Racism associated with flu pandemics

[daffodil]

I find the whole media spin about the Avian flu and SARS quite disturbing. I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I feel the need to say what scares me about it.

I feel very strongly that the media blames Asia for this supposed coming flu pandemic. It is often compared to the 1918 "Spanish" Flu that killed over 20 million people. When I read more about the history of the 1918 pandemic, the hairs on my neck stood up.

When watching and observing different media categories through a broad range of media vehicles, I'm noticing that Asians are being painted as "dirty". I've been reading many articles in credible magazines that make it sound like all people in Asia live in bird feces.

The other movement working with it is the animal rights movement. They make it seem like we are cruel to animals -- and generally trying to paint Asians with a brush of cruelty. On the news, everytime there is a leading story about animal cruelty, the face of the person isn't shown if the perpetrator has a westernized surname but if it's an Asian person, they'll show the picture of the person in high resolution.

So, if they are painting Asians as barbaric, savage, cruel people who are responsible for carrying the flu pandemic, I wonder to myself what actions they are later trying to justify.

This 1918 flu, from what I've read, sounded like an early bioweapon. It emerged in the US upon the US's entry into WWI. Patient Zero was a person on a US military base in Kansas. I did a little bit of cross-referencing and found that the emergence of the 1918 incident coincided with the deployment of US troops to Europe. The US declared war on Austria in December 1917 and Patient Zero emerged with the symptoms of this flu.

The group that the flu targeted was very odd, as well. It targeted HEALTHY individuals between the ages of 15 to 40 -- precisely the approximate age bracket in which a person would join the military and go fight in a war. It did not work in the same way that flus typically work. Naturally occurring flus usually target weaker individuals, consuming the host (this is why elderly people and very young children often become casualties to flu). However, the 1918 flu had the unique characteristic of using the host's immune system against the host itself (this is why healthy individuals were affected). If this were a naturally occuring flu, a war general could not have wished a better fate on his enemy.

The other thing that made me suspect the 1918 pandemic was a result of a designed bioweapon is that each succeeding generation of the flu became WEAKER. This does not follow the path of viral evolution. A few sources noted that the flu actually took less casualties as it went on and approached Europe.

It was only called the Spanish Flu because Spain was the only country neutral in WWI and didn't have censorship. Spain was the only country who was doing any honest reporting about it. The casualties of the flu were the highest in North America and the first incident of it actually occurred in the US.

It took some digging to find out all this -- but it wasn't that difficult to find. I wondered why this wasn't made well known in the mainstream media. All historical background given in mainstream media of this flu was that it killed 20 million people.

It seems the white hegemonic media is hiding a lot of very important facts about the flu they're comparing the Avian flu to. And it really gets under my skin how they're using imagery to blame it on Asians. I wonder what actions they are preemptively trying to justify and what actions western governments are trying to get policy approval for.

I've noticed a significant shift towards negative racial attitudes lately since the public misinformation of the SARS and Avian flus.

Any of your thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

[Player 0]

My thoughts are that the news generally tries to get higher ratings by any means neccessary, demonizing Asians has been going on for what seems like forever, and the media knows they'll get away with it because A. they aren't being outrightly racist, B. they aren't attacking any American citizens and C. even if we wanted to, Asian Americans make a very small minority in this nation and don't have very good representation.

It's probably the same reason they demonize China so much.

[Aurutus]

The North Americans (US and Canada) and sometimes some European nations changing words and use the media to make fun or humiliate a country when they have become culturally insensitive, prejudice and non-sympathetic (sadistic).

Spanish people are often being looked down by their Germanic blonde hair and paler counterparts and the name "Spainish flu" was used to scare people off. Much like the "Africanized Killer bees vs the Good Europeanized bees" and "Asian Long horn beetle" that threatens the North American forests. A term that make kids worried and hated.

In 2003, I wrote to a professor who wrote the book "How we get sick?" in the States and asked him why he used "Asian Flu" to describe this horrible virus. I told him that this name and his book (taught in a university) had made many Asian people getting mistreated and discriminated and it is insentitive towards the people who are not from affected the region but of Asian decent. His feedback was, he said the flu was originated from Asia but I also argued that if the flu is from Europe, can we call it "European Flu" then.

I am glad that at least they changed the bloody name to "Avian Flu" instead of Asian Flu.

[Chu Chi]

You raise some good point daffodil. Words have a powerful effect on the way people think.

"Asian flu"

"Islamic terrorism"

"Africanized bees"

Most people think race war means creepin thru the woods with guns and bombs...

Not so,

The White supremacists wage most of their warfare using words; they understand how words drive thinking and thinking drives behavior.

It is when they can no longer confuse you with words that they must consider their 2nd catagory of behavior: direct VIOLENCE.

Non white people are getting smarter because we are paying closer attention to words and definitions.

Specifically, we are starting to use words and definitions which result in people getting the help they need to solve problems.

Instead of words like:

"Asian flu"

"Islamic terrorism"

"Africanized bees"

Which often result in non white people being mistreated.



CC

[daffodil]

You expressed precisely what I was trying to say, Aurutus. There is overt racism in naming convention of things. I almost forgot about the "Asian Long Horn Beetle" thing -- that rubbed me the wrong way when I began seeing bus stop ads about it.

They can be so subtle about it. I see heavy associations of the words "dirty" and "Asians" used together all the time. It almost seems as though they're trying to create a synonym type of relationship between the two words.

I think the flu thing is much scarier than we're lead to believe. Perhaps I'm being paranoid but in WWII Germany, weren't Jews described as "dirty" in the propaganda prior to the Holocaust? From the hype and level of fear being created -- from the lead stories on the news about millions of birds being indiscriminately slaughtered pre-emptively because of *suspicions* of flu -- am I the only one who finds this disturbing and feels it sets a very unsettling precedence? Think about it -- if the masses feel that preemptively taking life is ok if it's in the name of self-preservtion...is this not a scary way for the masses to think?

It's about much more than ratings. There are an infinite number of ways to achieve ratings. And, with the subtle ways the powers that be are going about it, they are getting no ratings from these tactics. It is in the way words and ideas are expressed and some of these media vehicles are choosing some very disturbing configurations.

I'm trying to figure out ways to disarm it. Do we fight fire with fire and turn it around and attack the hegemony or do we do it by replacing the associations with something more positive?

I think in many non-white communities, media groups are organizing to create what is typically described as "reverse discrimination". I don't believe this is an effective strategy, as it alienates the minority groups. I've also noticed that mainstream media is on different campaigns to create divides between different minority groups (so that all of us remain a minority) in order to maintain social hegemony and majority.

[Player 0]

It's times like these you have to admire the Chinese media to a certain extent, sure you can say they maybe biased and censored, but it seems to have it's benefits, because to be honest, i haven't read any sort of discriminatory or xenophobic statements even towards issues like Japan.

Of course i've only read the people's daily and Xinhuanet, but still the point is that i have never such an article made by any Chinese source, perhaps the US should consider some sort of censors for news groups.

[Aurutus]

It is a media war and the way I found it effective is to confront/email the writers/editors who wrote the articles and headlines and tell them how insensitive and unintelligent to use derogatory words and comparisons that hurt and attack people's culture and origin. Their irresponsible use of words make me wonder what kind of education they have.

Asian media are more well behaved, sensitve and respectful in terms of words usage cause they are dealing with many different peoples not just caucasians and judeo-christians.