re: #119 John Vreeland

The problem with claiming that COVD-2 escaped from a lab is that it had to come from the environment before it got into a lab, so why not just skip the lab part altogether and assume it came from an animal? The Chinese could be lying, but everyone claims they do not recognize the virus. If it had leaked from a lab, and they wanted to hide that fact, they would have known the source and could have easily laid blame there.

The idea it escaped from a lab is paired with the idea that it was being studied or developed as a weapon. That way wingnuts can claim China attacked us (by killing a whole bunch of their people first, apparently).

They also claim various figures in the USA were secretly working with China on this, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Dr. Anthony Fauci, TEH JOOOOOS, &c.

None of it makes sense but it really doesn’t have to. Wingnuts only need an “other” for their anger, and Asian nations have long attracted the anger of conservatives.

(There is plenty to be angry with China “the government” about, such as their ongoing genocide against the Uighur people, but that is not sufficient to drive wingnut anger: Uighur people aren’t us.)

The sensible solution even if all that nonsense was true and it really was a biological attack on the USA or the world would be to work together to defeat the spread of the disease within our borders and help other countries do the same.

Conservatives for the most part can’t do that, because their faith leaders (Trump and lesser figures) tell them it’s a hoax or it will go away or it’s not as severe as the flu.

Like religious texts, if you think about the claims for a little bit they are openly contradictory.