WHO renames monkeypox as mpox, citing racism concerns | Hacker News Reader

WHO renames monkeypox as mpox, citing racism concerns

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6 pointstype06 comments

OK, I read the whole article and never did it explain what is either racist or discriminatory about "monkeypox." Discriminatory would imply that one group is being treated differently because of race, sex, religion, etc.; it's very possible that some people are getting better medical treatment than others because of poverty or other factors, but it's bizarre to claim that has anything to do with the name monkeypox or that the situation would improve by calling it "mpox."

    call it racist
    demand performative change
    claim opposition is evidence of racism
    win by introducing race into everything

implementation

    master branch is racist
    change everything to main
    "you are racist tech bro"
    everyone just goes along with it to avoid annoying meetings

the pattern is easy

I understand the reasoning, but their using names that sound like they came out of cyberpunk novels causes a new set of problems and conspiracy theories.

If the WHO thinks “MonkeyPox” sounds racist, then they’re the racist in the room.

I don’t know a single person who thinks that.

We’re living in a strange timeline.

Certain races have been derogatorily referred to as "monkeys". You can recognize that the term has been (and probably still is) used in a racist way, without being racist yourself.

On the other hand, what WHO is doing is making it harder for us to just move on...

What keeps me a little sceptical about this move is that I don't know whether the name "monkeypox" actually comes form racist origins.

If it's similar to the "Spanish" flu (which, wasn't really from Spain, but I digress...) or the "gay disease" (HIV/AIDS) where the colloquial name was invented due to a pattern of xenophobia/racism, then I understand the WHO's intention to change the name. If it's because it originated from moneys.... It's like wanting to change the Spanish name for black (negro) because it was used in a derogatory manner in a different context (US slave owners/racists)

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