World Net Daily ... Differentiated from other diseases causing high mortality rates in birds, the earliest record of a virus killing them was 1858 – appropriately named the "Avian flu." Not affecting humans until much later, in January 2006, striking birds in China and Turkey, it claimed many human lives as well.

 

In 1918, the deadliest influenza in history spread globally. Striking indiscriminately, it took the young, old, sick and otherwise healthy. Ten percent of its victims died. Infecting a third of the global population, 50 million lives were lost. As early reports of the flu came out of Spain, it was called the "Spanish flu," although it may not have originated there.

 

In February 1957, a new virus struck in East Asia, triggering a pandemic. Appropriately named the "Asian flu," the virus had evolved from the Avian flu.

 

In 1968, the Hong Kong flu sprouted wings after originating in China, killing an estimated 1 to 4 million victims worldwide.

 

In 2009, an epidemic known as the "Swine flu" hit. It was appropriately named, as, originally, people contracting it had been in direct contact with pigs. Despite changing over time to impact people without such contact, it still kept the name. Apparently, once a swine virus, always a swine virus.

 

Whether labeled as Avian, Spanish, Asian, Hong Kong or Swine flu, each name was appropriately linked either to identify a possible animal carrier or geographic region of the world where the flu had first established a footprint. The flu's name likely didn't matter to those affected who only sought a quick diagnosis and effective cure.

Those were times when the focus by governments, the medical community and the media was on a collective effort to share information about prevention and treatment, the status of the virus and providing the public with a sense of hope that those in control were acting to find a solution to isolate and eradicate the virus.

 

Enter the 2020 coronavirus. Never before in our history has there been a time when our people have been so divided as a national health threat looms large. Never before have we witnessed the issue of public health forged into a political sword to be raised against a serving president loathed by a liberal opposition party and media. 

Never before have we seen the media, responsible for educating the public about such issues, fail to do so, opting instead to create non-issues.

 

This approach by the media was most apparent following President Donald Trump's address providing an update on steps he was taking to isolate Americans from exposure to the coronavirus, including banning flights from Europe. 

Afterward, CNN's Jim Acosta – a longtime anti-Trumper – discussed it with his anti-Trumper soulmate, Chris Cuomo. One would have thought the main focus of the discussion between the two talking dunderheads would be solely on actions taken by the Trump administration. 

The senseless and moronic turn it took was outrageous.

 

During his speech, Trump did not refer to the current pandemic as the "Wuhan virus" – a label attached by many in the media and by the public since that was the province in China where coronavirus first manifested itself. Nor did Trump even label it as the "Chinese" flu, as was done a century earlier to denote the Spanish flu's area of origin.

The only descriptor the president used was calling it a "foreign virus." This makes logical sense as the majority belief among researchers is the virus originated in China.

 

But whether intentional or not, so as to not draw attention to China, Trump merely labeled the virus generically as "foreign."

For Acosta, however, this was insufficient; there was a need for the reporter to find something about the speech he could criticize. Thus, he zeroed in on Trump's use of the word "foreign."

 

Addressing Cuomo, Acosta said, "… the president referred to the coronavirus as a 'foreign virus.' … One of the points that the president wanted to make tonight … is that this virus did not start here. … Why the president would go as far as to describe it as a foreign virus, that is something we'll also be asking questions about. … I think it is going to come across to a lot of Americans as smacking of xenophobia to use that kind of term in this speech."

 

The hypocrisy of Acosta's smug observation trying to tag Trump as racist was later revealed in a video clip compiled by MRC-TV. It showed many CNN anchors and other talking heads referring much more damningly to the flu as the "Wuhan" or "Chinese" coronavirus. Apparently, in Acosta's mind, it was all right for the likes of Cuomo and Don Lemon to link it to China specifically but not for Trump to link it generally as "foreign."

 

"Xenophobia" means a dislike or prejudice against people from other countries. Apparently, for Acosta, this prejudice extends to things, such as viruses, as well. With such logic, even one owning a foreign-made car that is a lemon would be xenophobic if he or she referred to it as "foreign."

 

Acosta might consider his concern in view of coronavirus test kits. Such kits, foreign-made by one manufacturer, are virtually unreliable, having a 48% false negative rate – i.e., 48% of those sick would not know it from the results. No U.S. test kits are readily available due to the high FDA standards mandated. Would Acosta be offended if these Chinese-made kits were called "foreign" so users know to steer clear of them?

 

So blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome are these media dunderheads like Acosta that they choose to totally ignore their journalistic responsibilities, rushing to seize what they believe is a Trump "gotcha" moment, only to stumble and fall when it turns out to be a "got me" moment. 

There are issues far more import listeners should hear about in the fight against a deadly virus that Acosta's antics deny them.

 

Pigs have managed to survive the stigma of Swine flu. So too have birds and Asians survive as well as the city of Hong Kong. And the Spanish survived their descriptive flu tags. No doubt so too will Wuhan, China, even without Acosta's sanctimonious comments seeking to label Trump as racist.