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Old 03-21-2020, 10:20 PM
oldskewel oldskewel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Perrier View Post
For everyone's information, the "Spanish Flu" isn't at all "Spanish" or from Spain. If it were to be named according to the region it originated from, it would've been called the USA Flu. But it was deflected away from the USA in an effort to project a better image for the country.
That Flu originated in USA and went to Europe with American soldiers fighting in WWI. Then it was diagnosed and identified as new and unique strain by smart doctors in Spain. No one wanted to call it the American Flu for fear of associating America with diseases.
So you see, people knew even 100 years ago that association of disease with regions does have racist, negative image, and negative impact on reputation and economies. Even with that good knowledge they still thought it would be okay to dish it out but not okay to take it.
Did you get that from CNN, NPR, or MSNBC? I fully expect all of those channels to choose the America-hating version any time the facts are not 100% clear.

The truth is that the origin is very much unknown. Yes, the army base in Kansas is one of the candidates. China is too. Spain is not.

Since it spread during WWI, reporting in countries involved in the war suppressed reporting on it in fear of hurting morale. Neutral Spain, not being in the war, was free to report closer to the truth, so with much of the reporting coming from Spain, the disease itself seemed to be concentrated in Spain, and the name stuck.

USA was not trying to deflect blame in a racist way. We were saving the world.
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