Column: Coronavirus, the outbreak narrative and how our fear fuels our xenophobia and racism
On Tuesday, around midnight, someone uploaded a video to Twitter showing emergency vehicles responding to an incident at an apartment complex near USC, the Lorenzo, known to be popular with Chinese international students.
Most of the time, I think this is good. Although many lament the loss of some fabled age of civility, I think a lot of us are just experiencing the discomfort of having to confront and value perspectives as we’ve never had to before. Jokes about minorities aren’t as funny when minorities are part of the audience.now must confront the fact that they might have readers who ask them to do so accurately.
There are 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. as I’m writing this. The risk of dying from the coronavirus is currently remote for those who do not have existing health conditions, and it’s especially remote for someone who lives in the U.S. and can access modern healthcare. SARS — another coronavirus — killed 774 people in 2002-03, largely in China and Hong Kong. But not a single person who contracted the virus in the U.S. died.
At dinner, we discussed various infectious diseases, how little good face masks actually do and how much disinformation is out there. My uncle wondered why people in America were so afraid when influenza had killed far more people. During dinner, my cousin who works at a news station in Taipei texted us to remind us to wear face masks because the 10th case of coronavirus in Taiwan had been discovered.
And historically, opportunistic politicians have used HIV to fuel fear about immigrants, said Kenyon Farrow, a journalist and senior editor of acovering news on HIV. In the 1980s, a Haitian flight attendant was initially falsely blamed as the source of HIV in the U.S., which led to a ban on Haitian immigration and decades of discrimination against Haitian immigrants. Trump administration officials are using HIV to justify family separations at the southern border.
It should be harder to fear and ostracize Chinese people when Chinese Americans are your friends, your lovers and your family. We can better understand the consequences of Trump’s actions in Iran because we have Iranian American friends and colleagues who can give us a human perspective on war. Experience of the cultures and cuisines of other nations in Los Angeles should make it harder for us to classify them as the dirty, exotic Other.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Coronavirus Is Not The ‘Corona Beer Virus,’ What People Are GooglingThe coronavirus that was first found recently in Wuhan, China, is not the same as Corona beer. It has nothing to do with beer
Read more »
Dr. Oz Says Xenophobia Sparked by Coronavirus Is Ignorant Fear-MongeringDr. Oz goes to bat for Chinese people after reports of racist and xenophobic behavior have surfaced.
Read more »
Expats across China flee as virus fears mountExpatriates are leaving coronavirus-hit China - and not just from the outbreak e...
Read more »
China's Hubei reports 56 new coronavirus deaths, total at 350The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak in China's central Hubei p...
Read more »
Coronavirus fears prompt hoaxes and misinformationCoronavirus fears prompt hoaxes and misinformation
Read more »
China accuses U.S. of scaremongering over coronavirusBeijing on Monday accused the United States of spreading fear over a coronavirus outbreak by pulling out its nationals and restricting travel instead of offering significant aid
Read more »