Why HIV-AIDS Is Neither A Pandemic Nor A Serious Threat To Anyone (Except the Ignorant And Arrogant)
Pandemic – from Greek and meaning “all people”. (pan – “all”, demic/demos – “people”)
A story about the “origins” of AIDS from HuffPost/AOL, and interestingly in its “Gay Voices” section looks at a new book which claims to have traced the virus back to an African hunter (more than likely not gay) circa 1921. Why HuffPost chose to incorporate what is essentially a non-gay story into its “Gay Voices” section is telling, and clearly shows that even Arianna Huffington herself sees AIDS as either a “gay disease” or most likely to strike gays than any other group. Otherwise, why put it in her “Gay Voices” section?
That tens of millions of people have acquired HIV-AIDS, and millions have perished from it, while being tragic, does not constitute a pandemic, unless we are willing to cheapen what the definition of a real pandemic is. For something to be a pandemic, it must include at least these following requirements:
1. Spread quickly
2. Infect anyone and everyone, indiscriminately, it comes in contact with
3. Kill its victim quickly
4. Kill en masse (many millions in a short time) Or -
5. Not have any known, immediate, cure so that it kills millions over a longer period of time.
So why does AIDS fail the test of being a true pandemic when it certainly meets all these requirements? Remember what Pandemic actually means – “all people”. And while “all people”, that is, anyone, can be infected with HIV-AIDS, it only strikes certain, select people. In other words – AIDS both discriminates and can be blocked. A true pandemic neither discriminates nor can it be blocked.
Unlike other pandemics, AIDS, and the way in which AIDS is spread is virtually and nearly absolutely impossible to acquire, (and this has held true from the very beginnings of the virus) except and unless one is a drug user and shares a tainted needle with someone who does have the virus, or engages in unsafe and/or unprotected sex whether they are gay or straight and where each others blood interacts. One cannot get AIDS simply by being in close contact with someone who has the virus.
Talking, shaking hands, holding hands for a long period of time, mouth to mouth kissing, coughing, sneezing, sharing a toilet with someone who has AIDS will not infect you with the virus. Using drugs and engaging in unsafe, unprotected sex can infect you, which is how the vast majority of people who have HIV-AIDS acquired it in the first place. Being stupid, ignorant and arrogant, and intentionally untruthful, is what has caused this virus to spread to as many people as it has since we, the general public, first learned of it in the early 1980′s.
With nearly 7 billion people on the planet, those who have HIV-AIDS, both known and unknown cases, constitutes roughly only 1% of the entire population (and probably less). Even at 2%, which is being generous and over cautionary, it still does not make AIDS a pandemic. So why call it a pandemic at all, especially considering it only really affects drug users and people engaging in unsafe/unprotected sex?
Political, obviously. And political correctness as well.
AIDS was genuinely, though mistakenly, thought to be a “gay” disease 30 years ago. Many religious leaders seized upon what they hoped was a golden opportunity to further condemn homosexuality as a sin, from one pulpit to another across America, denouncing it and using AIDS as some sort of punishment from God. Indeed AIDS decimated the gay community, particularly out on the Western coast of America. However, it was the drug use and unprotected sex they were engaging in, not the fact that they were gay. To this day, a few religious leaders still pronounce AIDS a “punishment from God”, and it is one of the many reasons why there yet remains a strong rift within the religious community; why many have abandoned religion or found alternatives to fill the void their former church left; why the liberal media and Hollywood continues to sneers religion.
It was not until a young, non gay boy, Ryan White, contracted AIDS that suddenly the virus was thrown into a new light. Ryan was infected through a blood treatment where a needle containing the virus was mistakenly reused rather than discarded. Since then, a concerted effort has been made to ensure all used needles are quickly discarded and not accidentally reused. Which has made the spread of AIDS through blood transfusions, at least in American hospitals, virtually impossible.
Also, AIDS affects more blacks than whites, (even though race is not a factor for acquiring AIDS) especially in Sub-Sahara Africa where blacks are the majority, and where the virus is still spreading. Another long held myth is that blacks (and perhaps even gays) were intentionally given the virus by whites to decrease their overall population. Whereas the real reason why AIDS persists in Sub-Sahara Africa is due to a lack of education.
Billions and billions of dollars have been spent to combat AIDS in Africa with little effect. The reason? Very little of that money is actually going into educating Africans about how AIDS is spread. Either that, or the African people are just as ignorant and arrogant as Americans and Europeans, and everyone else in the world who supports drug use and unsafe/unprotected sex outside of marriage.
If they were being taught not to use tainted needles, that by abstaining from drugs entirely and abstaining from sex until they are married would dramatically decrease and slow the spread of AIDS, that antiquated religious beliefs about people with AIDS having sex with young girls and other such nonsense will not eliminate AIDS from their bodies, why then does AIDS continue its deadly march? It can’t just be tainted needles. But if it was – how much does it cost a hospital or medical center in Africa to replace a used needle, compared to what it costs to provide drugs and healthcare to one person who is infected with HIV-AIDS?
As more drugs have been, and are being, developed to prolong life with AIDS, and allow those with AIDS to remain healthy longer, an erroneous, misguided and arrogant attitude among the youth, the younger generations around the world, including in Africa, has given rise to the belief that even if a cure for AIDS is not just around the corner, cheap and inexpensive drugs to make living with AIDS more bearable are.
While this is true, to an extent, providing billions of dollars to combat AIDS in America and around the world is not the best use of that money if it allows people to continue engaging in a behavior that comes with a high risk of acquiring HIV-AIDS. In other words – why should American taxpayers have to subsidize stupid, arrogant and destructive behavior? It’s a waste of money. Especially when a little bit of knowledge really does go a long way. And if someone wants to practice unsafe sex or use drugs, they, not us, ought to be held responsible for their own actions, and they ought to pay for their own healthcare.
The only exceptions to that include women and girls, and even men and boys (because it happens) who are raped by someone with AIDS, and are infected that way; babies born to mothers who have AIDS, and therefore have acquired it; people who have gone into a hospital for a blood treatment/transfusion and through no fault of their own been injected with a tainted needle. The latter, more so in industrialized nations, has been effectively, but not absolutely100%, eliminated, meaning the risk is near zero.
Because we know how AIDS is spread, we can literally stop the spread of AIDS right now. It’s that easy. Because so many people remain ignorant and arrogant constitutes the reasons why AIDS will continue to spread. However, the good news for those of us who do abstain from drugs and unsafe, unprotected sex outside of marriage, we really have nothing to worry about. For us, cancer is a bigger and more serious threat. Getting AIDS, becoming HIV positive is as close to impossible as it gets. We are more likely to get a cavity in one of our teeth.
For those of you that do use drugs; that do engage in unsafe, unprotected sex outside marriage; that do snub your nose at common sense and reality; that refuse to listen to reason?
Well…
