate this fundamental concept about the virus and genetic sequencing

I do not know where the virus originated, and I do not pretend i know based on superficial analysis in the media. I do however feel concerned when the media uses a particular communities' name to associate with a disease - and of course this is a personal perspective, hence the AIBU thread.

Please don’t spread the virus. Just because you’ve already had it once, doesn’t mean you can’t get it again and spread it. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, religion, colour, gender etc. If you’re visiting countries with high amounts of covid, it will spread. It’s a horrible situation for everyone.

@Happymum12345

Please don’t spread the virus. Just because you’ve already had it once, doesn’t mean you can’t get it again and spread it. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, religion, colour, gender etc. If you’re visiting countries with high amounts of covid, it will spread. It’s a horrible situation for everyone.

please see this from the CDC. 6 months post infection is currently understood as non-infectious/immune period

www.cdc.gov/quarantine/fr-proof-negative-test.html

I am sorry for your loss and the devastation in Indian.
It is named as discovered in Indian it isn't anyones fault, some people are idiots.
I also believe the hype is a smokescreen with fingers crossed the vaccine will work, if it doesn't they'll blame the Indian variant.

So what are you wanting people to do op?

I don’t most people care where it’s come from tbh. I think China has well and truly got the blame! I know Chinese people ( including my local Chinese restaurant) got a lot of uncalled for flack.

Regarding India it’s not really on my radar as I’ve got so much shit going on at home/business. ANY variant with it being U.K. or international is a threat to my business. I genuinely don’t think ‘all those Indians are bring covid over here’ I’m actually like - ‘fuck am I going to lose my house’

People were understandably concerned about a new variant which at the time was not know whether the vaccines were effective against, being imported and destroying all our progress leading to more lockdowns, and the subsequent damage they cause.

The government have been criminally negligent in not red listing India sooner, allowing arrivals from red list countries to stand in arrivals/immigration for hours with other travellers and then it’s perfectly possible to slip away if you’re minded to do so - it’s absolutely laughable if it wasn’t so serious.

Good news is the vaccine is effective.

@allmixedup12 that link is relevant to the US not the U.K. and it says you miss province proof of a negative covid test before re-entry to the states, not that immunity lasts 6 months post-covid.

• must produce

Wow that was a ridiculous autocorrect fail!