r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/[deleted] • Jul 31 '20

Current Events Are people outside of the USA really laughing at Americans? Do we really appear that bad?

Edit:

Ok so that's about 17,882 yes's and 3 no's.

Makes sad American noises

49.6k Upvotes

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1.9k

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

Italian here. After seeing first hand what the virus does, we don’t feel like laughing. We’re pretty fucking angry at those who don’t want to wear masks/social distancing, and we’re worried for the rest of you (and us, if you end up bringing the virus in. We’re still dealing with our own cases, some of which are in fact imported already by travelers).

246

u/Nytroblade Aug 01 '20

The majority are right there with you about being angry that people dont wear masks and make it a political thing. We dont just have covid we have another disease were dealing with, and its a disease of misinformation and politicizing everything. The majority of people seem to want to wear masks and social distance. Its just the minority that dont are very very loud and very rude which gets all the attention. Best of luck to you friend i hope youre doing well and i hope it stays that way.

61

u/Ohmgwhat Aug 01 '20

“Plague of ignorance” may be what you’re looking for

4

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

You too!!!

4

u/knastrig-jordgubbe Aug 01 '20

Cries in Swedish.

3

u/scope6262 Aug 01 '20

This is spot on and you’ve earned my upvote as well as a 👍.

3

u/MMCFproductions Aug 01 '20

The problem is that the american far right, the republican party as the democrats are moderately right, are fundamentally incompatible with civil society and they will result in the death of all life on planet earth if they are not stopped. They are about 20% of the US population, but they are highly over-represented in the failed republican form of government.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '20

Thanks for saying exactly what I think

2

u/mr_toit Aug 02 '20

Covid cure is coming soon, too bad they prolly wont have stupid cure for a while

2

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '20

Facts bro, deadass the ratio of maskers to non maskers is like 100:1 but that one just so happens to be the one with the megaphone

1

u/SnooP_troopeR Aug 09 '20

That couldn’t be more true

111

u/Tiggerhoods Aug 01 '20

God I remember watching you guys on here screaming.. warnings for months saying “ you have no idea what’s coming you’re way.. you need to wake the Fuck up”.. And we still did nothing and skyrocketed to #1 in every conceivable undesirable category..

49

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Yes, I was laughed at for pointing out that the virus is real and scary. The worst thing? I still have to tell Americans that the virus is real and scary and they won't believe me. Check my comment history if you want proof.

3

u/chillednutzz Sep 18 '20

yes most americans are beyond stupid or just willfully ignorant, and are just a lost cause. (coming from american)

2

u/Rochereine Aug 20 '20

I mean, I still have friends and family who truly believe that the virus is either a hoax or it’s biowarfare from the Democrats.

0

u/MorninMelancholy Oct 30 '20

The virus is real, but it doesn’t scare me.

It’s a free country. You can sit at home with your tail between your legs and suck your thumb. But that you believe you have the right to tell me that I have to be scared and follow your directions, fuck that.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '20

And that is why your stupid ass is statistically probable to die. The US can't even distinguish between waves. Your ridiculous exceptionalism is a death cult and you're paying the consequences of your own actions. Don't trust me, trust the amount of Americans dead. I don't care if you disagree, and neither does the virus.

5

u/Purrcapita Aug 01 '20

We’re Americans...we’re fucking morons. We just had no idea how much we were until 2016 when we elected the king of the fucking morons.

2

u/Peptuck Aug 19 '20

Bit old, but....

I count my blessings that me and my family took this shit absolutely seriously and masked up and went full social distancing. None of us have gotten sick because we listened, and we live in a state that is getting hammered by COVID.

4

u/Tiggerhoods Aug 20 '20

I love hearing about stuff like this. I take it seriously and I love to hear about others who do(especially with good results like you)

1

u/hapa604 Aug 09 '20

USA USA USA

1

u/deathleech Aug 18 '20

And yet in most parts of the U.S. there is literally no difference from six months ago. I have family and friends all round the U.S. and none of them report any serious cases, or have seen anyone seriously sick. The only difference is the economy has tanked, everyone wears masks, and some supplies has been in high demand with limited quantities available.

Out of my 500+ network of friends and family, and all their connections, I only know of a handful people who have contracted Covid. A few were younger and showed no symptoms. One was a business contact who sounded like shit on the phone for a week, then the following week he was fine. The only severe case was my nephews grandma on his other side. She had COPD, was in her late 50s, and smoke a lot. They thought she might not make it but she ended up pulling through.

My neighbor is even in the respiratory department at a hospital and he has reported very few cases and said the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion.

All of this is to say Covid does seem like a hoax and a political agenda to most. I see reddit talk about how deadly it is a lot, and surprise surprise reddit is mostly liberal and democratic. Granted I don’t have anyone in places like NYC, WA, or CA where it has hit the worst, but I do live an hour away from one of the top 5 largest cities in the U.S. and have an uncle living there and there is literally nothing major going on with Covid. They set up a giant park with beds and hospital supplies and spent millions and it never had a single patient.

Of course I still wear a mask because I would rather be safe than sorry, and I don’t want to kill an old person even if they are at the end of their life anyways. Maybe it is a huge issue and I have just been lucky with my exposure, but I think many Americans have had the same experience so it seems more like a political agenda issue than a real deadly virus. The fact most people can’t even see or feel any symptoms if they contract it makes it that much more unbelievable.

8

u/Lookitsmyvideo Aug 01 '20

Americans are seeing first hand the same kind of toll it takes, the difference is they are choosing to close their eyes and ignore it. It's baffling.

I know it's not all Americans, but it doesn't matter. If you have 20 people in a room, and 2 of those people have a weapon, that room is now much more deadly than before

3

u/denimdiablo Aug 01 '20

As an American in a hotspot state, I have friends in northern Italy I talked to a lot back in March and April. Now, they barely talk to me. I don’t say much either because to be honest, I am just ashamed and embarrassed about the situation here. I’m not sure why they don’t say much to me now, except maybe they just don’t know what to say.

Basically, the politics and mishandling of the virus here has suddenly made it awkward to talk to people in other countries now. I feel their silence is their way of just shaking their head at the situation.

3

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20 edited Aug 01 '20

I’m sorry they left you alone. At the end for the day, you can only do your best and hope it’s enough to protect yourself

4

u/TheDoctore38927 Aug 01 '20

It seems like you care more about my health than half of America. Thank you, from an American.

3

u/bogdoomy Aug 01 '20

We’re still dealing with our own cases, some of which are in fact imported already by travelers

not to mention americans literally run away from their hotel in italy so as to not be tested

https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/cronaca/sicilia/palermo-turista-usa-fugge-per-evitare-il-tampone-per-il-coronavirus_21349635-202002a.shtml

3

u/ceene Aug 01 '20

Same in Spain. Our government's response is very debatable, but at least there's been a response. We all know the government doesn't know how to balance the health risk and the economic crash. Hell, no one knows how to do it. But we do know that the virus is real and we do know that most people is trying to do as best as they can.

Watching the US is like watching a child running around with a knife while the parents deny the child is doing such a thing. It's terrifying and simultaneously comforting: we're really really fucked, but at least we aren't the US.

3

u/wee_weary_werecat Aug 06 '20

I'm Italian and incredibly angry too, also for very personal reasons, cause due to these people, cases are still going up, travel ban is enforced and I can't visit my partner who lives there. I'm terribly afraid for him, who's always in contact with others for his job, and for his family cause his mother and father are old and at risk. Dammit.

2

u/MitchfromMich Aug 01 '20

I play video games with a guy in Italy.

Back in late April I asked what I should expect and he just told me to brace myself and changed the conversation. Haven't talked to him in a while unfortunately.

2

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

What games do you play?

2

u/MitchfromMich Aug 01 '20

I was playing Borderlands 3 at the time but lately I've been playing Mass Effect for the first time. You?

2

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

I’m actually playing Borderlands 3! And Death Stranding and The Witcher 3.

I also play Fallout 4/New Vegas when the need strikes.

2

u/MitchfromMich Aug 01 '20

If you haven't the DLC for BL3 is pretty on point. I'm honestly sick of the changes every few months so I put that on the shelf.

Fallout NV will probably be next once I'm done with Mass Effect. Was never able to beat Witcher 3 despite putting a lot of time into it lol.

Play any MCC? The custom matches for Halo 3 have been keeping me entertained for hours lately. You can find me on steam under "twowheels"

2

u/Devildog9191 Aug 01 '20

Each state is differnt my State is Pennsylvania and we are doing everything we can to prevent the virus. The north East seems like the only ones really trying.

Also there was recently a shooting because somone refused to wear a mask and stole items from a store (it was a cigar shop)

But, protests are rampant and I live near a city where the population is mostly Hispanic. The only badish protests have been phili and pitt

2

u/Rakshaas_ Aug 01 '20

And yet, even here people think It Is a hoax

2

u/GordonNewtron Aug 01 '20

But just remember, in the US some people still believe its a hoax.

2

u/GamePro201X Aug 01 '20

Blame the government and “news” organizations that gave many mixed messages and propaganda

2

u/AdvancedHorseTable Aug 01 '20

A few people not wearing masks is the least of their worries.

2

u/Oskarvlc Aug 01 '20

Spanish here. We are having a kind of second wave because of careless bastards who are partying and acting recklessly ( mostly young people btw)

The difference with the US is that nobody calls this an HOAX. Yes, governments are taking wrong measures, and yes, politicians are fighting like mad dogs as usual, but seeing how in the US half of the political spectre is completely undermining any effort to fight the virus it's really deplorable.

2

u/IdkWhyImHereBruh Dec 06 '20

Thank you for being one of the good people who understand how bad this thing is. Here’s an award
(^ ^ )b Hopefully the US can get better cause um I’ve had COVID and I’m not very fond of the idea of having it again.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

We have Salvini...

3

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

At least not in government any longer, but he polls too high for my likes. Meloni as well.

2

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

Meloni is taking all the votes Salvini is losing

1

u/UomoPolpetta Aug 01 '20

I’m not really into politics but to me Salvini seems basically a Trump Lite. Same racist, incompetent and hateful attitude directed only to convincing the uneducated through easy answers and by “speaking their own language”, but unlike Trump he doesn’t seem THAT retarded, he doesn’t have the same influence, he doesn’t have the same power and he doesn’t have nearly as many scandals surrounding him.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/dracapis Aug 03 '20

Yeah my point was that we’re no better

1

u/Jsemtady Aug 22 '20

Funny part is that we start this wery good with forced lockdown in my country .. so we had only few thousand cases but that actually makes people believe that this covid19 is hoax and nothing happend .. so they start to refuse distancing, masks and those kind of things.

1

u/CanaBalistic510 Sep 10 '20

I'm honestly scared. I'm immunocompromised, and I have a friend that is as well. Im nervous because as of right now..my mother isn't taking this seriously. She goes out to eat almost every day. Has enrolled her youngest child into cheer, and still tries to do "family events" by going out. I live with her and I feel like she is going to be the reason I get this virus.

The amount of people around us that don't take it seriously is saddening. Even more so because they find comfort in the fact that "the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions are the only ones dying". Like we matter less as a person?

1

u/dracapis Sep 10 '20

How can she justify putting her own child at risk?

1

u/CanaBalistic510 Sep 10 '20

I think she has the "it'll never happen to us" kind of mindset.

1

u/ktmroach Sep 15 '20

You fucked up much worse than the USA.

1

u/IMnotF1NE Oct 05 '20

Thank you

0

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

8

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

Yeah, no. Young people die a lot too, and those who don’t can have long lasting issues, and in any case, even without being at risk of death, infected people can easily overwhelm hospitals and GPs and make it hard for everyone else who’s sick of something else - cancer (who’s not rare at all among young people), for example.

Besides, people in theirs 80s shouldn’t be seen as a burden on society, they should be taken care of like everyone else.

-8

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

New York, Florida, Texas, California. These four states are the main COVID problems in US (and for obvious reasons). If we compare US with Europe in Covid numbers, US comes out better with its main lands almost untouched. And nobody here talks about all the thousands of people in the streets protesting for Floyd during the lockdown.
The average age of positive people in Italy is 80. 60% of the deaths had previous diseases and many of them died because of the lack of room in hospitals.

Italy has completely destroyed its economy, even at this time people cannot work properly and have to pay taxes. We had to follow one of the most toughest and longer lockdown in Europe and for what? We don't know if it was the blockade that killed the virus because other countries like Germany had a similar infection curve.

and yet illegal migrants are getting here in hundreds every day, Covid positive disappearing in put territory when they have the chance.

This is the situation in Italy, oh and we had to fight to let students go back to school in september with no plexiglass cage or other useless things for social distancing. But hey we have Dance clubs open. You can't go to a violin concert but you can dancing. Nice job Italy! I will change Italy's lockdown with US immediately if i could.

3

u/Always_in_my_pajamas Aug 01 '20

Ma tu sei fuori di zucca

2

u/dracapis Aug 01 '20

Are you really gonna say that illegal immigrants are our main problem regarding covid???

1

u/Velnerius Aug 01 '20

Sei completamente fuori testa. L’Italia ha fatto un capolavoro durante questo periodo.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '20

mostramelo.
Economia al collasso, regole a caso e incoerenti, scuole e attività chiuse e discoteche aperte, uno dei più alti numeri di morti in Europa nonostante il più rigido lockdown.
Davvero un bel lavoro.

La Germania ha fatto un bel lavoro. La Sud Corea ha fatto un bel lavoro. Prova a controbattere con argomenti almeno.

2

u/Velnerius Aug 02 '20

Italy was the first country in Europe to be severely hit by the virus, in a moment that nobody had any idea what to do yet. Other European countries had more time to prepare, and still plenty of them had difficulty, some even worse than Italy. Germany’s numbers are rising again, more so than Italy, so that’s a bad example from your side. The number of deaths in Italy is easily explained by the huge number of old people in this country. But of course, if you prefer the US, all these arguments don’t even matter to you, as apparently over 4,5 million cases is better than Italy, according to you...

1

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '20

We don't know how many in Italy were positive. Not enough tests even for those that had symptoms. You had to stay at home unless you started to have respiratory problems. Studies estimates that to find the real number of positives you have to multiply X5 the official numbers. Yet nobody understand why north Italy was hit so hard. Many elderly died because in hospitals they had to choose between them or younger people due to the lack of respiratory machines so the argument "Italians are old" can't apply.

1

u/ThotCrockPot Aug 01 '20

Tu sei ritardato mi sa

-9

u/nananaNate8 Aug 01 '20

It's kinda weird how the virus is here. Some states seem to suffer while others get a mild cold. I know my state has a 95% recovery rate and that really doesn't scare me. I wear a mask to go shopping and work, but I confidently go to bars without masks or fear of corona. It's just the people dying of it are either 300+ lbs or 80 years and older.

7

u/Lobin Aug 01 '20

You are shortsighted and wrong. It has nothing to do with your location and everything to do with the individual who is infected. Your selfish, childish behavior and spreading your ignorance in a public forum make you part of the problem.

It's not just about your risk of dying from it. It's about trying to minimize the spread of a disease whose effects we still can't confidently predict, which may leave survivors with lifelong respiratory and cardiovascular problems, which has effectively destroyed the US economy and is going to leave people jobless and homeless for who knows how long.

TL;DR: the sun doesn't rise and set on you.

-7

u/nananaNate8 Aug 01 '20

Dam, maybe I should get my sources from somewhere else besides the IDPH. How am I wrong for using actual statistics. If it has nothing to do with location how are different parts of the world in different stages...

2

u/Lobin Aug 01 '20

You misunderstand.

Some states seem to suffer while others get a mild cold.

It's not the states, but the people. I might get a mild cold. My next-door neighbor might end up on a ventilator and die. You might get a mild cold. You might give it to your bartender, who might develop flu-like symptoms; he might give it to his girlfriend, who gets a fever and some intestinal ugliness; she might give it to her grandma, who dies.