It's not my first day on the internet and I realize that most, if not all open forums are filled with misinformation and trolls but this particular article's comments section really stood out to me because I am actually living in the area in question and moved here during the time period a lot of these comments are referring to.
The article was entitled "Vietnam says next 10-15 days 'decisive' in country's virus fight" and was just a snippet explaining what we all believe now (whether or not it is true, who knows) about the 2 week period being important for some reason.
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The article itself just details how many cases there are in Vietnam and how the Prime Minister (who I would say has done a wonderful job as far as containment is concerned while still allowing a great deal of freedom) has managed to keep the total infection below 150 cases despite being so near the epicenter of the virus.
Then the comments section hit me and I encountered a ton of uninformed, completely wrong information in there and I suspect every single forum on this and really every other topic is filled with around the same.
There isn't one iota of truth in either one of these statements. There is no suffering other than economic ones in the tourism industry. I live in one of the most popular tourist areas and ok, there are plenty of people who are out of work because the borders were all but cut off quite some time ago.
You may recall that when I moved here in late February that there were very few available options to get in. Also, the border to China was closed to travelers already by the time I arrived and all flights had been discontinued from China. Profiling and additional checks were put on anyone with Chinese citizenship or even if they had a stamp from China, Taiwan, Japan, or South Korea over a month ago.
If you think this is something I am making up I challenge you to find a flight from China or really anywhere else from anywhere outside of Vietnam to anywhere inside of it.
There is no money being made on tourism right now and anyone who does manage to find a flight in has to go through a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
First off, anyone who chooses "Truck Fump" as a username probably has a very one-track mind about everything and spouts off nonsense any chance they get. I think this is true for anyone who comes up with stupid-ass names for any political figure they don't care for.
The out-of-control virus might be out-of-control where you live "Truck" or maybe you have been duped into believing that it is.... but I can assure you that is not the case here. A friend of mine (who also lives here in Vietnam) needed to go to the hospital a week ago for a routine physical, and there was almost nobody there other than a plethora of very helpful staff. No panic, no absence of beds, no chaos at all.
This person, who probably comes from the other side of the political aisle than our pal "Truck," has been taught to HATE anything related to communism. I'm not advocating for a political ideology, but I live in this "lying, communist country" and actually feel a great deal more free to do what I want than most of the other places I have ever lived.
"The VN Communists are sending the poor vietnamese innocents around the world for slave works..." WTAF are you talking about?
Also again, no, Chinese are not allowed to freely enter Vietnam. You would have to have a very very special situation to be allowed in at all if you are coming from China, even in a roundabout way and then you would have to be quarantined.
The Chinese normally constitute a vast majority of the tourist mix here in Da Nang and the near complete absence of anyone Chinese is the reason why most tourism-related businesses are completely shut down at the moment.
Overall, I think that while it is not unusual for a comments section to be filled with a bunch of garbage this one was particularly special because looking at all 50 comments, I don't think there was a single one made by anyone who has even the slightest idea about what they are talking about.
If there is anything good that could come out of this mentality, perhaps it will keep those who are like-minded to these goons from ever coming here. I would personally really like that.
While it is slowly showing that 'socialist' countries are actually acting social, the neo liberal world is doing everything to hide that fact. Still clinging to their new world order. Which is becoming obsolete, not working and all.
Western leaders tak about: Economy, economy, economy.
Some other leaders talk about: People, the poor, families, and then some economy....
Unfortunately like most other stories in the world at any given time, the comments are where you really get an idea of where the pulse of the nation is. It makes me sick many times when I try to read the comments on news stories over here. There is a lot more hate and bigotry than people realize. I am sure some of it is just people trolling, but the rest of it is really how people feel and hiding behind a keyboard emboldens them.
Ain't that the truth. When I comment online, I try to think if I would say that to the person if they were standing here.. If not, I think twice about it.
I feel like people have lost all common sense and decency since everyone became so polarized about politics.
yes @nuthman you are right. These days I don't think very many people even try to evaluate a situation based on its own merits, they simply know what the standpoint of "their side" is and they go with that, without even having a cursory glance at what is being talked about.
As for the Vietnam comments, there is no way that any of the people in the comments have any experience in this country at all. I have only been here about 6 weeks and it is glaringly obvious that their comments are based on nothing at all.
There's some pretty pathetic people out there. I wonder if they are as miserable in their day-to-day lives as they appear to be in forums.
Probably, they just hide it better. Easier to say something from behind the safety of a keyboard than to say it to their face.
There may be some truth to this statement. The writer could be referring to Vietnamese Mail Order Bride to South Korea that sometimes got murdered by abusive husbands. The writer could also be referring to Vietnamese low wage workers in Japan that sometimes committed suicides from overworking and underpayment that led to even more debt than before arriving in Japan. All these social problems could be linked to a corrupted government and ill-informed plus ignorant society.
Howdy sir gooddream! Totally amazing stuff here. Makes me appreciate the mostly intellectual comments of Steemians!
yeah, for real or Hiveans... what are we over here? I'm a noob just like everyone else!
Good question. I don't think I've heard a consensus on what we on the Hive should call ourselves. Hiveans ain't bad though!
Virus cares little about political ideology. We will see how it all turns out, hopefully it will subside and not become a yearly endemic occurrence...
well, it's a flu so i think there is a really good chance that it will do that. Good news is the scientists out there seem to think they are making progress on some sort of treatment.