Yes, it is, Bill. And insisting it isn't, despite copious people telling you it is - because THAT IS NOT THE NAME OF THE VIRUS - is even worse.
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Replying to @keithlaw
I've never taken any position as to what it should be called; I merely did a poll of the issue. Your side lost, so some of you are upset about it. There are all kinds of names in use--Covid-19, Novel Coronavirus, etc., and nobody has any authority to tell others which to use.
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Replying to @billjamesonline
my "side?" Good grief, Bill, do you listen to yourself? WHO, CDC, NHS, all scientific bodies call it COVID-19 or novel coronavirus. Those are the names. It's a matter of accuracy.
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Replying to @keithlaw
I am merely asking you to be more generous to your fellow citizens, to cause them less pain by malicious allegations, to be a more effective advocate for what you believe.
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Replying to @billjamesonline @keithlaw
I think the priority should be to be more generous to the citizens who are vulnerable to the racism that this use of the name engenders, whether your poll-takers intend that or not. Given the option of using a name that won't cause harm, it is a statement to consciously avoid it.
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Replying to @jonweisman @keithlaw
But that isn't the real issue. I avoid the name, just as you do. The issue is, what do you say about those who disagree with you? Do you insult them? Do you call them names? Or do you regard them as your equals, people of good will, who merely see the issue differently?
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With specific regard to "Wuhan virus," it was only retroactively declared problematic, having been in wide mainstream media use as recently as late January.pic.twitter.com/1vjq3L493T
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1) Context changes meaning. 2) When the president proactively crosses out a term to call it the "Chinese" virus, I don't give him the benefit of the doubt about his good will.
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If you let Trump's state of mind change your opinion of everything, you're going to be twisting in a lot of breezes. Especially in this case, where that means bending to the propaganda demands of a tyrannical government that literally has a million people in concentration camps.
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I am not bending to the demands of any government. Trump's state of mind didn't change my opinion. I used him as an example. Language does not have tenure. Just because a term once upon a time might not have been hurtful doesn't grant it a lifetime exemption.
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One, it is very much the demands of the PRC that we decouple references to the virus from the place of outbreak. Two, I'm not that worried about hurting the feelings of Xi Jinping. I'm more worried about his propaganda campaign to control American speech. Look at the NBA.
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But none of that entered *my* thought process, so characterizing my response as if it had is incorrect.
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This is, of course, an asymmetrical standard, as I'm sure you can see.
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