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Subject: 
Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Mon, 1 May 2000 15:41:15 GMT
Viewed: 
310 times
  
Larry Pieniazek wrote:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
?Why is AIDS such a big deal?


This is not going to make me any friends, but in my opinion the attention AIDS
gets is a testimony to the power of certain special interest groups who want it
to get more attention than other threats to longevity that actually are more
serious.

What are these threats?

Reason did a long write up or 7 on this topic and the reasons seem to be quite
complex. Some factors (none of which I claim are complete explanations)

Who is Reason?

- Research establishments live to get funding, so it's in their interests to
make things they're researching seem bad. Sort of. No one researches ways to
prevent slivers after all.
- Politicians can "support the gay community" by supporting AIDS research
funding instead of addressing issues that are tougher to tackle but actually
matter more, like ensuring that the government doesn't discriminate against
one orientation in preference of another. After all, who is going to go on
record as against research into a disease which, after all, actually IS a
particularly nasty way to go, so that's a safe option.
- AIDS drugs are about the most expensive out there on a per dose basis.

?Is Clinton off his rocker to
?declare it a threat to national security?

It is a threat, maybe not to national security, but a threat nevertheless.  HIV/AIDS could cause the
deaths of millions of people in a short time, it already has, it will in the future.   HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS, has a long incubating time in the body, it is quite easy to pass it on to
others before it kills the host.  This is what makes AIDS such a threat.  By the time the body has
a chance to act on it, others have got it.  This is why people die.

Eventually AIDS will be no more serious than the common cold, predator-prey
relationships dictate this.  This will take many generations to happen
unfortunately.

-chris



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
 
(...) I know that I've snipped lots, but I wanted to ask about this in particular. On the spectrum of diseases, does this actually count as _easy_ to pass along? I have handled AIDS patients on a few occasions (that I know of) and I seem to be (...) (24 years ago, 1-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
 
(...) So could anoxia, or ingesting too much water. It's probably fair to say that auto accidents kill more per year in the U.S. than HIV. (...) And yet, HIV doesn't seem so easy to pass around. It doesn't survive very long outside a living host. It (...) (24 years ago, 1-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
 
(...) Botched cleanups by the Superfund, cigarette smoking, improper arrests leading to injuries in prison, the War on Drugs reducing life expectancy of inner city residents, oh, I dunno, Heart disease, Cancer maybe? (...) quite (...) The Reason (...) (24 years ago, 2-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
 
(...) Oh, man, you are bringing up a topic that perhaps is more explosive than just about any other in modern american society. I love it. This is not going to make me any friends, but in my opinion the attention AIDS gets is a testimony to the (...) (24 years ago, 1-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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