1/Ugh, I hate writing threads about what is and isn't racist, it almost never ends well...
BUT, I feel like this one needs to be said...
BUT, I feel like this one needs to be said...
2/In the last few days, with the obsession about coronavirus, I've seen a few people claiming that criticism of the Chinese government is racist, or aids and abets racism.
3/The typical reasoning is this:
1. The coronavirus epidemic is leading to racism against Chinese people
2. These racists often criticize the Chinese government
3. Thus, criticizing the Chinese government over coronavirus aids and abets those racists, and is thus racist.
1. The coronavirus epidemic is leading to racism against Chinese people
2. These racists often criticize the Chinese government
3. Thus, criticizing the Chinese government over coronavirus aids and abets those racists, and is thus racist.
4/But this reasoning is flawed. Because it tacitly accepts the frame of racial nationalism - i.e., the idea that the Chinese government is the collective representative of the Chinese race.
5/Racists bash the Chinese government as a way of expressing anti-Chinese racism BECAUSE they buy into the racial-nationalist frame.
They see the Chinese government as an extension of the Chinese race.
By accepting this frame, we would play into their racism.
They see the Chinese government as an extension of the Chinese race.
By accepting this frame, we would play into their racism.
6/The truth is that the OVERWHELMING majority of the people who have been hurt by coronavirus, and who will be hurt by it, are Chinese people.
So if the Chinese govt screws up the way it handles the virus, it is Chinese people who will be hurt.
So if the Chinese govt screws up the way it handles the virus, it is Chinese people who will be hurt.
7/To criticize the Chinese government for putting Chinese people in danger, out of concern for Chinese people, is not racist.
To believe that the Chinese government is beyond criticism as long as it doesn't hurt white people IS racist.
To believe that the Chinese government is beyond criticism as long as it doesn't hurt white people IS racist.
8/To go around shushing anyone who criticizes the Chinese government, out of concern that such criticism will aid and abet racists, buys into the racists' worldview and -- ironically -- probably aids and abets their racism.
9/A close parallel is the people who go around saying that any criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic.
No. No it is not.
No. No it is not.
10/I don't know enough about epidemiology or public health policy to know how well the Chinese government is handling the coronavirus.
BUT, I think you should be free to criticize it, if you deem it appropriate, without feeling like a racist.
(end)
BUT, I think you should be free to criticize it, if you deem it appropriate, without feeling like a racist.
(end)
