In case you missed it over the weekend, liberal comedian Bill Maher received plaudits from many conservatives for his extended monologue about the Chinese government's culpability in the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak, and the insanity of politically-correct 'rules' about how people are supposed to talk -- or not talk -- about this indisputable fact. Before we get to some of the predictably ridiculous blowback Maher received, and some additional evidence of Beijing's treachery, do yourself a favor and watch the original clip from start to finish (content warning):
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
Seriously, it scares me that there are people out there who would rather die from the virus than call it by the wrong name. This isn't about vilifying a culture. This is about facts. This is about life and death. We're barely four months into this pandemic and the wet markets, the ones where exotic animals are sold and consumed, are already starting to reopen. The PC police say it is racist to attack any cultural practice that's different than our own. I say liberalism lost its way when it started thinking like that and pretended that forcing a woman to wear [a burka] was just a different way instead of an abhorrent human rights violation...So when someone says, "What if people hear 'Chinese virus' and blame China?" The answer is we should blame China, not Chinese-Americans. But we can't stop telling the truth because racists get the wrong idea.
Maher repeatedly made the important distinction between the Chinese government and Chinese- or Asian-Americans. He also reviewed some of the many instances of diseases being named for their place of origin, noting that a longstanding precedent is not some new form of bigotry. But none of that prevented a backlash from hyper-woke precincts, with predictable denunciations from those who were apparently intent to personally embody Maher's observation that some people take their preening and virtue signaling more seriously than actual matters of life and death (content warning):
i see bill maher has once again weighed in on the racist side of an argument. as usual.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) April 11, 2020
it's pretty disheartening that one of the most prominent Dem media voices is a guy who's views are largely indistinguishable from MAGA except that he says mean things about Trump.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) April 11, 2020
Bill Maher goes on despicably racist rant against China over coronavirus, says he has every right to call it the "Chinese virus" https://t.co/2497x2HpDS
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 12, 2020
Again, watch Maher's commentary and decide for yourself whether it's "despicably racist." I'd venture a guess that an overwhelming majority of Americans from across most of the political spectrum would side with Maher on that question -- with the exception of the Democratic base, much of which prizes political correctness over truth. Indeed, recent polling suggests that resentment and anger at the Chinese Communist government is a potent issue; Democrats effectively side with Beijing (as a means of telegraphing reflexive anti-Trumpism) at their peril. Out of curiosity, is it also racist to point out the Chinese dictatorship's horrific institutionalized bigotry?
Two women, who became part of an estimated 2 million Muslims detained without trial by China’s government over the past three years, speak out. "You were like a zombie in the camp, like someone who had lost their mind," says one of them. WATCH: https://t.co/VGeTXTzYI7
— FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) April 11, 2020
Is it acceptable to point to China's ongoing cover-up and suppression of information?
China has imposed restrictions on the publication of academic research on the origins of the novel coronavirus, according to a central government directive and online notices published by two Chinese universities, that have since been removed from the web. Under the new policy, all academic papers on Covid-19 will be subject to extra vetting before being submitted for publication. Studies on the origin of the virus will receive extra scrutiny and must be approved by central government officials, according to the now-deleted posts. A medical expert in Hong Kong who collaborated with mainland researchers to publish a clinical analysis of Covid-19 cases in an international medical journal said his work did not undergo such vetting in February. The increased scrutiny appears to be the latest effort by the Chinese government to control the narrative on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sickened 1.7 million people worldwide since it first broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.
Finally, is the Taiwanese government engaging in, um, "racism" by correcting the record with the China toadies at the WHO by directing blame at China for the actions of China?
This is the mail @Taiwan_CDC sent to @WHO Dec. 31, 2019. “Atypical pneumonia” to #China means #SARS. Patients “treated in isolation” means human-to-human transmission. WHO should focus on fighting #COVID19, not scapegoating victims like #Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/5FIaD1cxLX
— ??? Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) ???? (@MOFA_Taiwan) April 11, 2020
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