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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
 Posted - 02/15/2002 : 11:06:02 [Permalink]
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It seems to me that people who regard AIDS as a somebody-else-problem or their-own-fault don't have quite grasped the whole gravity of this crisis we are facing.
Strawman. Nobodies done that.
Suggesting celebacy or at least monogamy as a passable preventation methode appears to me as a bit unrealistic. Fidelity would be nice, but somebdy does not deserve to die for cheating on his partner.
No one said that anyone "deserved to die." Virus' don't care about being fair. They don't consider who is "deserving" to be infected or not. They sit there and they wait for you. If you come to them, if YOU offer them the opportunity of infecting you there is nothing any one else can do to save you. What is your problem with this? Why is it so hard to understand?
Is it because the disease is tied to sodomy and you want to be liberal?
What does it matter what it is tied to? If you got AIDS from eating bananas and I said don't eat bananas or you'll die, would you say-'people don't deserve to die from eating bananas. It's unrealistic to ask them to stop. People want to eat bananas.' I sincerely doubt that you would say that.
Or is it that you hate Gays so much that you don't want to discourage them from participating in activities that will kill them? "There's no vaccine, there's no cure, it's a certain lingering death but go ahead. There is nothing any one can do to save you, but have fun anyway. You deserve it."
Not everybody who engages in irresposible activities actually knows better; At least not much more than the smokers whose lawyers are currently getting rich of the tobacco indutry.
It's almost impossible to plead ignorance about tobacco or AIDS these days. A lot of good people have done great work getting the word out.
But this gets back to the ridiculous concept of people deserving to die or not. If you know better, or if you don't, you'll be just as dead if you do these things.
I knew this guy about ten years back, married with kids. He was dying of AIDS; he caught it from a whore. But he explained to me how, being Jamaican, it was culturally all right for him to frequent prostitutes. He had it all figured out how he legally, culturally, didn't deserve to die. It wasn't fair.
He's still dead.
A lot could be done by sexual education at school and public awareness campaings.
But if people would rather have a high teenpregnaciy rate then teaching their children about sex, the chances for any kind of program that might help prevent more AIDS infections by telling people about the disease are out of question.
So are you just writing them off? Don't tell them because they won't listen. What other option do they have?
Once they're dead they really aren't going to listen.
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The brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain. Only evil will come from it. |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2002 : 11:13:30 [Permalink]
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And now for my $.02 worth.
Most new AIDS cases are indeed due to risky behavior. Before, that was much less the case. Changes have happened in the medical community since AIDS became a reality. Most effective was the institution of generic bodily fluid exposure protocols which I have been taught for all of the 13 years I have been in healthcare. Even IS workers like me need to learn this stuff. It called the blood borne pathogen training video. One hour of the most boring crap that will ever possibly save your life. 13 years ago, it was AIDS. Now, it's Hepatitis C. (A much more virulent contagion than AIDS.)
In addition, testing of donated blood to ensure a clean supply has significantly reduced the number of new infections.
The education of people as to how the disease is transmitted has also reduced the number of new cases. The communities most at risk have taken the lead on educating their members on the risks. The leading cause of AIDS cases in healthcare workers is due to accidental needlesticks. It's where someone gets sloppy and either they or someone else pays the price.
The largest risk factor is unprotected promiscuity. Since this is an abberation of the norms of society and in particular the norms of the communities in which they reside, it could be classed as immoral. The impetus on finding a cure is to help those individuals and the other innocent people infected. Nurses who had needlesticks, paramedics who didn't have time to put on gloves to save a life, anemia patients who contracted the disease throgh a tainted blood supply, surgeons who got cut by sharp bones during surgery are the people who deserve the cure the most. These are the innocent victims of AIDS. Their only crime is that they were trying to help someone or were getting treatment for a disease.
Now we have some twits who are spreading misinformation about how AIDS is a scam. Personally, I'd like to see these individuals charged with endangering the public. A corresponding increase in cases have sprung up, and the community has been getting increasingly vocal in combatting this misinformation.
(steps down from soap box)
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Badger
Skeptic Friend
Canada
257 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2002 : 18:46:25 [Permalink]
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Dr Shari, was it your intention when you posted this to promote your gay agenda? I don't really care, but I was just wondering because of the vitrol in your succeeding posts.
I know some gay guys, and I know some gay girls. They're ok folk. Same as anyone else, as far as I can tell. I know some homophobes, and they're different. They have little, tiny ...... self esteems. Not only are they homophobes, but they are racists, dogmatists, and will fight you if you don't cheer for their team. Nasty and pathetic people.
As for the lesser degree (name as yet unspecified but I like Xev's German alternative), I'm one of them. I find the idea of guys having sex icky. I also find liver icky. No big deal. I'm not out to ban liver or anything, and I have tried it.
I hug and kiss my male friends on occasion in a manly and hairy backed kind of way. But I find the idea of sex with them or socially considered "cute" guys even ickier than liver. I can't see it happening.
With regard to AIDS, a lotta people die from a lotta things. They should all be looked into. In an ideal world, that which kills most should be looked into most, but in the world we are in, that which gets the most airplay is what is deemed most critical.
Like Eddy Murphy said "What's next? You stick it in, and you explode?"
I'm stumblin through the parking lot of an invisible 7-eleven. ZZ-Top |
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Dr Shari
Skeptic Friend
135 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2002 : 22:31:28 [Permalink]
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All I can say to Slater at this point is that, to me anyway, you seemed angry and intent on defending your opinion about this subject when I am not fighting with you. I am sorry if you are upset. I said that twice now. So to Badger... I had no agenda, gay or straight. I wanted this to be a discussion about LOVE between people of the same sex and not HIV or AIDS.That may be why you felt there was vitriol from me because I did not mean any after my admitted angry reply to Slaters post. I have issues with the content of some of the things said ,written or implied but not with any person. At this point there is no negitive feelings on my part about anyones opinions and as far as I am concerned no reason for any hostility between anyone. How this got to this point would make an interesting study. If people want their feelings known on HIV and AIDS then let them write on and share them.
I am going to focus on the love people share and love can be a beautiful thing between the right people. I just deal with gay and straight people on a daily basis and I really do not understand why it is an issue in anyones life on who loves who at all. I am almost sorry I started this but it does show the strong feelings either out in the open or repressed people have on the subject. I did not even think agenda or HIV and AIDS when I wrote it. Again I was thinking about why anyone would not be happy for two people honestly in a loving, nurturing relationship. Maybe this shows me the world is still not as ready for an all out of the closet society as I am.
Again Peace Love Joy and Harmony!
Death: The High Cost of Living
It is easier to get forgiveness then to get permission!
Edited by - Dr Shari on 02/16/2002 22:44:37
Edited by - Dr Shari on 02/16/2002 22:55:37 |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2002 : 06:38:14 [Permalink]
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So, I've been away from this forum for awhile, and just discovered this little thread. I apologize for bringing something up that made a couple of people hot under the collar, but I think that is the whole problem with this so called homophobia issue. Even in this forum, where people claim to be open minded and reasonable, and all seem to support individual freedoms to love whom one chooses, there is still a hint of intolerance to other's views. This issue is so damned contentious that even the most liberal among us can disagree sharply. Maybe when society can overcome the childhood indoctrination of intolerance, we can move on to more honest relationships.
The disease HIV is just that--A disease. Like all diseases we learn as much about as we can, act appropriately, and move on. Unfortunately, our strongest biological drives seem to be the most dangerous to our health. If we cook meat, we cook it thoroughly--No matter if it is fish, chicken, beef, (except steak, I'll throw caution to the wind and eat it rare), or pork. It is no guarantee that we won't screw up, or that some other factors may come into play, but we don't stop eating meat. If we have sex, we wear condoms--No matter if we have sex with a woman, a man, or a person from the South Pacific Islands. It is no guarantee that we won't screw up, but we don't stop having sex.
If many gay men, or lesbians appear outrageous to many people, I think that should be expected, and that it will decline with time. It is not uncommon for someone experiencing freedom for the first time to overdo it a bit. Plus, since being a member of the queer community is still frowned upon by a large portion of the society, usually the most adventurous and outrageous will have the courage to proclaim their queerness to the world. I can't count how many cases I've found where the straight-laced and conservative have hidden in their well constructed closets of normalcy only to pop out ocaissionally to dip their sexually uneducated toes into the waters of queer life.
My gripe is that I understand Homos little more than I understand Hets. Sexuality is fluid and often changing, (ever wonder about the high rate of same sex liasons in gender segregated institutions?). Plus, monogamy is a farce. Think about how many people you know that have had only one sexual partner. Not too many, eh? And, love and sexual compattibility do not always go hand in hand. There are so many variables in human emotion and attraction that it is wrong to pigeon-hole anyone. I've found my best bet is to sit back and marvel at the diversity of this human species, and keep a pack of condoms in the nightstand.
"The Constitution ..., is a marvelous document for self-government by Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society." P. Robertson |
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