The current situation in China with coronavirus has extended well past the countries borders. New stories from all over the world continue to announce a new confirmed case, the death toll seemingly increasing each day. The severely contagious nature of this disease has caused panic in several countries worldwide, but is this disease as deadly as the media makes it out to be?
Not according to Aleksandra Kuzmanovic, a worker in the World Health Organization. With the continuous media coverage on the virus, Kuzmanovic argues that the media is only spreading hate and racism instead of analysing the actual situation.
Social media has been allowing false information to spread quickly, the subject recently entering popular “meme culture.” Today, most teenagers and adults in first world countries have access to social media platforms and, with them, the content being spread. Often times there is no way to filter out false information quick enough to prevent a widespread misconception, such as the case with corona virus.
Throughout the entire globe, we are now able to see the consequences of this ‘infodemic’ as hate and racism wedge their way in to everyday interactions.
On February 12th, 2020, a student at the New School in New York was assaulted by an unknown man due to her asian heritage. The man referenced corona virus before running off; the police have been unable to locate the man. Situations such as these display the utter lack of respect for those of asian heritage, replacing compassion for ignorance and fear.
These instances of racism stem from the lack of accurate information which produces an unnecessary amount of panic, begging the question: has social media made an already devastating issue worse?
In 2003, the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused for major panic worldwide, resulting in exclusion and racism towards the Chinese. The two situations, the SARS outbreak of 2003 and 2020’s corona virus, are nearly identical, but the only things that actually remained the same is the spread of hate and the outbreaks epicenter occurring in a non-caucasian country.
The expression “history repeats itself” unfortunately is now manifesting itself in the form of “concern for public safety.” To clarify, the general public is now using the corona virus hysteria as a way to mask racist words and behaviour. In a culture so obsessed with being politically correct, why are we now spreading such blatant racism?
According to Francesco Spinazzola, a writer for Il Fatto Quotidiano, the sudden outbreaks in Northern Italy are less an issue of heath, but rather an excuse for racism to spread. Businesses and public officials are now cautioning against eating out at Chinese restaurants, claiming that mere exposure to anything related to China is a danger to public health. These messages are allowed to spread via social media platforms and television, which in turn alters the opinions of the general public.
Social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram have become a battle ground between anonymous racist comments and politically correct users trying to filter the negative content. Any picture posted in Northern Italy is now greeted with an overwhelming amount of comments referencing corona virus.
Not only does this expose the youngest generation to an endless and often uncensored amount of hateful content, but it also normalizes often harmful behaviour. The words and content found online ultimately begins to affect how we as humans interact with one another. When situations such as this coronavirus outbreak occur, we have to reflect on how our actions online will impact the society we live in and, by extension, our relationships as humans.
The Disconnect 