I'm watching a special on AIDS right now on ABC, and it may be the most ridiculous piece of reporting I've ever seen . . . If anyone else is watching, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.
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AIDS is caused by infection with a virus called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood and sexual contact. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their babies during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.
You young Bucks notice what it says about breast feeding! So leave them alone if you don't know the girl/woman you're with!
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The people who won't teach condom use?
The people who think that condoms should be illegal/forbidden?
Take your pick.
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Aim small, miss small.
Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
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I admittedly didn't get to see the entire special on ABC last night, which was about the AIDS epidemic in America's black community, but from the brief part I watched, this is what I learned:
1.) The government's war on drugs that began in the 1980s is responsible for AIDS, because it sends thousands of drug users to prison, where the AIDS rate skyrockets due to dirty needles being the only needles available to shoot up drugs, the 40% rate of sex among inmates and the fact that condoms aren't allowed in federal prisons and most state prisons (as an aside, the drug war is also to be hated because there are now more college-age black males in prison than in college).
2.) George W. Bush is responsible for AIDS because he won't put into effect a "needle exchange" program that allows drug addicts to exchange their dirty needles for clean needles. I mean, hell, they're going to use drugs anyway so we might as well use taxpayer dollars to make sure they avoid disease, right?
3.) Celebrities are responsible because they donate more time to the AIDS epidemic in Africa while ignoring America's black communities, where they really should be focusing their efforts to educate people about what causes AIDS.
4.) Employers are responsible because they don't provide good jobs in many rural towns in the south that are dominated by black citizens. As a result, men leave to find work. One city cited by the story has 85 black men for every 100 black women. As a result, one of the interviewees said, any time a black male comes into town who is single and makes more than minimum wage, at leasts 50 women will go after him. All this promotes promiscuity, which helps spread HIV.
Like I said, I didn't see all of it (I wonder if a transcript is available online?) but I've never seen a more irresponsible television special purported to be a news production. If AIDS wasn't a serious disease, it would've almost been funny.
Why aren't citizens responsible for AIDS for leading the kind of lifestyles that causes them to contract the disease? And I'm talking any race; this particular TV show just happened to be about the black community. A very small minority of AIDS cases are "innocently" contracted through a blood transfusion, birth, accidentally coming into contact with contaminated needles, etc. How much of a burden should society itself and the government bear for this epidemic?
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
you can always count on NT to sneak in a great comment
Quote:
Why aren't citizens responsible for AIDS for leading the kind of lifestyles that causes them to contract the disease? And I'm talking any race; this particular TV show just happened to be about the black community. A very small minority of AIDS cases are "innocently" contracted through a blood transfusion, birth, accidentally coming into contact with contaminated needles, etc. How much of a burden should society itself and the government bear for this epidemic?
Ben, you got it here. The people are responsible. If I go sleep around and don't ask or check up on the ladies I am sleeping with, it would be my fault. Same as if you get any virus. Just becaue AIDS kills it isn't any different than any other STD (except the few cases of being passed along to a doctor or bystander helping an accident victim with AIDS...)
Compare this response to the "bird fluu" that hasn't even hit our shores yet.
Look at North Texans "great response" that a live isn't that important because of who they have sex with,it echoes the Reagan adminstrations policy.
By Feb. 1, 1983, 1,025 AIDS cases were reported, and at least 394 had died in the United States. Reagan said nothing. On April 23, 1984, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced 4,177 reported cases in America and 1,807 deaths. In San Francisco, the health department reported more than 500 cases. Again, Reagan said nothing. That same year, 1984, the Democratic National Convention convened in San Francisco. Hoping to focus attention on the need for AIDS research, education and treatment, more than 100,000 sympathizers marched from the Castro to Moscone Center.
With each diagnosis, the pain and suffering spread across America. Everyone seemed to now know someone infected with AIDS. At a White House state dinner, first lady Nancy Reagan expressed concern for a guest showing signs of significant weight loss. On July 25, 1985, the American Hospital in Paris announced that Rock Hudson had AIDS.
With AIDS finally out of the closet, activists such as Paul Boneberg, who in 1984 started Mobilization Against AIDS in San Francisco, begged President Reagan to say something now that he, like thousands of Americans, knew a person with AIDS. Writing in the Washington Post in late 1985, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, stated: "It is surprising that the president could remain silent as 6,000 Americans died, that he could fail to acknowledge the epidemic's existence. Perhaps his staff felt he had to, since many of his New Right supporters have raised money by campaigning against homosexuals."
Reagan would ultimately address the issue of AIDS while president. His remarks came May 31, 1987 (near the end of his second term), at the Third International Conference on AIDS in Washington. When he spoke, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,849 had died. The disease had spread to 113 countries, with more than 50,000 cases.
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Who is responsible for AIDS?
