I learned some things about feline poxvirus as an EXAMPLE to talk about a similar virus. If a cat gets a catpox, it can spread to cat people. If there’s an outbreak & only cat folks can be tested, it will seem like ONLY cats or cat people get it. Cats start getting dirty looks.
Let’s say Cheryl lives in a town that is starting to be kinda mean to cats and cat people. Bad for cats! Cheryl doesn’t even know any cats. When she gets some catpox symptoms, her doctor says it is something else and no precautions are taken. Bad for Cheryl and her whole town!
Cheryl’s cow Brenda has a birthday coming up, and the town is excited. Nobody is worried about catpox since Cheryl and Brenda haven’t petted cats. Brenda’s friends are diverse so it’s humans, cattle, a family of voles, and a capybara.
Sorry to say it but Cheryl and Brenda actually had the pox and their friends start getting symptoms. Nobody realized that catpox is also cowpox, and Brenda and Cheryl weren’t eligible for testing. You don’t just get it from petting cats! Bad for the voles. Bad for the capybara.
Anti-cat rhetoric has been drummed up by focusing only on cats this whole time, which is very bad for cats. It’s also bad for humans, cows, voles and capybaras. The capybara didn’t get treated and it spread to his pup. He was always a little unhinged but now he HATES cats.
The cows can’t get tested or treated. Capybaras give it to their pups. The voles are in the middle (but it’s reinforcing a previous anti-cat bias). Cats are not at fault. Why did people ignore that catpox is also called cowpox? Now EVERYONE is sick and cats are getting blamed
It’s ignorant and dangerous to blame one demographic for something like a virus. Now there’s a violent capybara smashing windows of the cat bar bc he thinks the cats did something to his pup. Mr. Vole hides his pox so nobody calls him a cat-petter. He infects his grandma. Chaos!
No offense to the capybara community. (It was just this one guy and he spends a lot of time watching fox news)
Try to remember this story when you read about monkeypox, since a lot of articles are calling it an STI and stoking homophobia. Petting cats is one way poxvirus can spread, but that doesn’t mean poxviruses are a cat-petting disease. (Also doesn’t mean only cat-petters get it!)
Given how vicious and terrifying the “groomer” rhetoric has gotten, all the disgusting lies saying LGBTQ people are coming after kids… where does this go now? It’s really bad for pox-related public health yes, but where is THIS kind of vile bullshit headed? This is chilling
