OpinionCoronavirus crisis: compassion is in order, for the innocent who are infected and the selfless medical workers – and especially while governing

The coronavirus epidemic that began in Wuhan shows little sign of abating. I have been struck by the volume of vitriol and acrimony expressed on social media – whether it is chastising doctors on strike for their alleged dereliction of duty, berating mainland Chinese citizens for supposed cultural vulgarity and ignorance of hygiene, or spreading unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the Chinese government.

Firstly, the need for compassion for patients and citizens in Wuhan and other affected regions in China cannot be overstated. Xenophobic discourse, and in some cases downright racist abuse, has been raging online – portraying with glee these individuals as “deserving” of their fates because of their consumption habits, or speculating with excitement that this epidemic would induce some cataclysmic change in China’s governance model.

For individuals so ostensibly occupied with the liberalisation and empowerment of Chinese citizens, these comments are very ironic. Many among the infected have never consumed wild animals, or taken part in animal slaughter at wet markets.

To attribute the outbreak to cultural practices, as opposed to the anti-transparency, anti-hygiene systemic defects in governance, comes across as generalisation at best, and malicious demonisation at worst.

Even when talking of those who do eat wildlife, the claim that barbaric food consumption habits are to blame for the outbreak is ludicrous. To posit that they deserve their fates is not just callous, but blatantly ignorant. Any meat, if well-prepared and cooked to kill germs and toxins, is safe to consume.