Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is facing widespread criticism from political leaders and civil rights organizations after a video surfaced of him making false claims that COVID-19 was designed to attack certain ethnic groups while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people — a conspiracy theory that drew accusations of antisemitism and racism.

  • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,”

    Are you claiming that there are no differences between ethnicities and the harshness of covid?

    COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese,” he continued, adding, “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.”

    What’s wrong with that? He said we don’t know the origins. That’s fact. He said we do know they affect different ethnicities differently, that’s fact.

    You’re trying to push a narrative against him for that.

    Come on, dude.

    • TheUniqueOne@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      We don’t know the exact origins but we should assume given the likelihood it is and the lack of evidence otherwise that’s its perfectly natural to do otherwise is crazy. He is obviously throwing racist dog whistles that you are refusing to see that shows you are a racist and I really see no point talking to you.

      • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        We don’t know the exact origins

        And many big organizations say there’s a reasonable chance that it was lab altered.

        we should assume given the likelihood it is and the lack of evidence otherwise that’s its perfectly natural

        We don’t know the origins, as you said before, but we should assume it was natural? I don’t assume either way, but it seems weird you claimed both these things.

        He is obviously throwing racist dog whistles

        No, he’s not. He said that we don’t know if it was created/altered by humans or not.

        But we do know it affects different ethnicities differently, which is, once again, objectively right.

        refusing to see that shows you are a racist

        Refusing to think like you makes me a racist? I think we have different definitions of racist.

        • TheUniqueOne@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          The vast majority of diseases are natural so assuming its engineered without hard evidence is silly. What big organizations not tainted by racism or a conservative political agenda say believe the insane lab leak theory or worse deliberate infections. He implied heavily that the virus was made by a jewish chinese alliance to hurt americans that’s a racist talking point that you think its not and you are getting upvoted and me down voted makes me rethink using this website. How does it affect different “races” differently races don’t exist biologically so any effect would have to do with culturally health support and other factors. Saying covid was a deliberate jewish conspiracy is racist yes do you not think saying that is?

          • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The vast majority of diseases are natural so assuming its engineered without hard evidence is silly

            The scientific community has been vocal that it’s reasonably likely it was altered in the coronavirus lab. You being anti-science is your problem, not RFK’s.

            • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
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              1 year ago

              Actually that’s incorrect. There’s no consensus with multiple agencies coming to different conclusions ranging from maybe it was to we have no idea.

              No one has found any smoking gun. But what is more telling is the conspiratards that dog pile on this topic as if the question of its origin somehow validates all their stupid bullshit over the past 3 years. It doesn’t, and all the anti mask anti vaccine idiots have blood on their hands that people like me will never, ever let them forget.

              So until we find actual proof, this remains soundly in the category of unknowns.

              • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Dang, you see this new article yesterday? https://archive.is/jnSIS

                "The Biden administration formally halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to US funding, citing unanswered safety and security questions for the facility at the center of the Covid lab leak theory. "

                Oh wait, biden is probably just a right win lunatic “conspiratard”, huh?

                • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
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                  1 year ago

                  Ah, trouble with reading comprehension I see. Don’t worry you’ll get there.

                  As I stated, there’s no consensus and no smoking gun, this also doesn’t cite the Biden administration claiming they caused the leak just that there are security concerns.

                  So this still proves nothing definitively, but it sure seems like you need it to prove something, which is the bigger issue in my mind. If you need it to be a lab leak to ‘show you were right all along’ you probably are generally incorrect about things and at worst are peddling racist conspiracy theories with no foundation other than that you want it to be true.

                  Covid showed just how shallow and stupid so many people are. We really got to see some of you guys show your true colors. Just know that there will always be people like me who will never let you forget what you did during that time.

                  People don’t forget.

                  • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    And my whole argument was “Reasonable likeliness”

                    Come on man, I didn’t say anything concrete, or say anythings proven. You just dismiss it because it’s not proven. There’s a middle ground, like ya know, percentages.

                    You have 1 percent, 2 percent, 10 percent, and so on and so forth. So there’s a scale rather than a binary “not proven, can’t exist”

            • TheUniqueOne@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              Except you are wrong they don’t believe that . The lab leak theory is total bunk. The natural zoonosis theory is the prevailing and evidence based opinion.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Select? Attention? Hmm. That sounds like it has agency. But then a disease can’t have agency, so it must be someone with agency using the disease. Almost as if it’s a bioweapon.

          If it’s targeted, that is.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Nope. Kennedy was when he mentioned COVID “targeting” certain ethnic groups in virtually the same breath as discussing bioweapons targeting certain ethnic groups. One thing directly related to the other. He didn’t have to draw a map.

              • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                COVID “targeting” certain ethnic groups in virtually the same breath as discussing bioweapons targeting certain ethnic groups. One thing directly related to the other.

                He said 2 things:

                1. viruses can be changed by humans

                2. viruses can affect different minorities differently

                In the article it even says "Kennedy later posted a video statement on Sunday, saying in part: “Nobody has suggested that these were deliberately engineered changes and I certainly don’t believe that they were deliberately engineered,” but calling it “kind of a proof of concept that you can develop bioweapons that will attack certain ethnicities.”

                is it a bad sound bite? Yeah, should he be more careful, yeah. But no, he didn’t imply that it was a bioweapon created to target everyone but jews and chinese. He clarified after that he ‘certainly’ doesn’t believe they were engineered.

                People just want to latch on to bad sound bites bc his parties mad he’s getting some traction against a senile 82 YO man.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  It wasn’t a soundbite, it was a full video. I watched it. He was talking about the Chinese creating ethnic bioweapons and then pivoted to COVID not “targeting” Chinese people. It was not a change of subject, just a pivot. The obvious implication was that COVID was engineered. Why does he have to literally come out and say that explicitly? Does everything have to be literally spelled out to you?

                  I’m starting to think you didn’t watch the video and are trying to tell me what I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears was not what I saw and heard.

    • Mostly_Harmless@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      He was talking about covid in the context of engineered bioweapons. That the virus has been more severe with people of color can, and has been explained by racial inequity and access to care.

      “The overrepresentation of African Americans among confirmed COVID-19 cases and number of deaths underscores the fact that the coronavirus pandemic, far from being an equalizer, is amplifying or even worsening existing social inequalities tied to race, class, and access to the health care system.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7762908/#:~:text=Approximately 97.9 out of every,Asians (40.4 per 100%2C000).

      • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        What makes you think he was talking about covid in the context of engineered bioweapons?

        He said “there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.”

        You provided one such paper that shows that there are differences in how covid impacted different communities. Whether that’s due to obesity rates, socioeconomic status or healthcare access.

        "Kennedy later posted a video statement on Sunday, saying in part: “Nobody has suggested that these were deliberately engineered changes and I certainly don’t believe that they were deliberately engineered,”