This is how truly nutty the world of conspiracy theories is.
I study Spanish via Skype with several different individuals that live mostly in Central America and northern South America. I’ve never researched how much business China does in Latin America, but according to these folks Chinese products are huge there, especially technology items. Consequently, due to the business connections of China with these countries, many of these iTalki teachers and tutors have Chinese students who are learning Spanish.
There are currently two valid theories of the origin of the virus in China. One is that it came from the “wet” markets where the Chinese buy exotic animals for dinner, like bats. The other is that the virus was being worked with in a lab in Wuhan that had less than stellar safety precautions in place.
This morning I was working with a young Mexican man who lives in Honduras due to matrimonial reasons. He related to me a popular story that a young woman from Beijing told him about how the corona virus started. In this theory Bill Gates, yeah that Bill Gates, has some sort of connection with the lab in Wuhan. He also has a female co-conspirator that works there. Together, they hatched a plan to put a large quantity of the virus in a container of water which she then took to the wet markets of Wuhan. Some way or another she fed the virus laced water into the ventilation system of the market. From there it got on the meat. We will not wonder why they had a ventilation system at an outdoor market.
So the rumor is that the American billionaire, Bill Gates, is responsible for the pandemic. The conspiracy theory does have the beauty of combining the two legitimate suppositions. I am sure that in China pointing a finger at America as the cause is not without merit. I could not dig out any motive that had been relayed to him by his Chinese student as to why Bill Gates would want to do such a thing.
I will leave it there. Not much else I can say about it, but I do have my syringe of bleach ready in case I start running a fever with a dry cough.
The United States hasn’t corned the market on dumb asses.