Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins
by standardUser on Saturday January 25, 2025 @05:50PM
(#42825738)
It's not racist to blame China, but it is racist to accuse/harass/disparage Asian people and that was what was happening in America. Pushing back on the lab leak theory was at least in part to stop the dumbest among us from blaming their Asian neighbor. That and the lack of evidence.
Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins
by ugh123 on Saturday January 25, 2025 @06:52PM
(#42826212)
Both happened.
People who merely "suggested" the lab could have leaked, and asked to investigate more, were being called racist.
Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins
by SV_BubbleTime on Saturday January 25, 2025 @10:54PM
(#42827568)
It was racism to suggest that China’s only level4 bio lab that received funding for coronavirus research was the source of the leak…
But not racism to declare that the virus must have come from a wet market where the savages eat uncooked bats and pangolin.
Now the goal posts have shifted to “lack of evidence” knowing full well china would nuke the city before admitting they caused covid by negligence.
Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins
by wk_end on Sunday January 26, 2025 @02:16AM
(#42828363)
The WIV was doing research on bat coronaviruses at BSL-2, not BSL-4. See Ralph Baric's testimony covered in this Vanity Fair article:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ralph-baric-wuhan-lab-...
Re:CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins
by asmor on Saturday January 25, 2025 @04:43PM
(#42825151)
Conflation of very different factors. Animal origin was always going to be the most likely explanation, so wet market tracks. Lab leak after secret gain of function research is much more of a speculatory accusation than the existence of wet markets.
In short a few prominent people claimed it was racist to suggest that China's research or wet market contributed to the origins of COVID. They were mistaken but with the highly politicized environment, it helped distort opinions at a critical time. The claims of racism have since been demonstrated to be at least partly false (that is, there is a legitimate case to be made that China's researchers or wet market did contribute to the origin of COVID, and that China's leadership hid most of the evidence that would be used to make a case).