Politicians, journalists, and even Wikipedia, are scrambling to rename the Spanish Flu as the “1918 Influenza” after whining that President Donald Trump is “racist” for referring to the coronavirus as Chinese.
During a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio referred to the Spanish Flu by the new, politically correct, term. He said the coronavirus is “one part the Great Recession, one part the Great Depression, one part the 1918 flu epidemic.”
The Spanish Flu claimed the lives of 20-50 million people in 1918.
A memo from Joe Biden’s campaign also referred to it as the “1918 flu pandemic.”
Biden team memo:
“We held elections during the Civil War, the 1918 flu pandemic, and World War II. We are confident that we can meet that same challenge today and continue to uphold the core functions and values of our democracy.” (2/)
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) March 17, 2020
Likewise, on Wikipedia, editors are working to rename the pandemic as well.
When facts become inconvenient to left-wing narratives, their institutions scramble to bury or alter those facts.
We can now see this in real-time as Wikipedia attempts to memory hole the "Spanish Flu". pic.twitter.com/GZTCTCeGAn
— Far Left Watch (@FarLeftWatch) March 17, 2020
Such an odd hill to die on
Whatever, ima go read about the Spanish flu pandemichttps://t.co/5DKNYrr1IN https://t.co/oDJ1JJ4Cib
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 17, 2020
Reporters on Twitter also seem to be memory-holing the traditional name.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote that it “wasn’t fair or accurate to call the 1918 pandemic the Spanish Flu,” but noted that it is what it’s traditionally called outside of Spain. Still, he asserted that referring to Covid-19 as “Chinese virus” is “an exercise in xenophobia and scapegoating.”
It wasn't fair or accurate to call the 1918 pandemic the Spanish flu, but that's what it's now called (except in Spain, where it's "the 1918 flu pandemic"). But a deliberate effort to rename Covid-19 as the "Chinese virus" strikes me as an exercise in xenophobia and scapegoating. https://t.co/PDWgUE8NFX
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 17, 2020
Never-Trump hasbeen David Frum also criticized using the term “Spanish Flu,” claiming that nobody calls it that anymore. However, smart Twitter users quickly pointed out that he used the term himself in 2016.
"Nobody calls" it the "Spanish flu" anymore, says verified smart guy David Frum.
Except for … @davidfrum. pic.twitter.com/vhQkCknQgS
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) March 17, 2020
Washington Examiner reporter Joe Gabriel Simonson also said that calling the pandemic the Spanish Flu “was racist and foreshadowed American nativism.”
You know in many ways, calling it the “Spanish flu” was racist and foreshadowed American nativism
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) March 9, 2020
Even the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has chimed in, asserting that “viruses have no nationality.”
https://twitter.com/UNESCO/status/1239718225769893894?s=20
As cliche as it is at this point, one can’t help but remember this Orwell quote as the left continues to rewrite the past.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.”
