To think that coronavirus has exposed a nasty undertone of racism?

[AllHeart1]

Now I’ll admit that I can’t be doing with all the hysteria surrounding this. People wanting colleagues to stay off work because they’ve been to china/wanting to keep their kids off school because one of them has been to china/wanting Brits to be kept in china lest they bring the virus home.

While there have been some deaths, in comparison to the numbers of those diagnosed these are small and have occurred in people who mostly had already underlying health conditions.

But I can’t help thinking what these attitudes are actually saying about people’s attitudes towards the Chinese.

Quite apart from the above, I’ve seen people express concern that a package sent from China two weeks ago might infect them, followed by advice to quarantine it for two weeks and then spray with anti-bac before opening.

Wondering i f it’s safe to go to the local Chinese in case someone working there has been in contact with someone from China.

And someone I know personally who is of Chinese origin but grew up in this country being told that they should keep out of circulation because they’re Chinese and therefore could be infectious.

A lot of this is of course hysterical paranoia, but it seems to be spreading, and it gives out a very nasty message imho.

Hey @atomicblonde30

I'll tell you what is stomach churning---cooking animals when they're alive but let's not blame any Chinese person for doing that because you know it's xenophobic and racist.

I don't like this aspect of Chinese 'culture'. It is indefensible and anyone who does it needs a red hot poker shoving up their arse.

Xenophobic...get a frigging dictionary! I don't like people-and it is mostly Chinese- who treat animals in this way and they fucking well deserve to be called out on it. The colour of their skin doesn't and shouldn't protect them.

Wipe that to your delicate nostrils-with your stomach churning at 'xenophobia' but laissez faire toward animal cruelty.

Not going into a Chinese takeaway for fear of being in contact with people who may have been in China recently is not racist. It may be irrational / melodramatic / overkill, but it’s not racist.

What the . .

Are you high? You’re ranting and raving like a lunatic, the thread is about how the outbreak of Coronavirus has enabled already racist and prejudiced people into thinking it’s okay to now not only voice these things but also act on them.

Why are you droning on and on incessantly about animals, I haven’t mentioned them you have. How can you possibly think you have any idea whatsoever what my opinions and feelings are surrounding what certain minorities eat or how they practice? Seriously how can you possibly when I haven’t made you privy to any of that information. Do not decide for me to suit your agenda.

My comments and opinions on this thread have been from solely about how people have now decided safety in numbers and assembled this gross pack mentality in which they are absolutely displaying blatant racist and xenophobic attitudes and actions towards any Asian people let alone just Chinese citizens - you being one of them. I have made clear and respectful points, given real life examples of racism I’ve seen and heard these last two weeks.

You have spewed some vile prejudiced bullshit and I will absolutely refuse to ignore that.

I wonder if you this riled up about the Faroese people and their whale hunting traditions, or how about Canada and their slaughter and torture of wild coyotes for coats and lets talk about england and the way people here love to club foxes to death and set vicious dogs on them?

Are all these places abhorrent cess pits of the world too or just the one where the brown people live hey?

On another note, I wondered if MNHQ would like to resurrect the old Ebola topic, rename it "PLAGUE!" and move all the coronavirus threads into there.

-It's Friday night & I have stopped taking things seriously.

Not going into a Chinese takeaway for fear of being in contact with people who may have been in China recently is not racist. It may be irrational / melodramatic / overkill, but it’s not racist.

Considering the international movements around Chinese New Year and incubation period it might not even have to be THAT irrational.

I cannot read the whole thread in time but the guy sitting next to me at work told us all to keep our distance because his daughters were coming back from Singapore .
He is the office scapegoat /oddball in here, so he may have said it for attention, to be funny but it went totally South .

What AtomicBlonde30 said...

How did this become all about animals when there are horrific animal-related practices in many countries... And no, not all the millions of Chinese people worldwide condone the behaviour of some of their compatriots - any more than some of us would ban fox hunting/culling etc etc

This was about some aspects of blatant or thinly-veiled racism, under the guise of relevant but irrational and often mis-guided health concerns

I think it is about animals because of the link to the unhygienic and shocking practices in Wahun which could have caused the pandemic in the first place.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

Although this Wikipedia entry is referring to the scandal of the milk industry adding melamine to products, it's interesting in how the Chinese government have consistently failed to legislate, or enforce any legislation, concerning food production and hygiene. Whether the problem is viruses or plastic, there's little oversight until it's too late. Add in the number of different viruses that have been traced to the food industry plus a recent dud vaccine scandal, it's clear that the government of China has been very busy building the country economically, but has been terribly lacking in basic housekeeping.

@atomicblonde30

You sound a bit deranged but it is good fun to see you get so heated...not quite as heated though as those poor dumb creatures in Chinese Markets.

Are we not allowed to pass negative comment on different races even when we are giving facts and not opinions? I must have missed that memo.

I really don’t @pauline as evidenced by the people clearly in agreement with me on this thread, or are they deranged too?

I can see you have no intelligent recourse to my valid and factual points so have resorted to nonsensical insults instead, which is frustrating but not unexpected.

And no, not all the millions of Chinese people worldwide condone the behaviour of some of their compatriots

Not all but enough do that there is a problem in China with widespread cultural practices which create the perfect conditions for the creation of pathogens which potentially pose an existential threat to the human race. That isn't ok and it isn't racist to acknowledge it. It's a difficult subject, agree.

Not quite as heated though as those poor dumb creatures in Chinese Markets

Eh? Doesn’t sound like you care much about the animals either love. Or are they just your red herring which you’re using to cover up your blatant racism of Chinese people.

If someone is spraying antiseptic at some stranger in public because they look Chinese, that IS racist.

🤦🏼‍♀️

No. I haven't noticed any hysteria or racism.

Oh for fucks sake people. It's not fucking racism it's facts.

Have you been to China? Yes.
Is the majority of confirmed cases happened in China? Yes
Have the majority of deaths related to this virus happened in China? Yes

Do you therefore want to increase the risk of your exposure to the virus? No

So what do you do? Be sensible, follow official guidance and use your brain to determine what's best for you.

Let's not over complicate the issue here. Penny, 38 from St Albans and her precious offspring are hardly at risk from taking a trip to their local Waitrose. On the other hand snogging someone who's just returned from Wuhan isn't someone one would recommend

@Hoping but it is racism's when the reactions are "there's a Chinese woman who works at my child's school. Should I let her go to school?" It's not racism when it's "should I cancel my holiday to China"

We've just got back from China (Shanghai) and there is noticeable discrimination in China (from the Chinese) for anyone who may have been to Wuhan.

I've also seen a "No Chinese" sign outside a shop from a friend in Vietnam.

We are self-quarantining, however, before I'd told my teenage daughter she had asked her friends if they wanted to meet up, and their parents said no. I completely understand this! While we were still in Shanghai my daughter asked if a friend could come for a sleepover, and we said no due to the virus.

Keeping people at a distance who have just come from China - completely understandable IMO. Being suspicious of people who happen to be Chinese - wrong IMO as you don't know how long ago they were in China.

Fear brings out the worst in people.

However, I would caution against the "it's no worse than flu crew". This virus overwhelmed the healthcare of an entire city in only 7 weeks. And figures suggest a large percentage of critical illness and subsequent reliance on some form of life support - 17% from the latest Lancet study.

Keeping people at a distance who have just come from China - completely understandable IMO. Being suspicious of people who happen to be Chinese - wrong IMO as you don't know how long ago they were in China.

Very true especially after the confirmed case of the British national who infected 5 people in France after catching it in Singapore

DS1s girlfriend is Chinese. As she hasn't been there for 3 years she is zero risk. But my white British friend who returned from Singapore last week may well be.

@Sooverthemill you're confusing racism with darn right stupidity (you're not stupid for the record, anyone that thinks like that is)

Anyone who is that stupid would benefit from getting a bit of Coronavirus. We could do with less idiots in the world.

@Hopingtobeamum Absolutely wrong! You are confusing darn right stupidity with racism. When you assume every Chinese person is a threat, guess what? That is RACISM! It is racism, clear and simple. Stop minimising racism.

Wondering i f it’s safe to go to the local Chinese in case someone working there has been in contact with someone from China

That's a really good point actually!

And yeah, I'm not ordering anything from China for a while. Why risk it?

@HeadachesByTheDozen whoa there lady! Watch what you say, especially when you're chucking around accusations that I'm "minimising racism". That type of language will get you into trouble!