If only Americans didn't ignore Debanjan Banerjee

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Mar 27, 2020 at 19:44

Hi Debanjan,

Always a pleasure to hear from a man who chooses to live in the world's largest democracy.

"When Mr. Trump calls it "Chinese virus" he is deliberately trying to blame the Chinese people."

Right, just like he deliberately blames the people of Lyme, Connecticut when he says Lyme Disease.

You forgot to tell me your new, non-racist, non-offensive names for Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Zika, West Nile or MERS. Or Crohn's or Reye's. What's the holdup?

Also you forgot to say if you have more information on the FBI agents who you say shot the Caucasian Ibragim Todashev because of the color of his skin. Just asking.

News flash: Not a single "ethnocentric riot" (or any other kind of riot) in the US since President Trump called a virus that originated in China a Chinese virus. I thought the folks of Lyme, Connecticut would start rioting in solidarity with their Asian brothers and sisters, but the town is quiet.

No one blames the Chinese people. But no one is very happy with the Chinese government's Chernobyl-like response, silencing doctors and allowing 5 million people, any of whom could have been contagious, to leave for points around the world. Xinhua & Global Times, and lots of other news outlets called it the "Wuhan virus" before they decided they saw a weapon to use against President Trump.

President Trump put a travel ban on China to the US in January. That was to prevent possibly contagious people making Americans sick with a new virus. That's because we're just like everyone else, as we are well aware, and don't need you to tell us, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered. And it's a good thing he ignored the WHO, who announced in January that "Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission."

We sent the Islamic Republic of Iran pallets of cash a few years back. Billions. Maybe it's the Islamic Republic of Iran who would be better off without unnecessary wars in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza. They could have spent that money on health infrastructure back home. Then maybe millions of Iranians wouldn't be demonstrating against their government and getting shot down in the streets.

Meanwhile, glad to hear everything's going so swimmingly in India these days. Only 60,000 kids went missing last year (any guess how many were sold into slavery?) and you recently hanged four of the guys who raped and murdered a girl on a moving city bus in 2012. No one seems to think it will help though. Do you read Shiv Visvanathan, the author and professor? He recently wrote "I believe that media is almost tired of reporting violence in India. Rapes, lynching, torture is being reported all the time. It's almost like you have to run a torture report, like the weather report." Sounds as though years of sex-selective abortions that have given India a lopsidedly male population are really paying off.

"But as usual you Americans will ignore me."

You got that right, Debanjan. 100% right.

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