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Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by lighttower on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @11:51AM (#22606075)
The narrative in China right now is finding ways of externalizing the problem. One narrative either pushed intentionally or by fake news sources are blaming American soldiers that were in Wuhan for a military fitness competition. While it sounds crazy it's widely believed. The source works for government in Guangzhou.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by wangii on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:48PM (#22608609)
Yes, it's just like that and it's ugly. There is also plenty has been done on the other side of Pacific Ocean. And now, reading through the thread it's clear how much we hate each other. Or fear?

At the beginning of the trade war, one of my fav NYT columnist remarked Trump was the opponent Chinese deserved, despite being pretty anti-Trump in all other regards, and had being promoted globalization for decades.

Last week, there has been a surge of articles on the Chinese websphere, describing how impotent the western authorities were when dealing with COVID-19, implied superiority of the system/culture. However, in spite of the height of nationalism, there were articles in Chinese mainstream called for respect and understanding, and they would probably never be reported anywhere in the west, after all, not news-worthy.

I thought COVID-19 would have brought us closer to deal with the unknown in front of all of us. We blew it. welcome to the era of 2nd cold war, if we are lucky enough.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by baq on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:53PM (#22608696)
There are egos at the top of every superpower which don’t see themselves as equal to mostly anyone. As long as that’s the case, there will be a Cold War or something similar.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by magicsmoke on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @04:11PM (#22609757)
You might wonder if the path to leadership is especially enticing to people with overinflated egos that enjoy the high they get from ordering others around.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by lowdose on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @06:21AM (#22615128)
Top of the piramide is for narcissists, some just have learned better to play the sympathetic character. Since recent the most efficient modus is to not be bothered by that thin layer of veneer.
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Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by wangii on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @04:10PM (#22609727)
I could list plenty done by US govt deem not acceptable, from meddling with our Civil War.

But what's the point? By claiming moral high ground the argument goes nowhere. the question really is, do we fear/hate each other more than we need each other?

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by aguyfromnb on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @07:42AM (#22615506)
>But what's the point? By claiming moral high ground the argument goes nowhere.

The point is that, apparently, you think "meddling in a Civil War" and harvesting organs from prisoners are morally equivalent. I'm not even sure what to say about that.

I can tolerate some inter-nation sabre-rattling, spying, hacking, propaganda, election meddling, maybe even the odd annexation or assassination. Although they are not necessarily things I would approve of, I consider them politics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Go...

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Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:07PM (#22607174)
We've banned this account for flamewar posting. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977, and if you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by archivist1 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @11:59AM (#22606197)
> The narrative in China right now...

Because there's one narrative in China, folks, and this douchebag knows what it is.

But seriously, don't buy what he's selling.

The only narrative China needs right now is its victory lap. It's nearly stopped new cases. Xi visited Hebei/Wuhan.

The comment above is wishful thinking of the highest order, and perfect projection. It's Western media and nincompoops like this clown who seem to need to play the "blame game"

China got on with solving the problem. Now they're taking a victory lap and responding to requests to help overseas. The Chinese, if they are blaming anyone, are not blaming foreigners for this, they're blaming the Hebei provincial authorities for their initial mistakes in handling it.

Because they've been successful at containing a virus in the largest country on Earth, they don't need to play the blame game. It's slow-to-act and complacement Western-style governments that are in desperate need of a finger of blame to point at anyone but themselves.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:57PM (#22607034)
We've banned this account for flamewar posting. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977, and if you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by wurst_case on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:01PM (#22606231)
Honestly, both of you need to provide sources to support your point of view.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by jdmg94 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:04PM (#22606269)
China literally sent a team of medics to Italy to help with the virus: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/13/world/europe/13re...
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by LunaSea on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:50PM (#22606919)
Because they know that the worse the crisis gets, the harsher the economical consequences for China will be.

Countries and citizens remember where the virus comes from, like they do for SARS and it they will put pressure on their governments to move production elsewhere.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by tomp on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:51PM (#22607805)
I think China will be "punished" anyways, regardless when this crisis ends. There's no way globalization will continue in the future, governments will force companies to move production of essential supplies (food, medicine, raw materials) back locally to make their economies resilient to similar shocks in the future.

Fortunately, for China, the country is starting to have enough local consumption that it probably doesn't need to be just an export hub any more (but undoubtedly it will hurt).

Edit: this will, I predict, hurt Western companies & shareholders as well. I expect many companies to be much more rigorously stress-tested for supply chain and/or labour issues, similar to how banks are stress-tested for credit issues. This will mean thinner margins, lower profits.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by pinkfoot on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:15PM (#22608163)
Well, until the first western cost accountant tells you to go back and "sharpen your pencil" by 20%.

Your well constructed arguments about resilience will fall on deaf ears come bonus time.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by tomp on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @03:00PM (#22608797)
Obviously, which is why I'm guessing it will be centrally enforced (laws by governments). Not for companies like Uber or Netflix, but whatever is consider "essential" (medicine, energy, food, raw metals, ...).
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by Gibbon1 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:08PM (#22608071)
Frankly I'm on the side that the Chinese are acting in good faith here. They have every motivation to do so. Stamping out the virus worldwide is for them a first order national priority.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by travmatt on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:37PM (#22608467)
It’s not necessarily an act of charity. China has a vested interest in looking like the country capable of leading the world out of the pandemic, especially as Trump continues to stumble and alienate the rest of the world - it’s the same game of politics that all countries play all the time.

Crises are how rising powers become dominant powers - WW2 was the crisis that propelled America past UK to become the worlds dominant power.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by strictnein on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:21PM (#22606515)
That wasn't free. But, yes, they sold another country some goods that are in high demand.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by boomboomsubban on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:02PM (#22607091)
The stories I can easily find show the doctors arriving with 30 tons of donated medical supplies and none mention China being paid for them.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by Dahoon on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @04:30PM (#22609983)
The doctors was from China Red Cross, so yes, it was absolutely 100% free.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by jc01480 on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @08:21AM (#22615775)
Executing the infected hardly seems like something to take a victory lap over regardless of nationality.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by allovernow on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:14PM (#22606401)
You are a plain fool if you don't understand that the CCP literally sets the narrative out of China, imposed with force. Tow the line or, at best, lose social credit points, at worst enjoy your permanent stay at gulag.

The Soviet Union only collapsed some 30 years ago. The CCCP was literally the model that the CCP is based on. Don't be naive.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:03PM (#22607118)
You've done a lot of damage in this thread. I'm not going to ban you because you've been a good user in the past, but please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977 and don't do this again.

Edit: I spoke too soon. Alas, you've been spreading this contagion in other threads as well—including shockingly bad-for-HN comments like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22587177. Therefore I've banned your account. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by BiasRegularizer on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:20PM (#22606509)
One of the headline news from a couple of days ago, voicing support for Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's conspiracy rant on twitter. It's bizarre and make Chinese Gov look extremely childish.

https://new.qq.com/omn/20200313/20200313A06PZU00.html

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by throwaway5752 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:06PM (#22606297)
Obviously there is no room for a constructive discussion on this. Edited to remove my post.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:58PM (#22607047)
Deleting a comment after perpetuating a flamewar does nothing to unburn this place. However, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the deletions mean you intend not to do this again.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by throwaway5752 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:47PM (#22607755)
I certainly do not intend to do this again. I think under normal times it would not have been as bad. I will take particular care under current circumstances. My sincere apologies to you.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:02PM (#22607990)
Appreciated! It makes me happy that I guessed right and didn't ban you.

I hope everyone understands that we ban users not to punish anyone, but to protect the site. If people give us reason to believe that they sincerely want to use HN as intended, we're happy to unban them, and do that all the time. Also, we make mistakes sometimes—because moderation is guesswork—and appreciate being told when we do, so we can correct them.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by whatshisface on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:14PM (#22606413)
I'm not sure about "Chinese Virus" but including Wuhan, the place of origin, in the systematic name is standard practice for naming viral strains.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by martinpw on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:53PM (#22606974)
That is no longer the case as of 2015. Place names are no longer used because of the stigmatization issues:

https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/naming-new-d...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by ceejayoz on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:23PM (#22606544)
The WHO named it COVID-19 specifically to change that fact, as it leads to things like Asian-Americans being beat up despite having nothing to do with the virus.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by 2a0c40 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:46PM (#22608579)
COVID-19 is the disease. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by ceejayoz on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:53PM (#22608703)
COVID-19 is the term media, the CDC, etc. are using to discuss it. Being pedantic about it doesn't impress anyone.

For example, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html says "Coronavirus (COVID-19)". So does https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2....

The point: WHO has moved away from geolocated names. https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-has-a-name-the-deadl...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by wollstonecraft on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:50PM (#22606929)
cf Marburgvirus
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by BiasRegularizer on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:14PM (#22606407)
So the Chinese Gov thought the proper way to respond to racism is to fuel misinformation and conspiracy theory?
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by commandlinefan on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:27PM (#22606605)
> racism

China is a country, not a race.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by anoncake on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:01PM (#22607079)
Races only exist in the minds of racists to begin with.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by BiasRegularizer on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:57PM (#22607033)
One can argue modern definition of racism has expanded much beyond race. Though I also didn't want to start a pedantic argument on the definition of racism with the original OP. Rather to point out how distastefully the Chinese Gov have acted in response to Trump and Pompeo.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by egdod on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:11PM (#22606361)
It's not racist to call it the Chinese coronavirus.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by archivist1 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:14PM (#22606405)
YeH, just like bLaCkFAcE is NoT rAciST
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:49PM (#22606899)
We've banned this account for flamewar posting. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977, and if you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by voldacar on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @07:12PM (#22611667)
back to reddit
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by egdod on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:25PM (#22606582)
Is it racist to call food in a style that originated from China "Chinese food"?
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:48PM (#22606891)
We've banned this account for posting flamebait and unsubstantive comments. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by allovernow on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:16PM (#22606454)
How the hell is this anything comparable to blackface?
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:48PM (#22606886)
Please don't respond to a bad comment with another bad comment. That's in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: we've banned this account for doing flamewar on HN. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22607118. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

[dead]
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:22PM (#22607382)
If you don't want to be banned on HN, please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977 and post no more flamewar comments.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by geofft on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:59PM (#22607060)
It's absolutely possible for group X and group Y to both be discriminatory against each other, and the solution is not to well "Group X is right" - the solution is to treat discrimination, from whomever, as the bad thing.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by lostmsu on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:53PM (#22606963)
Technically, those are not examples of racism. The later is intolerance to a (specific?) religion. Not sure about the former.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by hello_moto on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:06PM (#22607162)
We should separate Uyghurs/Tibetans and other issue.

Uyghurs/Tibetans are targeted due to their religion. The PRC ideology has no room for religion that puts Entities above nation. Uyghurs themselves have long history of rebellions to the point that nobody knows who started the tit-for-tat incident: the Uyghurs? the Han?

You can have a long-winded argument but if you don't understand their history, culture, and 1 billion problems they have, then you don't "get" why their mindset is like that just like 'Murica with their guns and their "freedom of expression".

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:30PM (#22607497)
Nationalistic and religious flamewar is not welcome here. Please do not post like this to HN again. I appreciate that you didn't mean your comment that way, but at the end it clearly crosses into flamebait, which is a contribution to destroying this community, not helping it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[dead]
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:30PM (#22607482)
We've banned this account for flamewar posting. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977, and if you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by soperj on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:04PM (#22606262)
It's no worse than everyone over here proclaiming it was coming out of a Chinese bio-weapons lab. They're no more responsible for the virus than the US/Mexico was responsible for swine flu.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by makomk on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:10PM (#22606343)
No, it's worse. The Chinese government has apparently actively been censoring scientists and anyone else who points out the really obvious, glaring evidence that this virus originated in China, probably Wuhan. Their diplomats have been spreading the theory on social media too. This is basically a government-sanctioned conspiracy theory spread using the full power of a totalitarian state-run censorship apparatus.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by eloisius on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:07PM (#22606307)
Deleted
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:25PM (#22607426)
That attack on another user is egregiously against the site guidelines. Please don't post like that to HN.

You've done a lot of damage with flamewar comments in this thread. I'm banning most users who did that. I'm not going to ban you, because you've been a great user in the past and have a long history here. But please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977, stop now, and don't do any more of this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by soperj on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:11PM (#22607232)
Except I didn't what-about anything. Nor do I have any relation to the CCP.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by eloisius on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:22PM (#22607381)
Deleted
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:28PM (#22607454)
This is the sort of comment we ban people for. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22607426 and stop this now.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by allovernow on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:11PM (#22606359)
There is legitimate evidence of Canadian researchers working on coronaviruses in bats smuggling something to the Wuhan lab. Arrests were made a month before people across the world were taking the virus seriously.

Also the lab in Wuhan has leaked at least one SARS strain in the past.

>They're no more responsible for the virus

Do you understand the conditions of the ubiquitous meat markets in China? Do you realize how easy it is for pathogens to spread when you stack wild animals in cages on top of each other, torture and butcher literally everything, wild animals off the street, in open air and on the literal ground?

The reality is that most of China is third world. Sorry, sometimes specific cultural practices are harmful to people and societies.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by thecleaner on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:53PM (#22607838)
The virus smuggling thing cannot be linked to the outbreak. However the whole culture of consumimg exotic mammals really needs to stop. Wuhan had a flourishing underground animal market apart from the usual vast meat market where everything was consumable. This is bad. I do credit Chinese scientists for the fast gene sequencing that led to a test being developed but even if exotic meat consumption is a cultural thing it still needs to the phased out.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by yellowapple on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @09:02PM (#22612522)
Eating exotic mammals would be less bad if the mammals and their meat were actually subject to the same health regulations as less-exotic mammals. That is: the problem ain't the animals themselves, but rather that they're being sold in a black or grey market instead of through more legitimate channels.

This is a pretty common theme with black markets in general, on that note. See also: black market drugs being "cut" with harmful substances, black market sex labor being a vector for human trafficking and STDs, black market medical procedures being more susceptible to adverse outcomes, etc.

There are other good reasons to not eat exotic mammals, of course (i.e. if doing so puts species at risk of extinction), but the sanitation issue seems solvable.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dirtydroog on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @08:48AM (#22615990)
There's a chance the meat is cooked with recycled 'gutter oil' too

https://youtu.be/e7S7r31cjAQ

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by shostack on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @10:49PM (#22613126)
Got a credible source to link for your claim about Canada there?
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by SonOfThePlower on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:21PM (#22606526)
I do not understand the reason for butchering wild life animals (e.g. bats). Is it belief system (e.g. traditional Chinese medicine) or they are just hungry?
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by gdubs on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:31PM (#22606660)
Anthony Bourdain (RIP) loved weird exotic food — he talked about it at length in his books. The weirder the better. (Not for me; I went vegetarian about 5 years ago.)

These wildlife markets are a particular problem. But virologists (see: Pandemic on Netflix) highlight not just the wildlife trade be our enormous animal agriculture production as an explosive situation.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by allovernow on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:24PM (#22606572)
Both. Folk medicine is extremely common in China and the idea is that certain body parts from certain animals cure ailments/improve performance. Total backwards voodoo bullshit - like suppliments and crystals and homeopathy in the west, except animals are literally tortured over it.

There's a reason you can find so many videos online of Chinese people torturing animals. There is a belief in China (and to a lesser extent in other nations like Korea and I believe Vietnam) that making animals suffer pre slaughter makes the meat tastier. And honestly it isn't a stretch that adrenal hormones released just before death can influence the flavor or texture of meat, but I don't know if that justifies cruelty...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:14PM (#22607267)
We've banned this account for flamewar posting. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606977, and if you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by anthk on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:10PM (#22608100)
he/she shoudln't be banned, 's partly right:

https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?query=south+korea+bokna...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @01:13PM (#22618895)
Being right and following the site guidelines are different things. The latter is what protects the community from destroying itself—assuming that's possible.

Fortunately, the two support each other, because if you're right, expressing your view in a thoughtful way makes the truth more apparent to others, while fulminating and attacking enemies merely alienates everyone who doesn't already agree with you. You end up discrediting the very truth you're advocating for. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by anarticle on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @01:09AM (#22613811)
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by cksquare on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:51PM (#22606937)
Ah, citation bruh?
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by 131012 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:17PM (#22606457)
Can you give a more substantial account of your 'legitimate evidence'? Until then, this is pure nonsense.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by allovernow on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:28PM (#22606613)
I'm on mobile so I don't have time to collate a bunch of sources for something you could search for online, so here's a link to a summary.

NOTE: before you dismiss the source, notice that it is merely a commentary on a collection of individual sources that you can verify yourself. Now I do not agree with the conclusion in the link below, that this is a deliberate bioweapon, but there is ample circumstantial evidence here to at least presume that the virus could have leaked from the only level 4 biolab in China, which happens to be less than 10 miles from Wuhan. It's likely they were conducting legitimate research, all I'm pointing out is that the evidence for this actually coming from China is pretty good.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/did-china-steal-coron...

[dead]
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:33PM (#22607535)
Please don't do this here.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by allovernow on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:47PM (#22606869)
They have collected legitimate reports from e.g. the news.

It's no less legitimate than a bunch of links on a Wikipedia page. Don't be lazy and dismiss this because you don't like the political leaning of zerohedge.

>Russian disinformation site

But we're just going to believe everything out of China without a second thought right now?

Everything in that link, all the suspicious relationships, all the published research (arrested smugglers have published on coronavirus very recently) is verifiable. Don't be lazy.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by egdod on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:11PM (#22606354)
No, it is worse. Some idiot on Facebook with a conspiracy theory isn't in the same league as the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by spamlord on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:19PM (#22606487)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y2uGlHT4iU Chinese culture is to blame. Try and stop boiling dogs alive, beating them with clubs, burning them alive with torches, and other torture. Also stop mass consumption of wild bushmeat and maybe all these zoonotic diseases will stop emerging in China.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by dang on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:40PM (#22607649)
We've banned this account for posting flamebait and unsubstantive comments. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by mytailorisrich on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:21PM (#22606531)
Equally there is a narrative of blaming China for it all. Examples in this very thread.

Everyone is trying to find a culprit to pin the blame on instead of looking at their own shortcomings.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by gmiller123456 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:51PM (#22606934)
Yes, people are blaming the Chinese government, because there's evidence that they actually tried to cover it up and botched the response. Sometimes blame is rightly placed.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by mytailorisrich on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:13PM (#22607247)
They may have screwed up at first but then they reacted drastically and made huge efforts, which are paying off. I'm not convinced that others would have managed it better overall. The Chinese are now helping others.

Experts have been warning us for years than something like this coronavirus was coming, and we got several alerts (SARS, MERS, etc). The Chinese cannot be blamed for the global spread of the virus and for the lack of readiness of other countries.

Let's focus on defeating this virus through global cooperation instead of pointing fingers. Once this pandemic is behind us then hopefully everyone will reflect and learn what can be learned from it.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by stjohnswarts on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @10:01PM (#22612834)
I believe we should be focused on the virus, but when this world wide short down is over we shouldn't forget were this came from and put some international influence on shutting down the wild animal markets in China which no doubt will just spawn another coronavirus in the next decade. I don't respect any "tradition" that leads to havoc like this.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by IAmEveryone on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @07:17AM (#22615365)
There is no proof that such markets are the link. Bats life close to humans almost everywhere on earth, and any contamination could have been the link.

This scenario of someone eating an infected, exotic animal is just blatant racism.

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by stevens32 on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @03:42AM (#22614462)
The wet markets have already been banned, the thing to exert pressure on now is proper enforcement.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by DevKoala on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:40PM (#22607659)
Did they really?

I keep hearing they have contained it, but I also get reports that they haven’t. Also, something needs to change for their policies to not impact the rest of the world in such drastic manner.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Iamactuallyverybadass/comments/fhju...

Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by fesoliveira on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:07PM (#22608048)
Please, try to use official sources, like the WHO or CDC to base your assumptions. Anecdotal reports on Reddit do little to add to the discussion, specially since it is very hard to verify claims people post there.
Re:Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December? by gmiller123456 on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:52PM (#22608687)
Unfortunately it's also very hard to verify claims of the Chinese government, we need to weigh the reports accordingly.