There's a furore going on at the moment about a French doctor and his comments on trialling a vaccination in Africa.
Screams of racism, colonial power syndrome and bigotry. Using the Africans as guinea pigs, treating them as animals etc. etc.
All in all the sort of thing that, if true, was really going to anger me.
But the only quote I can find, in this article or elsewhere, is this;
"Jean-Paul Mira, head of intensive care at Cochin hospital in Paris, then said: "If I can be provocative, shouldn't we be doing this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatments, no resuscitation?
"A bit like it is done elsewhere for some studies on Aids. In prostitutes, we try things because we know that they are highly exposed and that they do not protect themselves."
Which, unless I am desperately missing the point, is not racist, is not bigoted, is actually true and does make sense.
So first, put me right on this if I am missing the whole point.
But if I am not missing the point, this is the sort of carp that gives real racism and bigotry a bad time. It's just a world of people desperately seeking the opportunity to be offended on behalf of others and then to justify it.
I know that the term "Virtue Signalling" has fallen out of favour, but FFS if this isn't that then goodness knows what is.
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Since the French public aren't wearing PPE his suggestion is fairly pointless.
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....sort of depends, really on the question as to whether, if they find a vaccine that works, he's planning on offering it first, in bulk, and at cost price, to the African continent......
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If its a vaccination, it should be trialled where there is a high risk of catching it, and that not Africa.
I'm afraid the statement lacks little validity, and the comparison to aids is a poor one.
It doesn't make the statement racist, but the inference is "test it where life is cheap"
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>> It doesn't make the statement racist, but the inference is "test it where life is
>> cheap"
It could certainly be read that way.
There is also a cohort in various parts of world who assert, for their own political ends, that vaccination is some sort of imperialist/western plot. It's been evident in S Asia over polio vaccine and, IIRC, it's part of the narrative for extremists in Nigeria.
Against that background there may be a 'game worth candle?' argument.
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While researching this on line I came across the BBC Pidgin website. Had no idea that existed. Fascinating.
www.bbc.com/pidgin
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Why not offer it to inmates of HMP
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I liked the "Privacy and Cookies Policy" in pidgin!
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I saw that there were over 75 million Pidgin speakers, and there was talk of a BBC Patois service.
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>> This story is hilarious.
>>
>> www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-41171196
Remember all the hoo hah when that was reported at time.
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Sort of Coronavirus but not..... - Lygonos
