[arboc]

It's kind of a complicated issue. I do think that we should refer to the 1918 flu as just that. However, since that's so far back in the past, you won't find a lot of people pointing their fingers at Spain and accusing Spaniards of being inhuman scum. On the other hand, you have a LOT of people saying "Chinese flu" who then jump to the conclusion that the Chinese people themselves are to blame and inherently 'bad', aggravating racism against the Chinese. The Chinese government deserve a lot of criticism for so many things, including their persecution (and most likely execution in some cases) of Chinese citizens who reported on the pandemic. But hate crimes happening right now against Chinese, and people who happen to look remotely Chinese, are very real. I see little benefit in referring to the 2019 Coronavirus/COVID-19 as a "Chinese flu", while I see huge downsides.

In sum, while I think "Spanish" flu is more factually incorrect, I see talk about a "Chinese" flu as more acutely harmful. So - 1918 flu, COVID-19, IMO.

[alvatar]

I mostly agree with your comment. My main counterpoint to this angle, which is strictly correct, is that many people lack the same kind of context that you described, and do interpret “Spanish flu” and “Wuhan/Chinese flu” as “caused by them”, and in some cases even missing the historical perspective. There might be something to be said about blame in one case and the other, but I don’t think is that relevant (although perhaps at some point there should be some debate on the responsibility of China -if any- in this pandemic)

[Gigablah]

It's ironic that you talk about stigmatization, yet indulge in baseless speculation about execution of pandemic reporters.

[arboc]

I think "stigmatization" isn't quite the word for spreading disinformation/speculations about the actions of a government, but you're right.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Qiushi#February_2020_disa...

"Citizens reporting on the epidemic have been made to disappear" would be a more factual description. And as can be seen from the first article linked above, "disappearance" doesn't necessarily lead to a fatal end.

There is some not-direct-but-still-relevant support for being inclined to think that death is not entirely out of the question for those reporters, e. g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Go...

But again, I think you were right to call me out on speculating. We just don't know, and if there's one thing we don't need more of right now, it's speculation from non-experts like me. Thank you.