Sunday 2 February 2020

Viral panic

It's horribly predictable that the coronavirus epidemic has led to an increase in hostile attitudes towards the British-Chinese. It doesn't take much for hidden prejudice to emerge when a suitable target appears. All these incidents have been reported in London:
  • A man with a Chinese appearance at Gatwick, who hasn't been to China in two years, was told by a nearby couple "They should wear their masks"
  • A woman was asked persistently if she had ever eaten bat soup
  • A woman noticed other train passengers moving away from her
  • Restaurants in Chinatown have seen a big decline in customers
The risk of catching the coronavirus is infinitesimal; only two people have definitely got it in the whole of the UK. There's a far bigger risk of dying from the flu. An average of 600 people a year in the UK die from flu complications, and in 2008-2009 there were over 13,000 flu deaths. But people are panicking and imagining that simply sitting next to a Chinese person puts them in mortal danger - even if they're British citizens and have never been to China.

There are around 10,000 British-Chinese in Northern Ireland, but oddly enough the local papers haven't asked them if the coronavirus has led to abusive encounters. Since Northern Ireland is over 90 per cent white, racist attitudes are not uncommon, and if London is anything to go by, it's highly likely they've increased in recent weeks.

We're friendly with a Northern Irish man and British-Chinese woman who live a few doors down, but I haven't yet had a chance to ask her if the coronavirus has caused any negative remarks. Hopefully not as this area is heavily middle-class and presumably more tolerant than elsewhere.

But irrational prejudice pops up in the most unlikely places.

Pic: An almost deserted Chinatown in London.

26 comments:

  1. Wow, I haven't heard anything like that here, as far as prejudice. I think the virus is being sensationalized by the media, much like Ebola a while back. It's ironic that the same people who panic are the ones who refuse to get a flu shot!

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    1. Bijoux: I agree, the media is sensationalising it, as they do with so many things. And yes, how many people refuse a flu shot?

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  2. Interesting. People do tend to overreact. A dear relative just got back from a vacation in Taiwan. She had not been to mainland China, but still upon her return from Taiwan her place of work demanded she not come back to work for two more weeks.

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    1. Colette: That's ridiculous! Another sign of the hysteria that's possessing people.

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  3. People are twits!

    Just because a person looks Asian, they're somehow connected to a "wild" and virulent strain of something that's related to one of the causes of the common cold?

    Nice of them to let their moronic prejudices show through.

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    1. Mike: The total lack of rational thought or analysis is breathtaking. By the same token, perhaps I have mumps and might pass it on - after all, white people get mumps.

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  4. The media have blown this out of all proportion, it doesn't take much to bring out the racists and give them an excuse. And China has been so on the ball in containing it.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: The media give the impression we could all catch it at any second, whereas in reality the chance of catching it is about the same as being struck by lightning.

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  5. Human nature in action, I'm afraid. :( Have you read that Trump's poll numbers are going up?

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    1. Jean: Recent polls suggest voters are fairly evenly balanced between approving of him and disapproving. The joker in the pack is still who the electoral college will support.

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    2. Ah, but the electoral college is the big problem, isn't it? Trump doesn't have to win the most votes, and he didn't in 2016.

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    3. Jean: Indeed, I think Hillary Clinton got three million votes more than Trump - but she lost.

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  6. "Have you read that Trump's poll numbers are going up?"
    OMG. no I hadn't read that.

    one of my best friends is a legalized American who is Chinese but grew up in Panama. she's just beautiful.
    and kind.
    she went in January to Hong Kong to see her mom whom she hadn't seen in almost 2 years!
    she is a manager in a dept in the Union of the University here and they are going to make her take 2 weeks extra leave when she returns on the 12th of this month... before she can return to work. she's a hard worker. luckily I guess she has the leave!
    as you say... I think the media is keeping it at panic level. I had both a flu and a pneumonia shot this year.

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    1. Tammy: Two weeks extra leave? I guess that's sensible if she's been in Hong Kong, where they've had 15 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

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  7. That's awful. It's times like this that you can see the prejudice in some really come out.

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    1. Mary: You do. Anything involving "foreigners" and out comes all the nastiness.

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  8. The government of Costa Rica has refused to close the frontiers describing such a move as xenophobic but there is a large Chinese population here with regular charter flights with China and there is a great deal of disquiet. No unpleasantness to Chinese people though.

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    1. Fly: Glad to know that despite the Chinese comings and goings there's no overt hostility.

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  9. There's no accounting for people, good or bad.

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    1. True enough. People behave in the most extraordinary and nonsensical ways.

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  10. It all makes me wonder what the real news is. I bet Meghan, Harry and Andrew are happy that this new viral story turned up!
    Sx

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    1. Ms Scarlet: I bet they are. It takes the heat off them for a while. Quite a long while I should think, as the epidemic is still gathering pace.

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  11. Hong Kong Chinese want border with Main Land China closed. What would you call that? Racism? People every where are scared because the media has been hyper about the virus.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51349154

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    1. Ramana: Not being a medic, I don't know whether that's a sensible demand or not. Is it enough to ask people with coronavirus-type symptoms to get a test and if necessary, be quarantined?

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  12. I didn't even think about that aspect of it. It hadn't occurred to me - not that I meet many Chinese people - that they could be carriers. Yet more cause for sorrow and to mourn for our nation.

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    1. Liz: Sure, they could be carriers, but then they could also be carriers of all sorts of things - like flu or pneumonia or measles. And who worries about catching those?

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