They, they, they... or proceed at your own risk
R. slept last night, but things are not looking good for tonight. I'm stressed about the only medicine that has helped her relax and to sleep (and thus us sleep) not working. It was the only thing that has helped so far, and my brain is spiraling a bit about what life will look like if we cannot find another medicine to help. Yes, I know I am jumping to the worst case scenario. They always say to go with your strengths.
They...
Whoever this mysterious 'they' is. In this case, it's benign. But I've been seeing far too many instances of the use of 'they' being not so benign. Now, fair warning... I'm worried and tired. My filter is broken. Proceed at your own peril. If you are going to get upset about my soap box, you might just want to stop here and come back tomorrow.
So there's this virus going around. You might have heard of it. It's a new mutated form of a corona virus, and in China where it started, it has caused untold distress. As a result, it seems an awful lot of people's biases are showing. And it's not pretty.
Thankfully, most of what I encounter has been online and not in person. Also thankfully, the comments I have heard in person have been when I have not had my children with me. Some of the comments are a result of ignorance. I have now heard more than once about people being concerned about popping those air-filled plastic bags that come as packing, because... the air might be from China. Really? Do people think that there are workers in China blowing up those air packs with their mouths? To that I really just want to say get a grip and learn how viruses are actually spread. Plus, and I just looked this up to be sure, they are filled with air at the packaging site. So unless your Amazon packages are coming to you from China, that's American air that's inside of them.
But let's move on to the more egregious comments. Those are usually the ones that start with, "They... . They eat horrible food. They are very poor. They don't know better. They wanted to spread this to other countries. They don't have good hygiene. They, they, they.
'They' is such a convenient word when you want to create a second class group of people. 'They' is the antithesis of 'us'; something other or different. If a group of people is 'they' then perhaps we should be concerned; perhaps they are different enough to be frightening. They are certainly different enough to be held at a distance. Talking about a group of people as 'they' and then adding something about them that one finds concerning or odd or pitiable, dehumanizes. It creates a hierarchy of good (us, those who know things, who do things the right way) and bad (them, those who are ignorant or dangerous). Far too often, it is the people making these types of statements who show their ignorance.
For the record...
Just because a person is Chinese (or happens to look Chinese) does not mean that they have been in China recently. Contagious? No.
Very few Chinese eat the types of animals that Americans have a lot of difficulty with. Chinese cuisine is different from Western cuisine, and tends to use all of an animal more than we do in the West. But remember different is just that, different. Different does not contain a value judgement though many people would like it to.
Yes, some people in China are poor, very poor, particularly in the countryside. But you know what? There are poor people in the US, too, and some are very poor.
I've been to several mid-size Chinese cities and some larger ones. Unless you have seen them, you have no conception of exactly how huge these cities are nor how many people they contain. US cities are truly nothing in comparison. The density is extremely high. It doesn't surprise me at all that transmission rates have been so high with people living so close together. But this is not a Chinese-thing, this is a high-density urban-thing.
These are human beings, caught in a pretty wretched situation. I understand that some people are afraid that what is happening in China will happen here. But I also understand that we are comparing two very different cultures, forms of government, and information systems. I am not currently stock piling toilet paper, and I have plenty of inner-prepper tendencies.
Take a deep breath, people. Just because something has China written on it does not mean that by touching it you will drop dead. Stay home if you're sick. Wash your hands. (With soap.) Eat well, drink water, and get exercise. Remember, you survived the flu last year, which according to the CDC affected approximately 16.5 million people and caused 34,000 deaths in the US. Yet no one is worried those bags of air were filled by a worker with the flu. Oh yeah, they were probably white. Their germs are okay, even if they're virus laden.
They...
Whoever this mysterious 'they' is. In this case, it's benign. But I've been seeing far too many instances of the use of 'they' being not so benign. Now, fair warning... I'm worried and tired. My filter is broken. Proceed at your own peril. If you are going to get upset about my soap box, you might just want to stop here and come back tomorrow.
So there's this virus going around. You might have heard of it. It's a new mutated form of a corona virus, and in China where it started, it has caused untold distress. As a result, it seems an awful lot of people's biases are showing. And it's not pretty.
Thankfully, most of what I encounter has been online and not in person. Also thankfully, the comments I have heard in person have been when I have not had my children with me. Some of the comments are a result of ignorance. I have now heard more than once about people being concerned about popping those air-filled plastic bags that come as packing, because... the air might be from China. Really? Do people think that there are workers in China blowing up those air packs with their mouths? To that I really just want to say get a grip and learn how viruses are actually spread. Plus, and I just looked this up to be sure, they are filled with air at the packaging site. So unless your Amazon packages are coming to you from China, that's American air that's inside of them.
But let's move on to the more egregious comments. Those are usually the ones that start with, "They... . They eat horrible food. They are very poor. They don't know better. They wanted to spread this to other countries. They don't have good hygiene. They, they, they.
'They' is such a convenient word when you want to create a second class group of people. 'They' is the antithesis of 'us'; something other or different. If a group of people is 'they' then perhaps we should be concerned; perhaps they are different enough to be frightening. They are certainly different enough to be held at a distance. Talking about a group of people as 'they' and then adding something about them that one finds concerning or odd or pitiable, dehumanizes. It creates a hierarchy of good (us, those who know things, who do things the right way) and bad (them, those who are ignorant or dangerous). Far too often, it is the people making these types of statements who show their ignorance.
For the record...
Just because a person is Chinese (or happens to look Chinese) does not mean that they have been in China recently. Contagious? No.
Very few Chinese eat the types of animals that Americans have a lot of difficulty with. Chinese cuisine is different from Western cuisine, and tends to use all of an animal more than we do in the West. But remember different is just that, different. Different does not contain a value judgement though many people would like it to.
Yes, some people in China are poor, very poor, particularly in the countryside. But you know what? There are poor people in the US, too, and some are very poor.
I've been to several mid-size Chinese cities and some larger ones. Unless you have seen them, you have no conception of exactly how huge these cities are nor how many people they contain. US cities are truly nothing in comparison. The density is extremely high. It doesn't surprise me at all that transmission rates have been so high with people living so close together. But this is not a Chinese-thing, this is a high-density urban-thing.
These are human beings, caught in a pretty wretched situation. I understand that some people are afraid that what is happening in China will happen here. But I also understand that we are comparing two very different cultures, forms of government, and information systems. I am not currently stock piling toilet paper, and I have plenty of inner-prepper tendencies.
Take a deep breath, people. Just because something has China written on it does not mean that by touching it you will drop dead. Stay home if you're sick. Wash your hands. (With soap.) Eat well, drink water, and get exercise. Remember, you survived the flu last year, which according to the CDC affected approximately 16.5 million people and caused 34,000 deaths in the US. Yet no one is worried those bags of air were filled by a worker with the flu. Oh yeah, they were probably white. Their germs are okay, even if they're virus laden.
Comments
Sana