Because one can be pinned down to government involvement, while the other can’t.
It’s the classic CCP defense: “We’re not an authoritarian country, you’re just racist!”.
EDIT: not saying that it was or wasn’t a lab leak, but as soon as the government shoots down the possibility with “you’re racist”, I immediately get suspicious. The same way that I get suspicious when Israel shoots down criticism with “you’re just anti-Semitic”. It’s basically gaslighting with identity politics.
If you don’t mind selfhosting, miniflux is pretty nice.
Really lightweight, downloads the full text if possible (instead of just the first paragraph), etc.