Pragmatism, Not Racism
Feb. 14th, 2020 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanThis morning, I listened to a radio current affairs program devote about 30 minutes to Chinese students complaining about Australia's bio-security measures to prevent the new Coronavirus spreading here. The students' gripe was that they have to be quarantined for 14 days, before they are tested again, screened & then will be allowed in to resume their studies here. It's apparently unfair that, given they've paid for their courses, Australia won't just open its gates & let them in, no questions asked &, especially, no health checks done
So, you have been living in the country that is the origin & epicentre of a global epidemic, with more diagnoses & deaths every day... & you think it's unfair we won't let you just walk back into our Universities without making sure you're healthy??
Fuck off... Seriously, just fuck off, you bunch of whining, self-entitled brats. To then compound your arrogance by claiming it's racist treatment, devalues the legitimate claims of racism that are, unfortunately, still occurring
Certainly, Australia has some pretty strict quarantine regulations... it always has - that's why we don't have rabies here, or foot & mouth disease, or Creutzfeldt-Jacob (Mad Cow) disease (All of which originated in Europe, not Asia... & we still don't let some Europeans give blood if they were in the UK at the time of CJD). It's why we were barely affected by the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s. It's why there was such a kerfuffle when Johnny Depp tried to bring his 2 dogs into the country without quarantining them... or even declaring they were coming with him. We are an island continent, which afforded us some natural immunity for a millennium or 60, but this modern world brings lots of stuff to our doorstep by plane, or boat... Not all of it is good for us, or our flora & fauna. Hence... Quarantine & lots of seasons of Border Security
Two things these students should know... Australia isn't China. And you're not special
So, you have been living in the country that is the origin & epicentre of a global epidemic, with more diagnoses & deaths every day... & you think it's unfair we won't let you just walk back into our Universities without making sure you're healthy??
Fuck off... Seriously, just fuck off, you bunch of whining, self-entitled brats. To then compound your arrogance by claiming it's racist treatment, devalues the legitimate claims of racism that are, unfortunately, still occurring
Certainly, Australia has some pretty strict quarantine regulations... it always has - that's why we don't have rabies here, or foot & mouth disease, or Creutzfeldt-Jacob (Mad Cow) disease (All of which originated in Europe, not Asia... & we still don't let some Europeans give blood if they were in the UK at the time of CJD). It's why we were barely affected by the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s. It's why there was such a kerfuffle when Johnny Depp tried to bring his 2 dogs into the country without quarantining them... or even declaring they were coming with him. We are an island continent, which afforded us some natural immunity for a millennium or 60, but this modern world brings lots of stuff to our doorstep by plane, or boat... Not all of it is good for us, or our flora & fauna. Hence... Quarantine & lots of seasons of Border Security
Two things these students should know... Australia isn't China. And you're not special
