Are Health Fears Racist?

I’ve been feeling something that I’ve had a hard time quite putting my finger on. Going to visit India there’s a lot of talk about what vaccinations you should get, what medications you should take and bring, what to do when you get there to minimize getting sick. “It’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’ you get sick” people joke. You are admonished to never drink the water, never eat fresh fruit, never eat food from street vendors, never eat anything that wasn’t cooked.

I guess as Americans our immune systems and stomachs are puny little weaklings that have to be constantly coddled. I’d feel okay about it if that’s how these discussions were framed but it never is. It’s always about how “dirty” and “unsafe” it is “over there.”

I mean come on, it’s not like we’re being shrunk down and sent to a literal petri dish of bacteria. It’s not putting on a space suit and venturing to a hostile planet. It’s a place where millions of people live and thrive and go about their business.

Are Indians warned before coming here about what kinds of things might be difficult on their systems? Are they told about our food health risks like the bulging cans that can indicate botulism? America is not free from food safety issues.

Maybe it’s crazy for me to be thinking like this. Maybe it is really risky in India. I don’t know. I’ve never been sick there but I haven’t taken any huge risks. I do brush my teeth with the tap water, eat fruits that can be peeled (I almost defied all the advice I was getting to eat an apple whose skin I rubbed down but I chickened out), eat food from little local restaurants that look good. I was told I should take an antibiotic “just in case” and I said hell no to that. I don’t take medication when I’m not sick. I also didn’t take anything for malaria prevention. I did get the typhoid shot. That’s about the only precaution I took. [Do not take this as any kind of medical advice! I will not be responsible if you do all the same things as me and you get sick!]

I’ve never had an issue but lots of people do and I suppose there must be something to all the warnings.Maybe it’s something to do with the areas of India I visit. They aren’t the prime destinations for tourists. I don’t have much sympathy for this girl who got sick in India and wrote about it without ever mentioning that what she got was completely preventable, scaring even more people with the fear that India is inevitably going to make them sick.

Something about this obsession about health while in India leaves me feeling really uncomfortable. It feels like saying “You aren’t worthy of me touching you with a ten foot pole.” Why do we assume India will make us sick? Is it because of real facts or is it fear about how different it is from our previous experience?

I’ve been sick plenty of times here in the U.S. but I’ve never been sick in India. Just one person’s experience, but something to think about.