China Baloney

                                China Baloney

At times of anxiety, we poor humans are inundated with a lot of posturing and baloney. The anxiety over calling The Virus "The China Virus" is a great example of both. The incredible efforts of the Chinese to propagandize the crisis aside, there is some real stupidity here. Below is an article by McGurn from the WSJ:


"Amid the coronavirus wreckage, there seems to be a bright spot. The pushback against referring to Covid-19 as the “China virus” indicates a welcome new sensitivity for the racial discrimination directed at Chinese-Americans. Or does it?

Ever since people began referring to “the China virus”—or to be precise, ever since the White House press corps realized it was Donald Trump’s preferred term—the American people have been given repeated warnings that this is not only insensitive but dangerous.

It’s hard not to notice the chasm between this new hypersensitivity and the indifference toward another, very real discrimination affecting this same community. That is the racial discrimination keeping Chinese-Americans out of America’s most elite educational institutions. Some of the same people who fret so loudly about how we refer to Covid-19 are utterly indifferent to this other racial discrimination affecting Chinese-Americans.

Start with the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. After Mr. Trump tweeted out a reference to “the China virus” earlier this month, Mr. de Blasio clapped back. Asian-Americans, the mayor thundered, “don’t need you fueling more bigotry.”

If someone fuels bigotry by calling a virus a name accurately derived from its geographic origins, what about a mayor who works overtime to reduce the number of Asian-Americans in his city’s most competitive public high schools, not because they haven’t earned their entry but because they aren’t the right race.

Ditto for Harvard. Remember, the chief argument against “the China virus” is that using it stigmatizes both China and people of Chinese descent. But what about the stigmas that come from the subjective “personal ratings” Harvard applies in its admissions process? The Justice Department says these ratings produce “consistently poorer scores for Asian-Americans,” a racial penalty that brings down an Asian-American applicant’s overall score.

Asian-Americans as a whole score higher “on many objective measures than any other racial/ethnic group including test scores (see chart below), academic achievement, and extracurricular activities.” But if we are to believe Harvard, Asian-Americans are less likable, less kind and less courageous than those of other races. If that’s not stigmatization, what is?

….. “xenophobia wears many faces.” And in a nation of 330 million, America has its share of goons. What’s Harvard’s excuse?"