What’s in a name?

Shakespeare famously asked “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” That’s a sentiment that has more or less been constant among sane people since Billy ESS wrote those words 420 years ago. But it seems that there are a lot of individuals that would disagree. Take the progressive global mind set that insists COVID 19 is the only appropriate and/or legal term for the current pandemic. Those using the term “Wuhan virus” or “Chinese virus” risk being accused of racism and in some jurisdictions incarcerated for using the wrong name for the virus.

Using the term Chinese Virus; that it might somehow reflect badly on China or Chinese people

Don’t believe it? Read on! Recently the City of San Antonio, whose mayor, Ron Nirenberg, felt it was necessary to ram legislation through council that criminalizes use of the terms Chinese Virus or Wuhan Virus as hate speech. My first reaction was to wonder whether the city was still part of the US, much less, a part of Texas or if it had become a province of Belgium. At the time the idea seemed so ridiculous that I didn’t take much notice-- wrote it off to Fake News. But then, a couple of days later along comes Sen Kamala Harris (D. CAL) introducing a bill in the Senate that would condemn “all manifestations or expressions of racism, xenophobia, discrimination, anti-Asian sentiment, scapegoating, and ethnic or religious intolerance” and “to expeditiously investigate and document all credible reports of hate crimes, incidents, and threats against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the United States.” This brings me to wonder exactly how this bill would “condemn” the poor sods convicted of these heinous crimes? Are we talking fines? Democrats love fines because it gives them more of other peoples’ money they can give away to buy votes. Would there be jail time for the crime of Intolerance? House arrest? Flogging? The rationale behind this silliness is the usual blather about using the term Chinese Virus; that it might somehow reflect badly on China or Chinese people.

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Progressive Left is attempting to hijack language for political gain

Given the history of how this pandemic came to be, I strongly believe that there should be some pushback against what amounts to knowingly infecting 5 million people globally and counting. Once again, one sees how the Progressive Left is attempting to hijack language for political gain. There are two check boxes they can tick off with such legislation: Identity Politics and defending Socialism. Classic strategy defined best by George Orwell, who recognized that if you control the terms of reference or the language, then you control the debate. They’re telling the groups defined in her bill that they need to be protected and the only people that can protect them are Democrats. And by refusing to hold the Government of China accountable for this huge debacle, they are defending the most repressive Socialist regime currently in existence. And somehow that doesn’t bother them. But to get back to the question of what’s in a name? to paraphrase the Bard, “That which we call COVID 19 by any other name would be just as fatal.” So what difference does it make what it’s called?