After all the discrimination suffered by the Jewish people through centuries of world history, I would have thought Israelis would be more sensitive to the feelings of another culture. I would have thought they would think twice before stigmatizing the residents of another country -- especially a country that never did them any harm. But maybe I was wrong. Consider the following story from the Associated Press:
"The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed "Mexican" influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and "we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu," he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel.
Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
Scientists are unsure where the new swine flu virus originally emerged, though it was identifed first in the United States. They say there is nothing about the virus that makes it 'Mexican' and worry such a label would be stigmatizing."
That is an incredibly stupid statement by a supposedly educated government official. Is he really saying the simple use of the word "swine" offends all Jews and Muslims? And when did he start caring what offends Muslims?
No one is asking anyone to eat pork. The word "swine" is used only to signify the origin of this particular strain of the flu virus. Is he also offended by the terms "pig latin", "pork barrel spending" or "piggyback rides"? Would he run screaming into the night at the sight of a Piggly-Wiggly grocery store?
I have an idea. If Litzman and other Israelis are offended by the words "swine flu", why don't we call it "Israeli flu", or even better, why not "Litzman flu"? After all, we wouldn't want such a sensitive person to be offended!
Frankly, I'm offended by his suggestion.
Pandemics have traditionally been named after the locus of the outbreak (e.g. Asiatic (Russian) flu - 1889-90; Spanish Flu - 1918-20; Asian Flu - 1957-58; Hong Kong Flu 1968-69). (Here's my source).
ReplyDeleteSo why is this particular pandemic being named after the variant (Swine Flu) or the subtype (H1N1)? That's simple. It's no more polticially correct to call a pandemic that originates in Mexico the "Mexican Flu" than it is to call an immigrant who illegally crosses the border an "illegal immigrant." Perhaps we should call it the "Undocumented Flu" instead?
Frankly, I'm a little offended that something as potentially catastrophic an an influenza pandemic is afforded "special rights" by virtue of its country of origin.
CT-
ReplyDeleteEven your source says the Spanish Flu probably started in Austria. It got the name Spanish Flu because Spain was not involved in World War I (as the other nations were) and therefore freely admitted they had an epidemic of flu. The other nations were afraid their enemies would think they were weak if they admitted they had been hit hard by the epidemic. So it got the name Spanish Flu, not because it started there, but because they were the only ones honest about it.
jobsanger,
ReplyDeleteDo you think that in the last 91 years, epidemiologists might have improved their ability to identify the locus of a pandemic?
Or are you saying that the lastest outbreak didn't originate in Mexico?
I don't know where it originated. I haven't heard any scientist or doctor say they know for sure.
ReplyDeleteThere is speculation that it started on a pig farm near Veracruz, but the virus has not been found on the farm or in any pigs (anywhere).