• TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    Firstly, the term “monkeypox” is scientifically misleading. The virus is primarily transmitted to humans by small, forest-dwelling rodents, including species of squirrels native to Central and West Africa – not monkeys.

    The virus was originally named “monkeypox” because it was first identified in a group of monkeys in a European laboratory undergoing tests for the polio vaccine in the mid 1950s.

    The animals had contracted the infection before being shipped from Africa, most likely through hunting and consuming infected rodents.

    “I would even call it rodentpox than the mpox or monkeypox virus,” Dr Leandre Murhula Masirik, the doctor who discovered a new variant of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2023, told The Telegraph.

    Okay but like, how is this “anti-woke”? I’m not sure any “wokies” were raging against the term? Like was that a thing? I mean we still call it chicken pox? We call it bird flu? It seems like a name that was used originally/ colloquially, and even mpox isn’t “really” the scientific name? Its just a colloquial handle.

    idk. Much ado?

    Dug a bit more thinking there would be a more technical term for it. Nope. Its specific epithet is Orthopoxvirus monkeypox. I think Monkeypox might be the more technically correct term.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox_virus

    • Redacted@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      2 days ago

      Alright Im gonna walk you through the mental leaps ive overhead my righty coworkers say, these are coming from their rational NOT mine:

      1.) Black people dont like being called monkeys 2.) I like pissing of black people 3.) There are scientists saying you shouldnt call it monkeypox, this is wokenonsense to protect black people that dont like being called monkeys 4.) Im gonna say moneky pox EVEN MORE, because i like pissing off black people

      Granted this is just like 3 especially awful guys at my place of work, but still

      • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 day ago

        I assumed it was also to place blame on other, lesser, dirtier countries since there’s no native primates north of Mexico in the Americas. But I guess we could go straight to racism.

      • minnow@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        Yup, this is what I’ve heard too.

        The crazy thing is that the real reason is pretty woke too (mpox is language neutral, while monkeypox is explicitly English) but learning the real reason behind something is antithetical to their belief system so instead they make up shit they think a lefty would say instead.