In this day and age, it is definitely important to communicate public health information. At the same time, there are a lot of people that demand political correctness, and this psychological fascism has permeated every aspect of our society.
Here’s the rub, folks, if you ask the World Health Organization, the answer to that question would be political correctness. To wit, they will stop calling the variants of COVID-19 by their proper names such as “South African”, “Indian”, or “British” and RENAME them.
“In order to assist the public discussions of these variants, the WHO convened a group of scientists who were affiliated with the WHO Virus Evolution Working Group, representatives from GISAID, the WHO COVID-19 reference laboratory network, Pango, Nextstrain, and additional experts in a variety of related fields from all over the world in an effort to find names for these variants that are easy-to-pronounce and that are non-stigmatizing,” the WHO statement said.
“At the present time, this group that has been convened by the WHO is thinking about using letters of the Greek Alphabet, Alpha, Gamma, Beta, and the like and that will be easier and more practical to those who are not scientists.” Oh brother. What about people that don’t understand the Greek alphabet? Will this offend the Greeks? So many questions, so many unnecessary questions, especially when you consider that this group should be devoted to SAVING LIVES instead.
Of course, this all begs the question: is using place names only offensive when we are dealing with COVID-19? Since these liberals are so devoted to this “cancel culture” atmosphere, should we also go about changing the names of the West Nile Virus, Spanish Flu, Marburg Virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, St. Louis Encephalitis, and so on.
Don’t get me wrong, there is no question that a disease outbreak in a given place can have real social consequences for the people that live there. This can come in the form of travelers from Wuhan being forced into isolation or discrimation because of COVID going toward people of Asian descent in the U.S.A.
Is an effective response to this phenomenon happening here? No, not really. Sadly, that really isn’t the case here.
While changing names because a few people might get upset would probably seem like just virtue signaling from social media, the WHO has turned this into an art form a very long time before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. “I agree that this might seem like something incredibly trivial to some, but the names of these diseases really do matter to the people who have been directly affected by them,” Keji Fukuda said in 2015 the FIRST TIME that the WHO had tried to change the place names in 2015. “Certain disease names will provoke a backlash against certain ethnic groups.”
I would be more open to changing how I refer to COVID-19 variants if someone could prove specific, widespread instances of people being affected by the naming. As an empiricist, I am always open to changing my perspective based on observation and sensory experience.
Of course, these changes that the WHO is proposing seem to reflect the recent complaints from the Indian and British people more than anyone else. I find it highly doubtful that the complaints were commonplace in these respective locations before the disease totally ravaged the area. My home state is Colorado, and if there was a version of the disease there, it certainly wouldn’t bother me if they called it “The Rocky Mountain Variant”, but I digress. It seems to me that using place names is just easier.
In the end, I suppose we are all just tired of the political correctness just affecting every aspect of our lives. What is this, Orwellian thought crimes? It sure seems that way.
Of course, if you disagree, you are welcome to share your comments below!
