anyone else see this (monkey pox)

[ShirikiUtundu]

There's a movement in science as well as medicine to name and describe things more accurately. Taxonomy should be as correct and descriptive as possible to the extent of what is known about a particular organism, disease, or affliction.
It is very outdated to simply call something a name because of its discovery; for example, the naming of diseases or afflictions after the male doctor who first saw a case of something.

 

[TAX GUY]

Over past years, TG, many groups of people have been hurt by names they have been called by others. Generally responsible societal norms wind up correcting those misdeeds. Not always, there are those that simply don't care, but generally yes.

Oh, how awful! Hurt feelings caused by words or names! Hopes and prayers to those hurt, and may they have the strength to overcome such a travesty.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I also detest the correlation that Monkeypox is racist because “blacks” are called monkey. There is no reason for thinking or defining it that way.

I would think the fear is that malicious people would use the name as a weapon, not that the term itself is racist out of context.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Oh, how awful! Hurt feelings caused by words or names! Hopes and prayers to those hurt, and may they have the strength to overcome such a travesty.

That’s a pretty insensitive thing to say. Have you never been bullied before?

 

[TAX GUY]

That’s a pretty insensitive thing to say. Have you never been bullied before?

Yep, sure have. Ignored the bully and eventually (after a few years), they finally stopped and went away. Sure, my feelings were hurt, but I didn't have to protest and demand change from society. I grumbled under my breath, said a few words in my head and kept on keeping on. Luckily I was granted the strength to overcome the physical and verbal name calling without any tragic harm to my feelings and emotions.

 

[jrmasm]

And we got to boot straps.

 

[tzolkin]

Yep, sure have. Ignored the bully and eventually (after a few years), they finally stopped and went away. Sure, my feelings were hurt, but I didn't have to protest and demand change from society. I grumbled under my breath, said a few words in my head and kept on keeping on. Luckily I was granted the strength to overcome the physical and verbal name calling without any tragic harm to my feelings and emotions.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if someone else called the bully out for being a *jerk* and they just stopped doing it right away instead of you waiting years?

Why is it always on the bullied for being “too sensitive”? Maybe if everyone else was less tolerant, bullies would curb their behavior. In my experience, when they realize that no one else finds their behavior “funny” or “cool” they stop because they’re not getting the reaction they were hoping for.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ignored the bully and eventually (after a few years), they finally stopped and went away.

In recent years we've been realizing how this mentality that many of us were raised with is just flat out wrong. When nothing is said nothing gets done and nothing gets worked on to be better. Our understanding and recognition of things is getting better and better. I don't know your age but I do know when I was growing up in the 90s and '00s it was something said a lot by parents "just ignore them, walk away, don't show it gets to you" what a poor way of dealing with the situation as we're coming to understand.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

And we got to boot straps.

The irony is that "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" was originally sarcastic.

 

[Colleen27]

Yep, sure have. Ignored the bully and eventually (after a few years), they finally stopped and went away. Sure, my feelings were hurt, but I didn't have to protest and demand change from society. I grumbled under my breath, said a few words in my head and kept on keeping on. Luckily I was granted the strength to overcome the physical and verbal name calling without any tragic harm to my feelings and emotions.

Of course, that assumes it stops with words... often it doesn't, as evidenced by the increase in racist attacks (both against people and property) against people of Asian descent at the start of the pandemic and against people of Middle Eastern descent after 9/11. Calling it out as wrong when it is still "just words" isn't only about protecting the people who would be hurt by those words, it is also about deterring an escalation from words to actions.

 

[Lehuaann]

I would think the fear is that malicious people would use the name as a weapon, not that the term itself is racist out of context.

And they are. Monkeypox is a teaching moment for the world. The world owes Africa an apology for ignoring them. They lived in fear. The name is killing monkeys. Idiots are using the disease to insult communities.

However, the poster brought up the word monkey. Monkey is used as a slur, but is not being changed. So I disagree with the horrible correlation.

 

[NotUrsula]

About bullying:
It matters because bullying begets bullying, and eventually it strikes someone who isn't mentally capable of just ignoring it and walking away. That person cracks and decides to hit back in the nastiest way he can imagine, and we end up with another tragic headline about how many innocent people he took with him.

It always starts with a child somewhere in the cycle. Adults can break the cycle when they choose to do so, but too often when faced with this topic, we mentally revert. Don't. Be the adult and take steps to stop the blasted torture.

About monkeypox:
Obviously the 1950's designation is no longer properly descriptive, and hasn't been for decades. Any uneducated person hearing that name would naturally deduce that you only get it if you somehow come into contact with a monkey, or with someone who has been in contact with a monkey. It's misleading.