"Chinese Virus" : Racist or Not?

Let's skip to the end: Yes, it is racist to call the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus".

Yet, people (I will call them "supporter(s)") will insist upon there being nothing wrong with it. I will attempt to counter the arguments I have heard against my stance.

1. " China has to be held accountable" 

One of the most common arguments I have heard from the supporters is that China needs to be held accountable. According to them targeting and bullying every Chinese in the world, stigmatising them by declaring an entire nation culpable, is the only way for the Chinese authorities to answer for allegedly hiding the true nature of the virus. 

Let's start calling the security guard at Kingfisher, a thief and that will help bring Vijay Mallaya to justice. The absurdity of this statement is comparable to the ones supporters are espousing.

Such a virus could have naturally originated anywhere in the world and it's a number of factors that made China the ground zero of coronavirus. And for those who claim it is man-made, you don't know that any more than I do (if you're not a scientist working on the issue 🙈) and even if it is, ostracizing the general public of China will not make anything better.

2. "You don't hear Spain complaining about the Spanish Flu"

There are many problems with this statement. 

First, the Spanish Flu was named so not because the Spanish Flu originated in Spain but because they were the most upfront about the disease. The rest of the world just assumed that Spain was ground zero.

Secondly, that being said, in the past, the WHO has used the origin place or names of other unrelated places (Ebola was named after a river which had nothing to do with the disease)  to name diseases. That practice has caused a lot of offence to cultures, natures, regions and negatively impacted trade, travel, tourism etc. and even individuals! (Lou Gehrig's disease). And the WHO recognised that in 2015. In 2015, they came out with new principles for naming diseases, effectively ruling out the use of the following for disease naming:

1. Geographic locations
2. People's names
3. Species of animals (Weird one? Swine flu led to the ban of pork trade in many countries while eating pigs had nothing to do with the disease)
4. Cultural references
5. Terms that incite fear (Black Death)

If the WHO can accept its mistake, what are we mere mortals doing sticking with ours?

3. "See even the government banned Chinese apps because of the 'Chinese Virus'. "

India has a very complicated relationship with China. Issues we have with China range from land and water disputes to shelter to Dalai Lama. It is that complex past and some recent (very outrageous) incidents that led the government to take this step which is aimed towards better cybersecurity. The pandemic was just an unfortunate coincidence. The Indian government had in fact shown solidarity with China when the Indian Minister of External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, agreed with the Chinese Foreign Minister to "not label the virus". 

Don't let the supporters lead you onto a path of bullying and if you are one of them, well... try not to be one!