Throughout the course of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, we have repeatedly heard it's "racist" to call the virus the "Wuhan virus," even though that's where the outbreak began. It's common practice to name viruses and other diseases based on where they were first discovered. Despite that, social justice warriors have been offended by the so-called "racism" behind the name.
Liberal political commentator Bill Maher on Friday slammed SJWs for giving China a pass on the Wuhan coronavirus. According to Maher, the world needs to continue being honest and speaking the truth. Part of that truth is admitting that the virus started in China.
"New rule: you can't break a rule you just made up. Scientists, yes, scientists who are generally pretty liberal, have been naming diseases after the places they come from for a very long time," Maher explained. "Zika [virus] is from the Zika Forest, Ebola from the Ebola River, Hantanavirus [from the] Hantan River. There's the West Nile virus, Guinea worm and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and, of course, the Spanish flu. MERS stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. It's plastered all over airports and no one blogs about it. So why should China get a pass?"
"Jesus f**king Christ. Can't we even have a pandemic without being offended?" the host asked.
Maher reminded people that the Lyme Disease was named after Old Lyme in Connecticut yet people in the town weren't offended or upset by the designation.
"Seriously, it scares me that there are people out there that would rather die from the virus than call it by the wrong name. This isn't about vilifying a culture. This is about facts. It's about life and death. We're barely four months into this pandemic and the wet markets in China – the ones where exotic animals are sold and consumed – are already starting to reopen. The PC police say it's racist to attack any cultural practice that's different than our own," Maher explained. "I say liberalism lost its way when it started thinking like that and pretended that forcing a woman to wear this [a jihab] was a way instead of an abhorrent human rights violation. It's not racist to point out that eating bats is bat sh** crazy."
The comedian cited a 2007 Hong Kong study that showed a SARS-CoV-like virus was apparent in horseshoe bats and China's practice of eating exotic animals was a ticking "time bomb." Health care leaders, like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the Acting Executive Secretary of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, said China's wet markets were to blame for the Wuhan coronavirus.
"So, when someone says, 'What if people hear 'Chinese virus' and blame China?' The answer is we should blame China," the liberal commentator said bluntly. "Not Chinese Americans. But we can't stop telling the truth because racists get the wrong idea. They are always going to be idiots out there who want to indulge their prejudices, but this is an emergency. Don't we have bigger tainted fish to fry?"
"We can't afford the luxury anymore of non-judginess towards a country that's habits kill millions of people everywhere, because this isn't the first time. SARS came from China, and the bird flu and the Hong Kong flu, the Asian flu," Maher said. "Viruses come from China like shortstops come from the Dominican Republicans."
The host reminded the American people that China can "get things done" if they really wanted to. They could shut down the wet markets that are the breeding grounds for these viruses if they desired. After all, China had the one child per family rule for decades and strictly enforced it.
"[The Chinese regime] needs to use that iron fist and pound it down like the whole world depends on it because it kind of does," he said. "And I hope that if someone told Americans that eating Hot Pockets could cause a worldwide pandemic that we would have the good sense to stop doing it. Although I wouldn't bet on it."
Maher is actually spot on with what he said. China needs to be held accountable for their decisions. Wet markets have been a problem for years. Even if we put that aspect aside, the regime needs to be held accountable for their blatant lies. Taiwan tried sounding the alarm on the Wuhan coronavirus back in December and the World Health Organization shut them down. Doctors and journalists attempted to warn the rest of the world and POOF. They suddenly vanished. They're "magically" gone. And nowhere to be found. Convenient, right?
It's not racist to say we want another country's leadership to make sure that if something like this takes place that they do everything in their power to prevent the virus from spreading to the rest of the world and becoming a pandemic.
The reality is simple: China put their country's image and propaganda above the health and well-being of the rest of the world. They don't deserve a pass.
China is a dictatorship that, for decades, enforced a one child per family policy under penalty of forced sterilization. But they can't close down the farmer's market from hell? #CoronaVirus #WetMarkets pic.twitter.com/pvkfhdTk4i
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) April 11, 2020