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?

@WickedQueen

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?!

We learn from it by research, not by vilifying a nation.

There are things we do need to vilify China for (the genocide of Uyghur Muslims for one), but not the origin of a virus that could happen anywhere.

It was exactly the same when the Kent / English / UK variant was found so YABU.

YA also BU because identifying where it originated is actually quite a helpful way to stop the spread of new variants. It immediately makes people think twice about visiting or how they act in a place / area / country, which is exactly what we want to limit the spread.

Covid was referred to in some media outlets and situations as the Chinese Virus at the beginning of the pandemic. We were able to move on from calling it that because it’s the only current global pandemic and the only coronavirus/ strain of covid most people have heard of. When you refer to coronavirus or covid everybody knows what you’re talking about and there’s no need to specify you mean the virus that started in China.

However the official names of the variants are harder to remember or distinguish between. The UK/ Kent variant is known as B.1.1.7. The Indian variant is known as B.1.617 whilst the South African variant is known as B.1.351. Obviously it would be difficult for most people to remember and differentiate between those official/ scientific names so the media have to devise other ways of referring to them and place of origin
/ discovery is a very natural way of distinguishing between them which will make sense to the general public. I don’t think it’s intended to assign any blame to the country of origin when they’re reported in this way, it just means it’s easier for people to understand which variant is being referred to.

It doesn't matter to me what country it is, but ANY country, no matter what race, culture or whatever that is currently experiencing an out of control infection rate should be off limits.

Just as it's been off limits here to travel within this country for funerals or to support the bereaved

I know from experience it's bloody awful.

.

We learn from it by research, not by vilifying a nation

Have we though? I know I don’t think that. I know I’ve only felt great pity for India,Sa and Brazil

There is something nasty in the way the British media reports it yes. The British media are just awful, all they know how to do is whip up hate.

I dunno why we can’t just call it the 617 variant is not that hard.

@101kids

We learn from it by research, not by vilifying a nation

Have we though? I know I don’t think that. I know I’ve only felt great pity for India,Sa and Brazil

I was responding to people saying it’s ok to say ‘Chinese virus’.

I am sorry for your loss, and mostly agree with you about the hostility. I don't mind it being named the Indian variant and I am all for hotel quarantine for red list countries, but one would have to be blind not to notice the vitriol on this site and in the media.

I find it rather odd that posters ( not necessarily on this thread) who have openly admitted that they will never, ever take the vaccine are now all upset about Indians spreading the Indian variant. If you are eligible and have not taken the vaccine, I am really uninterested in your views about how flights from India should be banned, especially now we have hard evidence that the vaccine stops all strains of the virus. You are in no position to lecture other people about being selfish. We are going to have strains of all kinds soon, and I really do not see how international travel can be restricted and quarantined for a year.

It has not escaped my notice that the Yorkshire variant has been treated as an amusing joke-whippets, tea, flat caps etc- and the Indian variant is of course a filthy scourge spread by unvaxed, selfish people who have the temerity to live in intergenerational households. The government is , of course, happy to fan this racial hatred so everybody forgets about how they did not put India on the red list until it was too late. It is their job to segregate people at Heathrow.

I dunno why we can’t just call it the 617 variant is not that hard

Yes, completely agree.

Someone posted a ‘joke’ about the Indian variant with puns about being afraid for their Naan (instead of Nan (geddit? Hilarious )

I think people reported the shit out of it and it was zapped within in 10 mins thankfully.

I am so sorry to hear about your father

Sadly it gets the racists frothing about something else. The media know this, they know exactly what to put up as headlines to grab attention especially from those that like to post responses this all makes money for them

It’s all very well saying that the Kent variant is called the UK variant abroad but UK nationals (who are predominately white) are not faced with levels of racism Asian people are

And then there is the remarks well you know those people have big families, won’t get vaccinated etc there is lots of underhand racism in the reporting and comments make on social media

@OhWhyNot

I am so sorry to hear about your father

Sadly it gets the racists frothing about something else. The media know this, they know exactly what to put up as headlines to grab attention especially from those that like to post responses this all makes money for them

It’s all very well saying that the Kent variant is called the UK variant abroad but UK nationals (who are predominately white) are not faced with levels of racism Asian people are

And then there is the remarks well you know those people have big families, won’t get vaccinated etc there is lots of underhand racism in the reporting and comments make on social media

Oh sod off. My need feed is full of the Yorkshire variant. The ONLY race element in this hideous affair is the amount of BAME people that’s died front it.

So stop it.

No I won’t sod off

And the thread isn’t about you 101kids

You may not think there is a race element or racism has been used to place blame but when you have the President of the US making racist comments that are not even ambiguous your argument falls flat

@OhWhyNot

And the thread isn’t about you 101kids

You may not think there is a race element or racism has been used to place blame but when you have the President of the US making racist comments that are not even ambiguous your argument falls flat

We’re not in the USA. We’re the U.K. and most of us are just scraping their life’s back together we’re not bothered about SA, Brazil, Indian Varieties. It’s covid and it kills. Regardless what country it comes from.

I’ve first hand experience on Chinese people being attacked for this. They have gotten the blame from the start. And it will always be known as ‘China started it’ resulting in ‘all Chinese people started ‘

That’s a fucking stigma to lift.

I’ve seen the hate with my own eyes. I’m sorry if I’m not buying in to your narrative.

You are not everyone 101kids I am not sure who are are referring to when you say we’re not bothered the whole of the UK population

Racists will use any excuse. I’ve seen plenty of well you know what they are like big families all living together, they won’t have the vaccine

@OhWhyNot

You are not everyone 101kids I am not sure who are are referring to when you say we’re not bothered the whole of the UK population

Racists will use any excuse. I’ve seen plenty of well you know what they are like big families all living together, they won’t have the vaccine

Oh so we are taking about a small band of racists that will always be racists. Doesn’t matter if the are African, Spanish, Mexican Indian .. Nothing will change idiots point of view...

But don’t say this is across the U.K. because it isn’t. I own a working class business in the North West and I can tell you now not one person has uttered this to me. REALLY our focus is in the YORKISHIRE variant and just getting our shit together.

OP has had a bad time. She’s lost somebody. But a lot of us have too. But to start dragging race in to this is beyond the pale - especially since BAME people are most effected and we have a massive drive to get those people vaccinated.

Sorry there is a difference between people feelings and actual facts.

Well said 101

I'm so sorry for your loss op.

I do think racist people are calling it the Indian variant in a provocative/almost gleeful way. Its shameful (like most of Britain's history). I'm not sure what it should be called but given we manage to give storms and hurricanes names, it is not difficult to come up with a system.

Oh dear. Yes best to shut up about any concerns of racism in our society and in our media

@MoiraNotRuby

I'm so sorry for your loss op.

I do think racist people are calling it the Indian variant in a provocative/almost gleeful way. Its shameful (like most of Britain's history). I'm not sure what it should be called but given we manage to give storms and hurricanes names, it is not difficult to come up with a system.

No your right. We should stop with the labelling of variants

At the end of the day it’s just COVID. Which most people know.

@OhWhyNot

Oh dear. Yes best to shut up about any concerns of racism in our society and in our media

Like I said. Difference between facts and feelings

You can raise concerns all you like, it won't stop this variant being called the Indian variant now. Whether that's the right or wrong name for it can be discussed till the cows come home but it won't actually change anything. It doesn't make it racist to indicate where a variant originated.

There's a Yorkshire one now. As a Yorkshire woman should I be offended??

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Sending love. Aside from the naming of the variants, I've been a bit shocked to see the constant images and footage of burning funeral pyres. It's hugely distasteful and upsetting.

Oh right so we can only judge racism when it is explicit

Well that clears that up

I have not said it is racist to state where the variant comes from I have said the press know how some of their readers react and that it’s allowed racists once again to spout their anger

I really don’t know how to answer your comment about the Yorkshire variant without sounding patronising