Subject:
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Re: GODMONEY (was re: Anthrax worse than AIDS?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 26 Oct 2001 13:55:27 GMT
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Viewed:
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284 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Simpson writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Marchetti writes:
> Nobody cares if thousands of homosexuals suffer and die. Bible sales are up.
> I'm not sure what you are getting at. Can you please elaborate? Who is this
> "nobody" that you are referring to? What connection are you assuming between
> Bible-purchases and AIDS deaths? If I purchase a Bible (which I have in the
> last year), am I therefore culpable for the deaths of people who have
> contracted AIDS in non-risky-behavior by virtue of not giving said money to
> AIDS-related charity?
> Do you assume that because I'm religious I am pleased when people get AIDS?
I read from Richard's post a concern that a disease that has claimed
millions of lives is still perceived as a "fringe" disease, while a disease
that recently has claimed fewer than 10 lives has been the front page story
in every news source for two weeks. In my interpretation, Richard's post
does not condemn bible purchases per se; he's instead collating two
simultaneous issues and making a statement about priorities. To that end, I
think he's correct.
Obviously, the fact that the current anthrax outbreaks result from an
attack makes it tangibly different from the propogation of AIDS, but the
tragedy of deaths resulting from anthrax is certainly no greater (neither in
number or "innocence") than AIDS or any other pre-existing disease.
Moreover, anthrax is curable, while AIDS and many other pre-existing
diseases are not.
I can see how a reader would interpret Richard's statement as a sort of
eye-rolling at increased Bible sales, but you're jumping to conclusions when
you assume that Richard is equating Bible sales with the incidence of AIDS.
"Risky behavior" is also a devastatingly open-ended label. "Opening the
mail" is now risky behavior, as are "breathing" and "touching." When you
imply, as you have implied, that certain behaviors make it all right for
individuals to contract fatal diseases, the burden is on you, first to
explain the moral calculus by which you arrived at such an assertion, and
second to explain how you determine which of these people "deserve" to get
the disease. What about a hypothetical IV-drug user who contracts HIV
because she volunteers at a hospital and is splashed by infected blood? Is
her illness somehow more valid because she didn't get it through "risky"
behavior?
Further, the threat of anthrax is nothing new:
http://skepdic.com/refuge/funk.html#anthrax
I caution that your quickness to perceive Richard's post as an
anti-religious diatribe is short-sighted and reactionary. He makes an
excellent point (albeit it a somewhat in-your-face way!) that priorities
need to be carefully considered. In addition, when such level-headed
individuals as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson go on the record to blame the
Sept11 attacks on gays and liberals, one can hardly fault people who argue
that there are larger issues at play than infected mail.
Dave!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: GODMONEY (was re: Anthrax worse than AIDS?)
|
| (...) I understand that the root of his issue was not bible purchases per se, but his GodMoney comments were red herrings meant to attack willy-nilly and make broad- brush generalizations about people of faith and their motives and concerns. (...) I (...) (23 years ago, 26-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: GODMONEY (was re: Anthrax worse than AIDS?)
|
| (...) I'm not sure what you are getting at. Can you please elaborate? Who is this "nobody" that you are referring to? What connection are you assuming between Bible-purchases and AIDS deaths? If I purchase a Bible (which I have in the last year), am (...) (23 years ago, 26-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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