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| Mnementh said: Super interesting and also super long article about the Shi Zhengli (aka Bat-woman) the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the research around Coronaviruses and SARS-1 and now SARS-2: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/09/1044985/shi-zhengli-covid-lab-leak-wuhan/ |
Great article, very interesting story.
What stands out
"Shi is a victim of the Western mistrust of China and Chinese science,”
“It’s now over two years since the first efforts to willfully politicize the pandemic origins, and to undermine science and the work that scientists do in often difficult circumstances,” says Daszak. “All of us have lost due to this politicization. When you mix politics with science, you get politics.”
So very true, and will only hasten the likelihood of another pandemic.
While politics about vaccines is what keeps the current pandemic going...
And this :(
Not surprisingly, the allegations have taken a personal toll. “I’m a human being as well, you know,” Shi told me. “Have they considered what it feels like to be wrongly accused of unleashing a pandemic that has killed millions?”
Since the outbreaks, Shi has received numerous abusive emails and phone calls, even death threats. She has been called a liar, a mass murderer, and an accomplice of the Chinese Communist Party (even though she’s not a member). In May 2020, it was falsely rumored that she had defected to France with nearly 1,000 classified documents.
At Shi’s bat-themed office, I asked her how the past two years have marked her. Her girlish face suddenly dimmed.
“I can’t bear looking back,” she said, and turned her head away.
A long silence ensued.
“I used to admire the West. I used to think it was a just and meritocratic society. I used to think it must be wonderful to live in a country where anybody could criticize the government.”
“What do you think now?” I pressed.
“Now I think if you are Chinese then it doesn’t matter how good you are at your job—because you are tried by nationality,” she said. “I’ve now realized that the Western democracy is hypocritical, and that much of its media is driven by lies, prejudices, and politics.”
Shi paused and drew a sharp breath. Her body tensed, blood flushing her cheeks. The air swelled and seemed to grow hotter.
“They’ve lost the moral high ground as far as I’m concerned,” she said. And if politics overpowers science, “then there will be no basis for any cooperation.”
I found it pretty cringe already when the commentators at the opening ceremony repeatedly directed sly digs at China. Especially about the ethnicities and how they are/were treated. This by the Canadian broadcasters while we're here in Canada are dealing with our own neglect and abuse of first nations peoples and others. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...
