Hospital Nixes Sculpture Because It Reminds People Virus Came from China
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, leftists have been blaming everything other than the country it originated in. Now, apparently, even it’s politically incorrect even in mainstream circles to suggest that the virus came from China.
According to The Arizona Republic, HonorHealth hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, unveiled a sculpture on Friday meant to honor health care workers during the pandemic. It depicted a masked worker holding a spherical object, apparently doing battle with a dragon.
The dragon was meant to depict the pandemic’s origins in China, a perfectly reasonable position. However, even that factually supported sentiment is somehow controversial.
Justin Lum, a reporter for KSAZ-TV in Phoenix, suggested in a tweet that the sculpture — which appeared to be between two and three feet tall in a now-deleted HonorHealth YouTube video — somehow represented “Asian hate.”
“The Chinese dragon, glowing orb and human figure together serve as a visual metaphor for the pandemic through the eyes of the artist.”
Who wrote this?#StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/VRY5uL3bqo
— ᴊᴜꜱᴛɪɴ ʟᴜᴍ | 林俊豪 (@jlumfox10) April 10, 2021
We have reached the point in the United States where actual facts are deemed offensive, and the left is cheering it on.
In a statement sent to The Arizona Republic, Lum doubled down on his outlandish take.
“Displaying this statue is dangerous because it allows the scapegoating to continue,” he said. “Shifting blame to Asian Americans once again and the (Asian American, Pacific Islander) community has already experienced this for more than a year.”
“It comes off absolutely tone deaf as incidents of hate against the AAPI community continue across the country. Diversity matters.”
These statements are unbelievable. First of all, Lum fails to explain how depicting the undeniable fact that the virus originated in China represents “shifting blame to Asian Americans.”
While it is clear to any rational human that not every Chinese person is responsible, the Chinese Communist Party should bear the brunt of the blame for the spread of this virus worldwide through its deliberate failure to be open with information. That is not hate, but merely facts based on certifiable evidence.
In addition, the left has had no problem shifting blame onto Republicans regarding the pandemic. For instance, a February article on the liberal website Truthout suggested that conservatives who rejected mask-wearing should be held responsible for thousands of deaths.
The article cited National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.
“As the U.S. reaches the grim milestone of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins has said that the proliferation of the virus due to partisan resistance and politicization around wearing a face mask could be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths,” Truthout news writer Sharon Zhang reported.
In case it wasn’t clear, the article went on to say that former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is the reason mask-wearing became political.
“Last year, as the pandemic was setting in within the U.S., wearing a mask became especially stigmatized among the right wing. Former President Donald Trump was saying that he didn’t trust masks and that people were wearing masks just to spite him,” Zhang wrote.
“Those statements from the then-president, coupled with people’s personal beliefs about things like masculinity stigmatized mask-wearing among conservatives.”
You see, it’s not that conservatives had questions about the actual effect of mask mandates, or that there were concerns about their constitutionality. According to the left, it must be “toxic masculinity” and support for Donald Trump that caused not only concerns about masks, but also “tens of thousands of deaths.”
Of course, there is no way for Zhang or Collins to prove that “politicization around wearing a face mask” caused these deaths, or that those deaths could have been avoided if every person in the United States had worn a mask. from the time the coronavirus reached the country.
Meanwhile, pointing out the mere fact that the virus did indeed originate in China is regarded as blame-shifting. Seems reasonable, right?
Finally, Lum’s claim that anything pointing out the virus’ origins is hurtful to anyone in the U.S. of Asian or Pacific Island descent is essentially racist in itself, since it assumes that “Chinese” is the equivalent of “Asian.”
Obviously, Japanese people and Chinese people are not the same. In fact, stating that they are the same might qualify under the left’s definition of a “microaggression.”
Yet in this case, all Asian people are expected to be considered Chinese. If the sculpture is somehow offensive to China, it must mean that it is offensive to every Asian country. It seems that it is fine to group all Asians together as long as it is convenient for the left.
None of these contradictions stopped HonorHealth from folding. The hospital released a statement on Saturday announcing that it would be removing the statue just one day after its unveiling.
“It has come to our attention that the symbol of the Chinese dragon was interpreted negatively among our Asian community, and we would like to share a sincere apology,” the hospital said in a statement that Lum posted to his Twitter account.
NEW: Spokesperson says social media posts of sculpture have been removed & sculpture is no longer on display.
“It has come to our attention that the symbol of the Chinese dragon was interpreted negatively among our Asian community, and we would like to share a sincere apology.” pic.twitter.com/0IWVSd1ujh
— ᴊᴜꜱᴛɪɴ ʟᴜᴍ | 林俊豪 (@jlumfox10) April 10, 2021
The Western Journal reached out to HonorHealth for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
The company is one of the largest employers in Arizona.
2020 reinforced the importance of prioritizing our health. HonorHealth Medical Group offers in-person and video visits for primary, specialty and urgent care needs. Whether existing or a new medical concern, your HonorHealth care team is here for you: https://t.co/jIqF87tGYe pic.twitter.com/ykJJN568z0
— HonorHealth (@HonorHealth) February 18, 2021
The sculpture was created by Dr. Vincent Russo, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, according to The Arizona Republic. After HonorHealth’s decision, he issued his own apology on Facebook.
“The retrospective analysis indicates that more thoughtful and respectful use of the iconology involved could have been employed,” he wrote, according to the newspaper.
“Although I am personally disappointed, I completely agree with HonorHealth’s decision to remove my sculpture and I apologize to the great institution of HonorHealth that demonstrated such leadership during this pandemic.”
The actual mistake by HonorHealth and Russo himself was not the creation of the sculpture, but rather the subsequent apology. Once you apologize to the woke mob, you will never stop apologizing.
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