Corona / Wuhan virus

MoonFlier said:
I think it's the selfish bastards who can't see past the end of their own noses, and the young who have had limited exposure to positive interactions with elderly who feel this way. Certainly not most of us. The feeling is also not restricted to the US, but here we have that annoyingly beautiful thing called freedom of speech that doesn't help in this case.

As for the usa as a whole being screwed: yes and no. Yes, we've put far too much faith in the federal government to lead and protect us. They've proven they cannot do either. No: I have faith that the states will band together and make the appropriate calls. Some of these governors are slow on the uptake though. Even our own here in MA has dragged his heels when he should have followed the example of California and just clamped everything down after that Biogen fiasco. We also have more than enough skills and facilities here to create our own test kits. Governor Baker should never have waited for the Feds to say it was okay for each state to create their own kits.

For planning purposes, some positives will emerge from this:
  • I see more companies and schools being willing to embrace the work from home model. I am totally amazed at how unprepared the school systems were for anything like this.
  • The environment is taking itty bitty steps in rebounding. It goes to show how all we need to do is alter our behavior and we can fix this climate change mess. There's no need to resign to a dying planet.
  • The world is in perfect position to unite in support of humanity despite political finger pointing. All it takes is a nudge from folk with human emotions at the top levels.
  • We see the weakness in current health systems. We have the info needed to overhaul them to prepare us globally for the next pandemic.
Click to expand...
I think you have more faith in your country than I do. I am just watching from the North in horror at how things are going so far.
It seems your government is quite happy to sacrifice potentially hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of the economy.
Maybe everyone will stand up to it. Maybe they won't. I think the USA is at a tipping point.

In history class we were always taught that sharing this border with the USA was like sleeping next to an elephant. Anything the USA does affects Canada. We are intertwined. I hope the USA gets their shit together so that the lives of people in a completely different country aren't destroyed. We're all watching.

Not to sound so doom and gloom but fuck... This is not a good situation.
 
SpecialEdition said:
I think you have more faith in your country than I do. I am just watching from the North in horror at how things are going so far.
It seems your government is quite happy to sacrifice potentially hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of the economy.
Maybe everyone will stand up to it. Maybe they won't. I think the USA is at a tipping point.

In history class we were always taught that sharing this border with the USA was like sleeping next to an elephant. Anything the USA does affects Canada. We are intertwined. I hope the USA gets their shit together so that the lives of people in a completely different country aren't destroyed. We're all watching.

Not to sound so doom and gloom but fuck... This is not a good situation.
Click to expand...

It's funny you say that about Canada's feeling toward the US. I was always under the impression that Canada and us were extensions of each other. Like sisters. Kind of figures I'd have that train of thought though as I'm only second generation US born, 3/4 of my grandparents were from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and we have so much family up there still.
 
SpecialEdition said:
Maybe everyone will stand up to it. Maybe they won't. I think the USA is at a tipping point.
Click to expand...

You underestimate the apathy/ignorance of US citizens lol

SpecialEdition said:
In history class we were always taught that sharing this border with the USA was like sleeping next to an elephant. Anything the USA does affects Canada. We are intertwined. I hope the USA gets their shit together so that the lives of people in a completely different country aren't destroyed. We're all watching.
Click to expand...

RIP Canada
 
MoonFlier said:
It's funny you say that about Canada's feeling toward the US. I was always under the impression that Canada and us were extensions of each other. Like sisters. Kind of figures I'd have that train of thought though as I'm only second generation US born, 3/4 of my grandparents were from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and we have so much family up there still.
Click to expand...

There are some people who actually think Canada and USA are the same country lol.

Generally speaking in Canada we think the USA is fucked even without the pandemic and we don't understand why it operates the way that it does. A lot of what happens there seems like insanity to us. Like this weird obsession with fucking over its own people because they have this thing against "socialism." Fuck the poor, right? Fuck anyone who isn't an old white dude, right? That's how it looks from the outside and nothing happens. Nothing changes. It's just wave after wave of oppressive mind numbing idiocy in the government. I know a very large portion of people do not actually feel that way but somehow that is the overall attitude that everyone from the outside sees. It's crazy to me.

Unfortunately, we share a very long border and our trade is deeply intertwined so we can't really get away from it lol. There are great things about the USA as well but over the last couple decades it seems to be heading on a downward slope like an avalanche. I'm not trying to shit on the USA because in a lot of ways your government has fucked you into the ground and I don't know how you'll get out of it. It's very frustrating to see it unfold. I am sure some people in Canada feel that way about our liberal government because they are "soft" and we do have Canadians who would absolutely don the red MAGA hat with pride, but for the most part I think everyone can agree our government isn't willing to let millions of people die for the economy and it's a luxury to be able to nitpick shit about our leaders who aren't narcissistic devils.
 
acd said:
Boris Johnson tested positive.
Click to expand...

Deleted member 16771 said:
Oh you fucker, I was just about to post that.
Click to expand...

On the one hand, as a human being I wish no ill on the man, as I do anyone I disgree with. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

On the other hand, he probably could have prevented getting sick if he had acted quicker.

And WTF is up with Corbyn - "This crisis proves me right on public spending."

Jeremy, you are not Bernie Sanders, this isn't the US. Stop trying to political point score during a Pandemic. We hate it when the Tories do it and we also hate it when Labour do it too. This why you lose, you can't hold the moral high ground whilst being as dirty as your opponents.

AND WHY THE EVER LOVING FUCK IS CORBYN STILL HERE, FOR HEAVENS SAKE MAN, GO!

SpecialEdition said:
I think you have more faith in your country than I do. I am just watching from the North in horror at how things are going so far.
It seems your government is quite happy to sacrifice potentially hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of the economy.
Maybe everyone will stand up to it. Maybe they won't. I think the USA is at a tipping point.

In history class we were always taught that sharing this border with the USA was like sleeping next to an elephant. Anything the USA does affects Canada. We are intertwined. I hope the USA gets their shit together so that the lives of people in a completely different country aren't destroyed. We're all watching.

Not to sound so doom and gloom but fuck... This is not a good situation.
Click to expand...

Canada will endure. It'll be rough times but no matter what happens in the US I get the feeling Canada is more like the UK in some ways and there is a stronger community spirit than the US.

The Great North will endure, though it may mean re-alligning with the EU a bit more if the worst comes to the worst (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). The EU would love better relations with Canada giving the state of their economies.

Though I think the US will power through, have a bit of a wave of death, then see a Democrat rise to the Presidency in November.
 
SpecialEdition said:
There are some people who actually think Canada and USA are the same country lol.

Generally speaking in Canada we think the USA is fucked even without the pandemic and we don't understand why it operates the way that it does. A lot of what happens there seems like insanity to us. Like this weird obsession with fucking over its own people because they have this thing against "socialism." Fuck the poor, right? Fuck anyone who isn't an old white dude, right? That's how it looks from the outside and nothing happens. Nothing changes. It's just wave after wave of oppressive mind numbing idiocy in the government. I know a very large portion of people do not actually feel that way but somehow that is the overall attitude that everyone from the outside sees. It's crazy to me.

Unfortunately, we share a very long border and our trade is deeply intertwined so we can't really get away from it lol. There are great things about the USA as well but over the last couple decades it seems to be heading on a downward slope like an avalanche. I'm not trying to shit on the USA because in a lot of ways your government has fucked you into the ground and I don't know how you'll get out of it. It's very frustrating to see it unfold. I am sure some people in Canada feel that way about our liberal government because they are "soft" and we do have Canadians who would absolutely don the red MAGA hat with pride, but for the most part I think everyone can agree our government isn't willing to let millions of people die for the economy and it's a luxury to be able to nitpick shit about our leaders who aren't narcissistic devils.
Click to expand...

We're fucked under Trump's leadership but communities will band together to fight this thing AND I think we may come out of this realizing how short-sighted and self-destructive all that rugged-individualism is. Maybe there will be a cultural shift. Where the federal government under Trump's incompetent administration is failing, private citizens are volunteering to make PPE and companies are making PPE and ventilators. We see retired healthcare professionals volunteering to go back to work during the outbreak.
Trump may pressure governors to relax social distancing so that we're open by Easter, but I'm hoping states will be smart enough to resist that pressure and do what is right. Maybe we will come out of it changed for the better by demanding intact safety nets and healthcare for all. Because if we ensured everyone had access to healthcare and wasn't forced to work when sick-- or most of us weren't a paycheck away from being destitute, maybe we could have managed this better earlier on. But for the time being, you guys are right to close your borders to us.
 
Deleted member 16771 said:
Most optimistic use of the phrase 'wave of death' I've encountered, to be honest.
Click to expand...

To be honest I'd rather there wasn't, but the expected policies will result in that I suspect.

I try to avoid judging who is right or wrong, but I will always comment on the results of policies, and sometimes policies do result in people dying if mishandled.

Sadly some will see the death of so many a justified price to get rid of Trump which I don't agree with.

But facts are facts, if the US opens up early the virus will likely spread, the death tole will be higher, and the one who masterminded the decision will be blamed for the death.
 
acd said:
Trump may pressure governors to relax social distancing so that we're open by Easter, but I'm hoping states will be smart enough to resist that pressure and do what is right. Maybe we will come out of it changed for the better by demanding intact safety nets and healthcare for all. Because if we ensured everyone had access to healthcare and wasn't forced to work when sick-- or most of us weren't a paycheck away from being destitute, maybe we could have managed this better earlier on. But for the time being, you guys are right to close your borders to us.
Click to expand...

Americans simply don't want free healthcare, this election cycle has taught us that
 
acd said:
It's not free. I did not say free. But it should be available to all and not bankrupt people. It should not be tied to employment. And people are really experiencing that now when they find themselves laid off and without coverage during this.
Click to expand...

Ah yes well, there is no free lunch, as they say ;)
 
Sometimes I feel like the United States sacrificed itself in order to hold the ideological line during the Cold War, and that its natural trajectory would have led to a more European-style social democracy.

I watched some videos from the US War department during WWII recently, and you'd be surprised at how much 'socialism' is held up as the symptom of free and democratic peoples (not by name) - the big one was unionised labour that was constantly mentioned as a very American outgrowth of freedom of speech & association, alongside social security, &c.

I think it might be surprising to contemporaries that the modern United States has fallen so far behind the rest of the developed world in these liberties.
 
Wyote said:
Americans simply don't want free healthcare, this election cycle has taught us that
Click to expand...

acd said:
It's not free. I did not say free. But it should be available to all and not bankrupt people. It should not be tied to employment. And people are really experiencing that now when they find themselves laid off and without coverage during this.
Click to expand...

Clinton's stratgeist James Carville - "Its the Economy Stupid."

Anyone who wants to win need to run with the economy at the front along with everything else. It has always been it must always be.

Americans don't like socialism, I don't see that changing for another few decades, if ever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top