Paul Graham retweeted and liked Trump's tweet with phrase “China Virus” | Hacker News Reader

Paul Graham retweeted and liked Trump's tweet with phrase “China Virus”

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9 pointsdruml6 comments

So what? I'm gonna guess he wanted to amplify the photo of a mask-wearing Trump, not the China Virus.

Are we supposed to "cancel" somebody just because they like a tweet?

Hmm... what if trump said the “Jewish virus” like other Neo Nazis, in Germany, are now suggesting? Would that be too much for you?

China is a location (which is currently the one believed to be the origin of the virus), while Jew is an ethnicity/religious affiliation with no statistical association with the disease. So while Trump's use of terms is abhorrent, I don't think that comparison is realistic.

(I wouldn't cancel anybody for liking a tweet by Neo Nazis; I'd just incorporate that into whether I would want to work with them or support them in the future).

There is a context in the original tweet.

Trump had repetitively used the term "Chinese Virus" since the pandemic. Quoting the Conversation[1]

> The expressions “Chinese virus” and “Wuhan virus” personify the threat...The adjective “Chinese” is particularly problematic as it associates the infection with an ethnicity. Talking about group identities withan explicitly medical language is a recognized process of Othering (here and here), historically used in anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy, including toward Chinese immigrants in North America. This type of language stokes anxiety, resentment, fear and disgust toward people associated with that group.

In this particular tweet, Trump used the term "China Virus" instead of "Chinese Virus". Following the development of the recent events, it is very clear that such a term still ties to people of an ethnicity, or people of a location, instead of, say, just a location. The dismiss of the comparison is weak.

> So what? I'm gonna guess he wanted to amplify the photo of a mask-wearing Trump, not the China Virus.

Even if pg's intend was just to amplify the photo of a mask-wearing Trump, the fact that he liked and retweed a message inciting hatred is beyond disappointing.

[1] https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-chinese-virus-the-...

edited: add link

Really? Thanks for xenoplaining. Who’s talking about canceling anyways? I understand this is the right’s new favorite meme at the moment (since they got tired with excusing xenophobia and racism with complaining about political correctness), but like the other commentator said, it’s disappointing. Maybe it’s about time people stop treating Drumpf as a toddler and see him for what he really is: a dangerous unhinged sociopath.

It is hilarious to jump that fast to a Godwin point while trying to instill the idea that the person you're adressing is the morally dubious one.

Maybe you could do some research about the totalitarian mindset, and learn about yourself.

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