This is a very belated comment on the kind of language being used around "Thai Bird Flu". Most of the language on the news is a verbal shortcut or button for stereotypes of Chinese or Oriental people. I don't fancy promulgating those stereotypes here as well so I'm not repeating them. Let's just say that the epidemic is yet another source of all those beliefs we have about Them, thinly disguised bigotry parading as truth.