Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said Monday that she wished the US shutdown had looked like Italy's, which was under a total lockdown.
“I wish that when we went into lockdown, we looked like Italy. When Italy locked down, I mean, people weren't allowed out of their houses,” she said. “Americans don't react well to that kind of prohibition.”
Dr. Birx, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. You think that it was no big deal for Italians to go under lockdown? That they didn’t hate every second of it? That it wasn’t one of the hardest things they’ve ever done?
You don’t know shit about Italians! Italians are people who THRIVE on personal contact, on social gatherings, on touching and kissing one another, on in person face to face interactions. These things are far, far, far more important to Italians than they are to Americans.
You wanna know what the difference was, Dr. Birx? Really, you wanna know? Ok, I’ll tell you. The difference is that THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT PROVIDED REAL LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWED UP WITH MEASURES TO SHOW THAT THEY MEANT BUSINESS. The Italian government enforced the lockdown.
You wanna know what the other difference is between Italians and Americans, Dr. Birx? You wanna know? OK, I’ll tell you. ITALIANS CARE ABOUT ONE ANOTHER. ITALIANS CARE ABOUT THEIR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS. THEY DON’T WANT OTHER ITALIANS TO DIE. THEY WANT TO TAKE CARE OF ONE ANOTHER ALL THE WAY FROM THE TOP OF THE GOVERNMENT ON DOWN.
You’re a hypocrite, Dr. Birx. Scientists like you make me feel ashamed to be a scientist. You’re so busy kissing donnie trump’s ass that you’ve lost your moral bearing. Shame on you. Your ignorance and hypocrisy are showing.
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2020 · 3:00:39 PM +00:00
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trespekes
I want to thank everyone for their recommendations and comments. This was originally a rant triggered by Birx’s hypocritical statement that I felt was disrespectful to both Americans and Italians.
I want to add some information here to remind us all of a fact that has been lost in the immediacy of the problems that have developed as this pandemic has unfolded. No country’s response has been perfect, except maybe New Zealand’s. Part of the problem with the lack of unity in governmental responses around the world stems from the fact that for the previous two decades, the United States of America has been the worldwide leader in pandemic crisis management. Our country has had the most experienced scientists and a well-oiled machinery that has been built and tested over many years. Countries around the world have allowed America to take the lead in containing very serious infectious diseases as they appeared. Donald Trump and his administration eliminated funding for these efforts, dismantled the machinery and ignored the combined experience of all these scientists prior to the appearance of COVID-19. I cannot stress enough how devastating the effect of this vacuum of leadership has been during this pandemic.
We cannot simply look at the crisis in America that the trump mal-administration has caused due to the incompetent response to COVID-19, when the slow and chaotic response worldwide very likely could have been mitigated had the experienced pandemic response team still been in place. It is horrifying to contemplate how many deaths and how much economic misery might have been prevented around the world if trump had not been elected in 2016.
