THE WILDCAT DIGITAL HISTORY PROJECT
THE "THEM VS. US" POLARIZATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING THE #CHINESEVIRUS TAG
A Note on the Sources
As the author, I feel it is my duty to remind the reader that these sources originate from social media, one of the most tricky, angry, and dishonest forms of communication out there. While I have included pieces of social media as a part of my argument, I want to advise the reader to not believe everything they read. For one, one of my sources might very well be a bot, and two, there are people on social media platforms who are there to simply stir the pot--in other words, to antagonize.
I am not advising the reader to disregard hate crimes (in this case against individuals that appear Asian) because that is a present and very real issue that has entered the stage. I am only saying that you, as the reader, should take everything you see on social media with a grain of salt--and to recognize the real and unreal problems being dealt with during this pandemic.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the #ChineseVirus tag has floated throughout the Twitter community like the next big thing. The popularity of the nickname “the Chinese Virus”, has been contributed to by President Trump’s use of the term “because it comes from China.” Since then, the tag has been used as a means of politicizing the COVID-19 outbreak and has egged people to pick “sides.”
These “sides” consist of choosing either “the West” (the United States) or “the East” (China), but in the past weeks of quarantine, much of the original theme has morphed into much more than simply the U.S. butting heads with China. Numerous incidents of hysterical action and unprovoked antagonism have been reported all across the world, extending past mainland Chinese residents to citizens of foreign countries that look of or are of Asian descent.
This polarization has taken place through dozens of social media platforms, but for this investigation I have utilized Twitter. The posts that I have implemented here are representations of politicizing the virus and blaming China. These posts can also be linked to the "China lied" debate, but my project does not center around that topic. I only want to call attention to the use of the #ChineseVirus tag and how the contexts of the texts indicate that a "side" is being chosen.
This post was found on a conservative's Twitter page who (based on their content) are partisan to the "China lied" theory. The use of the misnomer indicates here that China is to blame for the pandemic and that this poster has chosen to "side" with the U.S. against China.
The #ChineseVirus tag is implemented here in order to pin blame on the residents of Wuhan and China as a whole for the outbreak.
I've included this post specifically to draw attention to the use of "#COVIDIOTS"--as if to call the virus anything but "the Chinese Virus" is incorrect or stupid.
The following posts are obvious in which "side" they lean towards.
This post is incorrect in its assumption that the misnomer could not result in any consequences towards the Asian community. As seen since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the misnomer has provoked numerous physical and verbal attacks towards individuals of Asian heritage. To make matters worse, naming viruses after locations can have harsh and lasting effects that impact said locations for long periods of time.
The influx in polarization following the #ChineseVirus tag has contributed to a rise of problems--xenophobia, anti-Chinese sentiment (sinophobia), anti-Asian sentiment, and most alarmingly, physical and verbal attacks outside of social media platforms. Since the pandemic outbreak, hate crimes against the Asian community have spiked. Many of these crimes appear to be fueled by pandemic hysteria and anti-Asian sentiment. On one hand, some attacks are fueled by the "China lied" theory, while for the others, anti-Asian sentiment has been the source. A common thread among a large number of the reported attacks stem from the incorrect belief that “Chinese” (I use quotations here because this situation extends past Chinese citizens now) people are carriers of the coronavirus disease.
In Sidney, Australia, two sisters were verbally harassed, spit on, and violently threatened by a woman on the street. The altercation was captured in this video. The woman combines “Asian” with expletives as she threatens them bodily. Before leaving, she spits in one of the sisters’ eyes, ignoring safety precautions, and the girls are afterwards rushed to clean it.
In Melbourne, Australia, a more intelligible video was taken of an exchange between a boba tea shop owner and a pedestrian. The woman, sitting across from the owner’s tea shop without a face mask, heatedly criticizes the diet in Asia and proceeds to provoke the shop owner. When the owner responds with the logical concern of self-quarantine, the woman follows up with an outburst of “Why don’t you f****** go back to China and keep your disease there.” The video ends when a man suddenly approaches the woman, knocking her phone away. The owner reported that the man said “that she should go back to her country” and threatened to break the windows of her shop.
The situation has evolved into something more than a social media argument, egging debaters to pick “sides” in the midst of a pandemic. In my opinion as the author investigating this polarization, I would like to argue that "sides" should never have been chosen in the first place. Does the virus pick "sides"? A virus does not discriminate against who it kills, and neither does it stem from one race of people. The unfounded fear that a virus originates within one race is nothing more than a hysterical lack of reason and a perfect opportunity seized for racism while the world reels in confusion. The excuse of "people are scared" is nothing more than that--an excuse for this rather immature behavior.
While this group of people I am arguing against might not represent the majority, it should not be viewed as something harmless. Minorities, especially the Asian community, have been publicly targeted and attacked across the world since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and stretching past that, Asian culture as a whole has been blamed and harshly criticized "for starting this pandemic." Paired alongside this is the argument that the coronavirus should be dubbed the "Chinese Virus" because "it comes from China." Contrary to what these polarizers believe, this is very harmful to the Asian community and China as a whole. As explained in this article here, naming a virus after a location comes with serious consequences. And if one article isn't convincing enough, these two additional articles may provide more light to the increasingly darkening situation.
In response to this concern, I am urging the reader to stand by minorities targeted in confusing times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. One community should not be blamed for an outbreak; rationally and scientifically speaking, these accusations are baseless and provide no empirical evidence connecting them to one another. If the world is willing to pull through the pandemic, then this hysteria should melt away, focusing us on the present fight against the virus rather than a misnomer fueling racist conflict.
#Let'sTalk
I would like to add that I encourage others to post their own interpretations of the materials that I have presented, or to share their thoughts on this ongoing issue outside of this project. I also encourage discussion, if anyone is willing to do so, and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible (if it is directed towards me).