[Snorlax94]

Hopefully this isn't crossing the "no politics" line, but curious as to the opinions here. Had the early morning news on in the background this morning, and I noticed one of the graphics: Coronavirus Racism (or something to that intent). The story was about the drop in business and visitors in Chinatown and similar drops in customers at Chinese restaurants across the Bay Area. The inference was that the declines were due to racist sentiments about Chinese resulting from the outbreak in Wuhan.

With the backdrop of a very scary disease emanating from China, is it racist to avoid things Chinese?

This question was worded in such an uninformed way, it almost makes me wonder if it was done so willfully. But I'll assume it wasn't, and respond to it at face-value.

So from Social Psychology, if we define prejudice as negative attitudes toward an individual (or even a product or shop) based solely on its membership in a group, that is prejudice. So, yes, as the question was worded, of course avoiding anything Chinese because it's Chinese is prejudiced. If you avoid a fortune cookie invented and manufactured in NY and sold in CA because it's "Chinese," there's no rational reason to avoid it. But maybe what you intended was "is it prejudiced to avoid restaurants specializing in, run by, and largely patronized by people who may be much more likely to have traveled recently to mainland China?"

If that was the question, I think it could have been rational and not necessarily prejudiced for much of February. 

But because of the travel ban, people from Wuhan and mainland China haven't been travelling to the US for weeks, or for longer than the generally understood incubation period, and I have seen no evidence of the virus then circulating in Chinatowns, so I don't see any reason to avoid a Chinese restaurant at this time. If Chinatowns are emptier even now, it could be because people are uninformed and irrational in their fears.

Now, I think Seattle, Iran, Italy and South Korea are all risky areas, so for the next few weeks, I think it'd be reasonable to try to minimize exposure to anyone who has recently traveled to any of those areas. Not because it is something that is Iranian, Korean, or Italian, but because people who recently traveled to any of those countries could reasonably be considered higher risk. I would not travel to Seattle right now.

I haven't seen any dropoff or changes in the places I go. I just got back from Hawaii and it was still crowded. My favorite sushi restaurant -- which is a popular "foodie" place -- still has lines out the door. The trampoline park I took my kids to yesterday was still packed (though one parent canceled on us at the last minute due to covid fears). So I haven't seen a large dropoff in crowds due to the covid virus, though I think it's a very nice gesture for people to try to patronize businesses that may be hurting during periods of fear and possible prejudice. I did try to go to more Middle Eastern restaurants after 9/11. During the next year, I'd probably make a point of visiting businesses that were hurting if at that time they were struggling solely because of ignorance, hysteria, or prejudice.

[Snorlax94]

Hopefully this isn't crossing the "no politics" line, but curious as to the opinions here. Had the early morning news on in the background this morning, and I noticed one of the graphics: Coronavirus Racism (or something to that intent). The story was about the drop in business and visitors in Chinatown and similar drops in customers at Chinese restaurants across the Bay Area. The inference was that the declines were due to racist sentiments about Chinese resulting from the outbreak in Wuhan.

With the backdrop of a very scary disease emanating from China, is it racist to avoid things Chinese?

This question was worded in such an uninformed way, it almost makes me wonder if it was done so willfully. But I'll assume it wasn't, and respond to it at face-value.

So from Social Psychology, if we define prejudice as negative attitudes toward an individual (or even a product or shop) based solely on its membership in a group, that is prejudice. So, yes, as the question was worded, of course avoiding anything Chinese because it's Chinese is prejudiced. If you avoid a fortune cookie invented and manufactured in NY and sold in CA because it's "Chinese," there's no rational reason to avoid it. But maybe what you intended was "is it prejudiced to avoid restaurants specializing in, run by, and largely patronized by people who may be much more likely to have traveled recently to mainland China?"

If that was the question, I think it could have been rational and not necessarily prejudiced for much of February. 

But because of the travel ban, people from Wuhan and mainland China haven't been travelling to the US for weeks, or for longer than the generally understood incubation period, and I have seen no evidence of the virus then circulating in Chinatowns, so I don't see any reason to avoid a Chinese restaurant at this time. If Chinatowns are emptier even now, it could be because people are uninformed and irrational in their fears.

Now, I think Seattle, Iran, Italy and South Korea are all risky areas, so for the next few weeks, I think it'd be reasonable to try to minimize exposure to anyone who has recently traveled to any of those areas. Not because it is something that is Iranian, Korean, or Italian, but because people who recently traveled to any of those countries could reasonably be considered higher risk. I would not travel to Seattle right now.

I haven't seen any dropoff or changes in the places I go. I just got back from Hawaii and it was still crowded. My favorite sushi restaurant -- which is a popular "foodie" place -- still has lines out the door. The trampoline park I took my kids to yesterday was still packed (though one parent canceled on us at the last minute due to covid fears). So I haven't seen a large dropoff in crowds due to the covid virus, though I think it's a very nice gesture for people to try to patronize businesses that may be hurting during periods of fear and possible prejudice. I did try to go to more Middle Eastern restaurants after 9/11. During the next year, I'd probably make a point of visiting businesses that were hurting if at that time they were struggling solely because of ignorance, hysteria, or prejudice.