Originally Posted by
Abraham 
Not at all. I was just stating what they do. I never said they were backwards or dirty or anything close. The wet markets are dirty though. Please dont put words in my mouth.
" it's not scientifically true that fruits and vegetables at farmer's markets are equally risky, nor is it true that all Chinese people are backwards or dirty. "
I never said or thought any of these things. In fact I love the country of China. I have several friends who live there. I have defended that country and many others when I hear stupid remarks. I go out of my way to inform myself with the facts and was trying to share what I learned. I am not at all prejudice on the matter. I'm well aware of everything else you stated. The fact that wetmarkets should be, and now are, banned was my point. While I could not imagine that produce stands are anywhere near as dirty/bad as a wet market it is just my common sense that with many folks handling them it may not be a great idea.
I think there's a terrible one-sided discussion, though, that you may not have meant to perpetuate. I apologize if I misunderstood your intent, but statements like saying Chinese people with their natural medicine are living in the 1st century (when we have religious people in our country who also can legally deny medical care for their children, or people who are not allowed to have healthcare because they are poor) came across to me as prejudiced. Especially since I, who believe in modern medicine like antibiotics, surgery, etc have used natural medicines myself to treat minor illnesses, because they do sometimes work for minor illnesses like colds, yeast infections, cuts, and things like diet and massage and spa treatments can be preventative medicine
Also I think people keep emphasizing how disgusting wet markets are (and I agree) but they ignore the truth of our own factory farms, which are sources of pandemics themselves. Swine Flu/H1N1 began at a hog farm in North Carolina.
Zoonotic illness is something humanity has to face without pointing fingers at the Chinese, the people who gave us paper, typeset print, fireworks, compasses, toilet paper, tea pots, incense, kites, gas lights, natural gas as a fossil fuel, tofu, dominoes, toothbrushes, rockets, and the freaking smallpox vaccine, as well as those things stereotypically Chinese like cute privacy screens, rice paddies, jasmine tea, woks, and stir fry cooking.
But yeah...factory farms. Germany just had an outbreak of bird flu H5N8 while this COVID-19 stuff has been going on.
Other animal sources of pandemics:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com...e-think-about/
Zoonotic illnesses:
https://www.livescience.com/12951-10...influenza.html