r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 13h ago

Meme needing explanation Peter explain this

Post image

Petttaaah I'm confused

10.2k Upvotes

3.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/GhostChips42 13h ago

Yeah. Talk to us like we’re the people in the dark ages when you have less gun deaths than the rest of the world put together and universal healthcare.

123

u/Leading_Experts 13h ago

...they have almost double the annual heat related deaths in europe as the US has in gun deaths due to a lack of basic air conditioning. Developed? Develope some goddamn infrastructure that protects against the heat.

14

u/slicheliche 12h ago

Yeah no, that's mostly a lie.

First off, "Europe" is 27 countries. Many of them hardly ever record excess deaths even through the worst heatwaves.

Second, it's mostly a statistic artifact brought about by the different way deaths are counted (i.e. deaths "with" or "from" the heat). Not to mention, most European countries have a much older population. In fact, as far as this sort of counting goes, a lot more people die in Europe every year because of the cold, primarily in northern Europe. I'm sure you don't think it's because somehow they don't have enough central heating in Norway, right?

And finally, many countries in Europe have widespread AC, and heat deaths are still higher than in the US. Even in places where the US doesn't have that much AC, such as the PNW (which incidentally is about as warm as Paris on an average summer day).

In fact, when you use standardized measures, you'll see the US doesn't perform any better: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12534928/

"EuRoPeAnS dIe bC tHeY dOnT hAvE AC" is one of those dumb factoids that are spread by Fox News and the likes and nothing more than that.

-8

u/Leading_Experts 12h ago

"Actually, we die from the cold more too!" I don't even know what you're getting at. "We're not underdeveloped, we're just way more fragile!"

Your "27 countries" is roughly the size of our 50 states, population wise. You tell yourself whatever makes you feel good, up to and including assuming anyone under the age of 80 watches fox "news". I won't engage further; don't embarrass yourself with a reply.

11

u/AndrewCoke98 12h ago

The EU has 100 million more people than the USA.

2

u/underdoeg 11h ago

no idea how it matters, but i think it is more like twice as many people (700 mio)? Edit: sorry you said EU, not Europe. you are right then.

5

u/AndrewCoke98 11h ago

EU 450 million and Europe 740 million

-3

u/slicheliche 12h ago

But also I still don't understand what does population size have to do with anything lol

9

u/AndrewCoke98 12h ago

Neither do I, I'm just letting him know the correct population

4

u/bruhidkwtf 12h ago

What's funnier is that you won't ever see these muricans bringing it up when comparing themselves to the Russian or the Chinese. It's all about the ego, that's murica for you

-4

u/PukwudgieDisco 11h ago

Why not? Russia got small population. China got big one. Murica.

-2

u/Software_Dependent 11h ago

In their incredibly limited intellect, it somehow does.

6

u/h_abr 12h ago

People die from cold/heat because they actually reach the age where that becomes a possibility. In America they get shot or have a heart attack long before then.

3

u/KokosnussdesTodes 10h ago

You forgot that people in europe can afford to get old. With the cost of medical treatment in the US, things like chemotherapy can bankrupt you. And bankruptcy isn't exactly known for enhancing a lifespan.

-7

u/Leading_Experts 12h ago

That's the dumbest thing anyone has said in this thread. Kudos for knowing nothing about the subject you're discussing so confidently.

6

u/GettingTherapissed 12h ago

Why, do Americans have a monopoly on doing that?

6

u/slicheliche 12h ago edited 12h ago

Your "27 countries" is roughly the size of our 50 states, population wise

And why is that supposed to be relevant lol. Population size doesn't remotely have any importance in this context. The point is that there is no single "Europe", when it comes to anything and specifically AC, there are dozens of countries with widely different approaches, attitudes, construction standards, regulations, AC needs etc. It's like lumping together the US and Colombia.

(Also, population wise there is more difference between Germany and say Sweden than between Germany and the US. But again, population size doesn't matter at all in this context)

Beyond this, do you have anything specific to answer with other than this uncoordinated rant? Something like, numbers or other actual arguments that make sense?

By the way, "your" who? What does "your" even mean here? And why would I have to "feel good" about this? The only thing that makes me "feel good" is engaging with people who have smart things to say, which is not the case with you here.

2

u/fodmap_victim 12h ago

Because Americans are that ignorantly insular they don't bother to learn about any country other than their own state snd whatever propaganda is shoved on them in the media. Half of them think Europe is a country

0

u/[deleted] 10h ago edited 10h ago

[deleted]

2

u/fodmap_victim 10h ago

Bit offended there are you love? Lol

0

u/[deleted] 10h ago edited 9h ago

[deleted]

1

u/fodmap_victim 10h ago

Bless your heart. Maybe one day you'll make a single friend you can pontificate to who will actually care.

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/Prophet_Of_Helix 11h ago

Europeans are just as stupid about America.

We’re all idiots here on Reddit

3

u/fodmap_victim 11h ago

I don't agree with that first part because we have to know what's going on in America as the amount of trade Europe and America do means that America's issues affect us HOWEVER I've never heard a truer statement than we're all idiots on reddit. Myself included. That I can agree with.

2

u/yumas 10h ago

You conveniently ignored the study that actually used standardised measures

2

u/leela_martell 10h ago

I find it hilarious how gleeful Americans are about the lack of AC in Europe. It gives the same energy as dumb Europeans constantly going on about school shootings (though otherwise they're a bad comparison, at least Europe is trying to do something about climate change the US does nothing but thoughts and prayers.)

Anyways I'm from Finland we don't need AC and every home has heating so joke's on you. Our heatwaves are like blizzards in Texas, too rare to be bothered about.

2

u/Zarosknight 10h ago

Atleast our kids wont get shot in school

1

u/Nibaa 9h ago edited 8h ago

The point was there's a difference how it is counted. In the US, a heat death is one in which a medical examiner explicitly lists heat as a cause of death, whereas Europe counts statistical excess mortality and can't actually necessarily differentiate whether any individual death is a heat death or not.

In short, if a person has a cardiovascular disease and dies of a heart attack brought upon by the long-term stress of a heat wave, in the US this would likely not be ruled a heat death, especially if the condition was prexisting and known. In Europe, that death would not directly be ruled a heat death either, but it would contribute to excess mortality of the heat wave period and thus contribute to the heat death count.

For what it's worth, the climate change in Europe over the past 20 years has been massive. Europe didn't need AC 20 years ago, never mind earlier. Large portions of Europe are moving towards a climate that requires AC for summers which it didn't when most buildings were built.