[celdon25]

Calling it the Chinese Flu because it comes from China is only racist when you move the goal posts to redefine racism as such. There is evidence that this was what happened due to pandemics traditionally being named after where they originated.

You can't move the goal posts without the media being on board with it.

[catalogia]

> "There is evidence that this was what happened due to pandemics traditionally being named after where they originated."

Related aside, 'Ebola' might have been 'Yambuku' instead, named for the village where the disease was first noticed, but Peter Piot decided to name it after the nearby Ebola River instead, to avoid damning the small village's name.

[viklove]

He definitely didn't name it 1976 Virus though. Oh, and would you look at that -- the precursor to the Ebolavirus we know today was called "Sudan Virus," turns out it's not racist, it's just how these things are named!

[danek]

Sometimes. Depends. Did it already have a name that everyone was already using and then you went out of your way to call it “China virus”, when your personal brand also just happens to be based on racist dog whistles and stoking xenophobia? Is so, it’s probably racist!

[zamfi]

> There is evidence that this was what happened due to pandemics traditionally being named after where they originated.

This is just false, most pandemics are named for where they had their greatest effects, or for really old ones, who wrote about it / was king at the time.

Before modern history, we had no idea where pandemics originated.

[mrlala]

What do you think Trump would be calling it if it originated in the US... the "US Flu" or "COVID-19"?

You know 100% why he is calling it the chinese flu. Don't try to be so naive that he is trying to "properly" name it, even though every other person on the planet calls it the scientific name. You know he calls it the chinese flu to distance himself AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE from any responsibility for the effects of it. He blames someone else 100% of the time no matter what. 3+ years into his presidency have you seen how much he blames the obama administration for trumps lack of initial response?

[th_1578953940]

I think he calls it that to take a jab at the CCP, and possibly left/media for fun.

[LiNeXT]

Actually, Trump calling it "Chinese Virus" seems to track exactly with the CCP planting those silly stories about the virus being created by the U.S. military. Now that they seem to be toning that rhetoric down, he has also stopped calling it "Chinese Virus."