Hacker News Reader

Comment by 908B64B197 | Hacker News Reader

Interesting how media coverage completely changed. Under the previous administration it was considered racist to even mention the theory and it's proponents were considered racists or conspiracy theorists.

Why such a sudden change? China certainly didn't change its position on the issue...

View on HN

Because it’s no longer a talking point for the “other side” that everyone has to disagree with automatically.

A fool insisting it’s a sunny day does not make it rain.

There's a world of difference in considering this theory, and with calling it the "Asian Flu" or "Kung Flu" etc. One act addressed what happened, the other tars entire nations/cultures/regions with a wide brush.

Current the major concern is the Indian mutation.

But we are not allowed to call it the Chinese or Wuhan virus.

Pretty simple to refer to it as COVID, no? West Nile Virus was named in 1937, so hard to really say it's equivalent. Ebola is named after a river, I doubt it gets offended by the association. MERS is widely acknowledged as a mistake in naming by the WHO.

But it did originate in China, no?

And the Chinese government did hide critical data from the WHO and international partners to save face, no?

Things that ryme are easier to remember, so wuhan virus would be the most accurate and easiest to remember.

Mainstream media no longer sees CCP as an ally against their domestic political opponents.

I think the term Ally is a bit strong.

Because there's not a daily sh*tshow occurring in the White House any more so the media need something that bleeds to lead. There's no losing in covering the issue regardless of outcome/findings, and in the mean time ratings will benefit from the eyeballs.

People ask this as some sort of weird gotcha, but it’s actually not that interesting, nor should it be surprising. After all, the previous administration was filled with habitual liars at every level who kept pushing “alternative facts” over observable reality and shat on the media at every opportunity. As such, everything they claimed was viewed as a likely lie, and rightly so.

New developments have happened as well, though. I believe we recently started hearing about Wuhan lab employees starting to get sick around late 2019 and early 2020. I don’t think we had known that before.

> the previous administration was filled with habitual liars at every level who kept pushing “alternative facts” over observable reality

As opposed to now? <cough>US/Mexico boarder</cough>

And this type of whataboutism about irrelevant topics was one of their favorite tactics.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com