Michael D. Breen: Lyme disease is not a slur against residents of Connecticut

To The Daily Sun,

Lindsay Weiner and her letter-to-the-editor cosigners are critical of the term “China Virus” and want its use condemned by school officials. They have misunderstood the nuance inherent in the term just as they misconstrue American liberties. According to Ms. Weiner’s politically-correct standards, criticism of other Chinese communist crimes such as suppressing human rights in Hong Kong and Tibet, the mass incarceration of Uighjurs in Xinjiang, the building military island bases in international waters, the provoking war with India, or the theft of billions in intellectual property, would also be immune from criticism as they are also could be construed as “racist.” Perhaps these well intended more-virtuous-than-thou folks should consider how genuine issues of racism are diminished alongside overstated allegations of this ilk.

Context may provide some clarify. The Communist Chinese government asserts that the pandemic’s probable genesis was the sale of diseased bats at the Wuhan meat market. The strangest coincidence is that this market is only blocks away from the Chinese communist’s only biological warfare facility which housed diseased bats at the time for their research purposes. Stranger still is that although an investigation of this market did not reveal the sale of bats, the blatantly unsafe protocols at this facility are well documented. Inexplicably, while the Chinese Communist government denied the existence of their epidemic, it purchased all the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) it could locate worldwide. Simultaneously, it restricted domestic travel from Wuhan, while allowing Wuhan international travel which created the pandemic. While refusing the release of their explanatory data to the world, this blatantly criminal conduct was being lauded the Communist chinese-controlled World Health Organization (WHO) for their employment of a “Model” epidemic management strategy. The incalculable global harm including the direct deaths to date of a million people is continuing still.

The phrase “Chinese virus” is no more a racial slur than “Lyme disease” is a slur against residents of Lyme, Connecticut. Assigning responsibility to the Communist Chinese government is accurate, historically necessary, and serves a public good. The entire world understands that Chinese nationals are confined in a liberty-free societal gulag, have no control over the communist dictatorship, and are not responsible for their dictator’s crimes. Their circumstance derives from the prohibition of free speech that according to Ms. Weiner’s group’s sensitivities should be extinguished among our citizens as well. Ironic huh?

Although Ms. Weiner‘s views appear uninformed and self-righteous to many citizens, we nevertheless support her right to express these views without government sanctions to include government “condemnation.” Likewise, local school board officials can’t publicly condemn a citizen’s lawful and truthful speech at the behest of Ms. Weiner and friends. Unlike communist China, for now, the United States has no re-education camps or “speech police.” We treasure these freedoms for our citizens including, of course, Ms. Weiner and her friends.

Michael D. Breen Ph.D.

Moultonborough