What I find incredibly sad about that fact is that the Christian church has often done the opposite when it comes to facing 'scourges'--they often set up clinics and started hospitals to help those that society rejected. There are still those who do that, but it seems that the Christians in the media are more concerned with seeming 'righteous' instead of extending compassion.

The Bible (whether you believe it or not) depicts Jesus as having reached out to the 'untouchables' of his generation. Anyone following him today should be willing to do the same, but too many of us are willing to stay away from the 'unclean' in a vain attempt to remain 'pure'. It's a shame, because that compassion is what draws so many people to faith in the first place.

One of the silliest beliefs of 80's was that Reagan could somehow wave his magic presidential wand and cause the the NIH and the CDC to search their basements and find that AIDS cured they'd filed away and forgotten.

The fact is that AIDS didn't even have a name when Reagan took office and had not become sufficiently understood for any significant government action to have any useful effect until far into the first administration. Meanwhile, numerous other diseases were killing vastly more people but without any political activists preventing the normal process of the public health mechanisms.

AIDS achieved an alarming death toll not because it is easily acquired (it isn't compared to many other diseases) but because of extreme behavior by those hardest hit. In the late 60's and 70's the intellectual leaders of the gay community made promiscuity into a sacrament. As a result, long before GRID/AIDS was even a rumor the gay community had STD rates many times greater than the rest of the nation. So you had horny young men acting as expected in an environment which supplied endless partners/vectors. If heterosexual women were completely free of pregnancy concerns and had the same sexual psyche as men there is little doubt the AIDS death toll among heterosexual in developed countries would have been horrific even after blood screening and HIV testing became common. But women on average do have those concerns and even those viewed as promiscuous are sedate by San Francisco bath house standards.

AIDS has been traced back to the early 50's in tissue samples from a previously unexplained death and could probably be found to go back centuries if the material were available to examine. It wasn't until the mid-20th Century that the conditions existed that made it possible for the virus to reach a large number of new host before killing the carrier. In almost every prior case in history where a serious illness was avoided by simple behavioral restraint this has generally been effective but when that behavior has been preached as an act of political identification then the result for the followers is little diffent than for those of Jim Jones in Guyana.

This has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with common sense. When a correlation was noted between smoking and lung cancer frequency it was not viewed as an act of repression to say this aloud. (Some repressive laws have resulted but that is a different fight. There is no equivalent to second-hand smoke in gay sex that allows non-participating bystanders to claim harm, genuine or not.)

Eric: "One of the silliest beliefs of 80's was that Reagan could somehow wave his magic presidential wand [...]"

Lena: Actually, we didn't expect him to start waving a magic wand, because his arm was obviously too deeply hooked up his butt just trying to find the wand.

Eric: "and cause the NIH and the CDC to search their basements and find that AIDS cure they'd filed away and forgotten."

Lena: A search was indeed performed, and they found a drug called AZT (does that ring a bell?) that had been shelved in the basement of the Michigan Cancer Foundation after it showed no effect on mice with leukemia in the early 1960s. Jerome Horwitz, the researcher, said, "My colleagues and I [...] had a very interesting set of compounds that were waiting for the right disease." This work was done with funding from Burroughs Wellcome, who were more than happy in 1984 to provide Sam Broder, the head of the National Cancer Institute, with "anything you have on the shelf that might inhibit a retrovirus." After one "investigational new drug application" was filed with the FDA, AZT was on the way to Phase I trials in July 1985 for its new life as -- who knew? -- an AIDS drug!

[Reference: Epstein, Steven. Impure science: AIDS, activism, and the politics of knowledge. pgs. 191-194. University of California Press, 1996.]

Eric: "The fact is that AIDS didn't even have a name when Reagan took office and had not become sufficiently understood for any significant government action to have any useful effect until far into the first administration."

Lena: Reagan took office in 1980, and one year later the CDC reported the first cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in 5 gay men in Los Angeles. If you read the following text from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention carefully, you'll see that it had clear implications for "significant government action" in terms of public health and publicly funded clinical care:

"Pneumocystis pneumonia in the United States is almost exclusively limited to severely immunosuppressed patients. The occurrence of pneumocystosis in these 5 previously healthy individuals without a clinically apparent underlying immunodeficiency is unusual. The fact that these patients were all homosexuals suggests an association between some aspect of a homosexual lifestyle or disease acquired through sexual contact and Pneumocystis pneumonia in this population. All the above observations suggest the possibility of a cellular-immune dysfunction related to a common exposure that predisposes individuals to opportunistic infections such as pneumocystosis and candidiasis. [...] Although the role of CMV infection in the pathogenesis of pneumocystosis remains unknown, the possibility of P. carinii infection must be carefully considered in a differential diagnosis for previously healthy homosexual males with dyspnea and pneumonia."

[Reference: Centers for Disease Control. 1981a. Pneumocystis Pneumonia -- Los Angeles. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review Report 30, no. 21 (5 June): 250-52.]

Eric: "Meanwhile, numerous other diseases were killing vastly more people but without any political activists preventing the normal process of the public health mechanisms."

Lena: Traditionally, political activists have had integral roles in both defining and implementing "the normal process of the public health mechanisms." One of my favorite public health activist texts appeared in the April 11, 1959 issue of The Nation, by Ralph Nader:

"Almost no feature of the interior design of our current cars provides safeguards against injury in the event of collision. [...] A sudden deceleration turns a collapsed steering wheel or a sharp-edged dashboard into a bone-and-chest crushing agent. [...] The apparently harmless glove-compartment door has been known to unlatch under impact and guillotine a child."

Lena: I think that the potential health impacts of automobile design have been given a lot more careful consideration since the publication of works such as "Unsafe at Any Speed."

Eric: "AIDS achieved an alarming death toll not because it is easily acquired (it isn't compared to many other diseases) but because of extreme behavior by those hardest hit. In the late 60's and 70's the intellectual leaders of the gay community made promiscuity into a sacrament."

Lena: Your highly compressed narrative would improve with some consideration of the historical precedents of promiscuity in the 1960s. In 1966, Partisan Review issued a list of questions to several public intellectuals, one of which was "Do you think any promise is to be found in the activities of young people today?" I really like Susan Sontagís answer: ìAbout the only promise one can find anywhere in this country today is in the way that some young people are carrying on, making a fuss. I include both their renewed interest in politics (as protest and as community action, rather than as theory) and the way they dance, dress, wear their hair, riot, make love.î

Eric: As a result, long before GRID/AIDS was even a rumor the gay community had STD rates many times greater than the rest of the nation.

Lena: Yep. Microbiology is a bitch.

Eric: So you had horny young men acting as expected in an environment which supplied endless partners/vectors. If heterosexual women were completely free of pregnancy concerns and had the same sexual psyche as men there is little doubt the AIDS death toll among heterosexual in developed countries would have been horrific even after blood screening and HIV testing became common. But women on average do have those concerns and even those viewed as promiscuous are sedate by San Francisco bath house standards.

Lena: Heterosexual women in developed countries frequently turn to commercial sex work to survive economically. They donít need to be as horny as men to contract HIV easily in such circumstances. Itís just an occupational hazard for some girls.

Eric: In almost every prior case in history where a serious illness was avoided by simple behavioral restraint this has generally been effective but when that behavior has been preached as an act of political identification then the result for the followers is little diffent than for those of Jim Jones in Guyana.

Lena: Find a copy of ìSurviving AIDSî by Michael Callen. He had AIDS, and he spent quite a bit of time in his last years telling gay men to get over the allure of anonymous sex. There are other examples, but I think theyíre lower-quality thinking/writing and donít want to give them publicity.

Eric: This has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with common sense. When a correlation was noted between smoking and lung cancer frequency it was not viewed as an act of repression to say this aloud.

Lena: Excuse me, but was Lyndon LaRouche suggesting that persons with lung cancer be quarantined? I donít know if the comparison is so fitting.

Eric: (Some repressive laws have resulted but that is a different fight. There is no equivalent to second-hand smoke in gay sex that allows non-participating bystanders to claim harm, genuine or not.)

Lena: Youíve obviously never been near a ìsuper-shooter.î

Now THERE's a bitch-slapping!

Can you imagine Reaganites in the 1980s being concerned about Reagan's image because he seemed improperly senstive to AIDS victims? It wouldn't have happened. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed the cultural shift on this issue -- now Reaganites, who would have agreed in the '80s that AIDS was God's curse on gays, are now protesting that Reagan never would have taken that position. Don't you find that incredible?

A great point, Howard.

Another great contradiction: the "right-to-life" movement caring passionately about a fetus -- just not about children once they're born to poor single mothers.

Eric,
You are what I call a complete moron! You speak from your mouth yet nothing comes out! People like you should drop off the face of this planet and do us all a big favor! Good going Lena for that wonderful "Bitch" slap...at least when you speak you can back up your words unlike this complete asshole who has nothing but hate in his heart and for that I spit in your face and all faces who only see with blinders on! Do not box in minority groups or peg them into what you call... "ALL"...If you are going to voice your friggren opinion Eric...have something smart to say and back it up like Lena has! Do us a BIG favor a step in front of a bus...Now that would put a smile on my face asshole!

Here Here...You go R.J. and Lena.

Eric May you rot where trash should end up rotting...in a garbage can. you are a hate filled jerkoff! This society has this image that only gay people (and Im a straigh women)! is the only people who engage in sexual behavoir...Quote by this moron Eric:

AIDS achieved an alarming death toll not because it is easily acquired (it isn't compared to many other diseases) but because of extreme behavior by those hardest hit.

Please Eric get a life buddy...Aids does not go around only affecting as you call "The hardest hit"...it affects everyone of us. Sex is not the issue here you ass...for everyone of us do it whether starigh, gay, purple, white, or black. What makes you ANY better than someone else unh? You think hetrosexual men are any diferant? PLEASE! They would screw a chicken...(sorry men) :) but's it's the damn truth...And I suppose Eric you are one "PURE SOUL" who has never NEVER done anything wrong and should be considered a saint. Making love or even having down right good ole "SEX" should not be a death sentence for ANYONE! R.J. was right...Im not a hateful person...But I sure do Hate people like you! May you rot in hell!

Damn Eric,
Your being "Bashed" every which way!. I agree with them all!!!!.

YOU ARE A COMPLETE HATE FILLED MORON! IT'S PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO GIVE US ALL A BAD NAME.

God forbid if you ever end up with Aids/Cancer or any other disease that takes your worthless life! Maybe then you might just put on some rose color glasses and see that love is what this world needs!

Bitch Slapped Diva!
Jennifer!

Reagan was and is a asshole who deserves his fate...May he rot in hell for acting like his shit don't stink! As far as you go Eric,

May you rot in hell as r.j. and Karen put it!
God truly made a BIG mistake making your lousy hateful ass! Piss on you man!

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT. BASH UP ON THIS JERK...DID I SAY DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

ERIC
YOU DO SOUND LIKE ONE TRUE ASSHOLE! GET A LIFE DUDE, OH I FORGOT MAN...YOU SEEM TO BE TRYING TO LIVE EVERYONE ELE'S! WHAT MAKES YOU SO GODDAMN PERFECT BRO? YOU SPEAK FROM HATE AND SOUND LIKE A COMPLETE MORON JERKOFF WITH NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN PREACH TO OTHERS! WHAT MAKES YOU SO "FRIGGEN" SPECIAL MAN? I AGREE CRAWL UNDER A ROCK YOU SLIMBALL SCUMBAG!

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Eric,
People are people are people ARE PEOPLE!!! Whether its HIV/Aids, Cancer, Altemizers, or any other of a million horrible diseases. We should learn to love and not hate and prejudge everyone. Your human Eric and not God...Let him do the judging for us all and until the day you consider yourself PERFECT. Do us all a big flavor and keep your HATE to yourself! We are not born with hate it is past on by folks like you!