Posted on 02/13/2020 9:31:19 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Paranoia and fear about an epidemic are often worse than the disease itself. If you want to get a taste of the insanity provoked by the new coronavirus, look no further than US Republican Senator Tom Cotton.
As I discussed on Sunday, there has been a conspiracy theory circulating in social media and fringe media groups in the United States claiming the virus was bioengineered as a weapon by the Chinese but was accidentally leaked into the population.
This is because the epicentre of the outbreak is near the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is certified to handle the world’s deadliest viruses.
But it is a complete falsehood. Why? The genome of the virus has been decoded and published. Scientists who have looked at the results have no doubt it is a naturally evolving virus. But while it may be false, the theory is not fringe any more because Cotton is actively promoting it.
This has prompted a rebuttal from Chinese ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai.
“This will create panic,” he said. “It will fan up racial discrimination, xenophobia, all these things that will really harm our joint efforts to combat the virus.”
The senator has been on a tear since January, calling for all Americans to leave China, a ban to prevent Chinese nationals from entering the US and a “Manhattan Project-level effort to create a vaccine”, a reference to the secret project that produced the world’s first atomic bombs.
But to date, there has not been a single death related to the new virus in the US.
Cotton has hit back on Twitter: “Here’s what’s not a conspiracy, not a theory: Fact: China lied about virus starting in Wuhan food market.”
That was the initial suspicion, but it is now being questioned, partly due to an updated analysis, published in The Lancet on January 24, by a team of Chinese researchers from state-run institutions.
Cotton goes on: “Fact: super-lab is just a few miles from that market[.] Where did it start? We don’t know. But burden of proof is on you & fellow communists. Open up now to competent international scientists.”
Leaving aside his absurd logic, the Wuhan institute is actually open to qualified outsiders, Americans no less.
The lab has close institutional ties with the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and was partly built by French engineers.
Senator Cotton, stop making a fool of yourself.
Oh, that’s my real name.
Momma didn’t like me much...
Wait, we’re not supposed to use our real names here?
Too late now...
It sure seemed to stop all those anti-govt protests over there.
I don’t loathe the graphic. It’s from one of my all time favorite movies - I just think you post it too much so it’s getting to be like spam.
By the way, how did I get on your ping list?
You don’t seem to actually be on my ping list. Perhaps you’ve been the poster I responded to a few times?
Next you’ll be saying “Oy don’t like spam!” forcing me to burst into song...
Makes sense...
South China Morning Post is the govt’s news outlet...
The only item I might take issue with is that the commies “accidentally” realeased the virus. These people don’t care about the lives of their fellow humans, as demonstrated in Ukraine, the cultural revolution, Cambodia, and numerous other places. Weaponized virus propogation would be valuable data to the Chinese military.
SCMP - lolol
:-)
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