[slg]

Both of those guys were pushing the lab leak theory from almost the very start and months before that press release you linked was written.

Pompeo also got into multiple spats with other diplomats for specifically pushing people to call it the "Wuhan virus" in order to deflect blame towards China. Promotion of terms such as that likely resulted in more racial tension in the US.

I didn't say the theory was only pushed by racists and I'm not going to call someone like Pompeo a racist just for supporting this theory, but he certainly fits in the opportunists category I mentioned in my previous comment. He clearly pushed the theory for political gain not some allegiance to finding the truth.

[JMTQp8lwXL]

There's multiple levels of blame to be given. You can say China is responsible for 100% of all deaths, but you can also be critical of the US response and ask how many additional deaths were due to a botched Federal response and a patchwork state-by-state approach.

The fairest characterization would be to say both share some weight. We would expect China to have contained the outbreak to minimize the impact to itself and other nations, but we also expect the US to protect us from foreign viral/bacterial agents as a matter of national security.

[slg]

I agree with what you are saying here, but it doesn't change the fact that people like Pompeo were clearly trying to shift a greater percentage of the blame from the US to China and the lab origin theory was part of that effort.

[kyrra]

Ahh, the Wuhan Virus bit, I did forget about that, thanks for the reminder. I don't consider that racist, but some people seem to.

For people talking about th lab leak theory, I found another piece I remember from the time from April 3 (18 days prior to Cotton's piece): https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-tra...

[throwaway8581]

"More racial tension in the US"

I've seen no evidence of increased asian-related racial tensions aside from black people cold-cocking more Asians than usual. I don't think black street criminals are taking their cues from Trump or Mike Pompeo.

[slg]

https://www.csusb.edu/sites/default/files/FACT%20SHEET-%20An...

[throwaway8581]

Do some research about exactly who is randomly attacking all of these Asians. You'll find that I'm right: it's basically just a huge uptick in black-on-asian violence.

[slg]

I provided a link to research that backs up my point. Do you want to provide a link to research that backs up yours?

[throwaway8581]

https://reason.com/volokh/2021/05/27/another-example-of-why-...