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Comment by devmunchies | Hacker News Reader

This has nothing to do with accurate terminology. It’s 100% political.

what's political, not calling an epidemic that was carried by migrant workers and Frontline soldiers into Fort Funston Kansas thé "Spanish Flu?"

in the 90s i would imagine seeing a "Fun Fact" on the back of a cereal box saying "Did you know the Spanish flu actually started in Kansas?". And me going, "huh, mildly interesting"

These days people choose weird things to focus on. To the point where they will correct you if you say Spanish Flu like its offensive.

There's is definitely an effort to remove any instance of "The <country name> <disease name>". Regardless of accuracy. Renaming something isn't inherently political, but the choice of which misnamed things to rename is political.

It's more like people are talking about the Spanish flu a lot, and at the same time realizing that the "Spanish" part actually misinformed them.

I was talking to someone about the Spanish flu and they casually commented "oh last time it's Europe now it's Asia's turn". Took me a few more minutes to inform them it's not from Spain. Both of us now realized that's a bad name. It's also the first time we mention "Spanish flu" in our lives, there's no problem using a more accurate name.

I see this as a community effort to use a more convenient word. It's not that political, no political party or government agencies are actively pushing for it.

I'd also add that there is a very real possibility of people using the origin of the flu for political purposes - and it's worth asking yourself if you want to play into that ugly game - left or right. Speak and think for yourself, and recognize that language is the only thing we've got. What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want your legacy to look like?

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