Expendable ?

[princealbertofb]

"I had to pretend like I wasn't watching them die ... "

Strong statement in dance: The Sound Of A Feeling

[princealbertofb]

I remember all of this disaster... Could it have been prevented? An interesting documentary about the last 30 years.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Could it have been prevented... Hmmm.

Depends on which side of the theory you fall on. If you, like many others, believe that HIV/AIDS was cooked in a laboratory and purposefully released into the wild... then yes it could have been prevented.

If you like the rest of the crowd out there actually believe that the green monkey passed on HIV/Aids to humans in natural ways, then most likely no it could not have been prevented.

Could we have slowed the progression? Sure. Its not airborne.... yet.

While I hate to bring the subject up because it was so controversial back in the day, rounding up the infected and putting them in quarantine was actually the better idea. Human rights and all of those 'morality issues' people had did nothing to slow or halt the spread of HIV.

Just one more case which demonstrates that humans reacting with their emotions doesn't end well.

We all know how HIV/AIDS is contracted - we all know that wearing a condom greatly reduces potential to spread this (and other) infection(s). We also know that promiscuity leads to greater risks of contracting than monogamy, we all know that no sex at all means no STD at all.

Yet still we have people who partake of all of the wrong things that leads to the spread of this and every other STD.

Apparently humans are hardwired to not be safe, therefore I submit that preventing the spread of HIV or any other STD is an exercise in futility. Humans can't control themselves.

As I recall it didn't take long for the whole LGBT community to know that HIV/AIDS was out there. But even as late as the 1990's people flat refused to wear condoms. Even having people like myself going from bar to bar handing out literature and condoms still lead to the spread of HIV and other STDS. We did slow it slightly - but in the end it was an exercise in futility because now we have this generation that views HIV/AIDS as a treatable condition thus its not that big of a deal to worry about.

Personally, I think coming up with a treatment was the worst possible thing we could have done. Scientists should have lied through their teeth and say its untreatable while continue working on a cure just to scare the bejesus out of everyone which would have worked far more efficiently to slow the progress of this particular virus.

Sure, people would have died - however less people would be infected today. The fear of death lead to our generation being a wee bit more safe and sane in bed than today's generation.

Fear is a powerful motivator, today in the western world there is insufficient fear of the virus which is leading to its spread which is leading to more mutations which will lead to an airborne variety arising eventually. Or a non treatable variant or one that spreads like wildfire, or some other horrific mutation.

Understand I watched many people die from this virus. My brother died from it, after losing his eyeballs, after dementia set in, it was a horrific way to go. However with it being such a horrific way to go many guys thought twice before engaging in unsafe sex which lead to less spread of infection.

Today the horror of HIV is being stuck on a drug for the rest one one's life and suffering the minor side effects of the drugs... Well aside from the other psychological issues which people deny and swear ain't really there.

Human nature being what it is, the spread of HIV is what it is - and I seriously doubt that it could have been prevented, slowed, or reduced because humans are unable to do the right things.

[Uneunsae]

Bowyn, your post describes all the reasons why I don't have casual sex. Yes, there are ways to be safe, but for myself, I'd rather be 100% sure. Getting a disease is not worth sex. Even mind-blowing sex.

[TwisttheLeaf]

We all know how HIV/AIDS is contracted - we all know that wearing a condom greatly reduces potential to spread this (and other) infection(s). We also know that promiscuity leads to greater risks of contracting than monogamy, we all know that no sex at all means no STD at all.

Yet still we have people who partake of all of the wrong things that leads to the spread of this and every other STD.

Apparently humans are hardwired to not be safe, therefore I submit that preventing the spread of HIV or any other STD is an exercise in futility. Humans can't control themselves.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Human nature being what it is, the spread of HIV is what it is - and I seriously doubt that it could have been prevented, slowed, or reduced because humans are unable to do the right things.

I agree with this. Humans, as a whole, are risk takers. We get hooked on the danger. Hooked on the risk. In many cases, hooked on the adrenaline that comes with that danger and risk.

I also believe that a vast majority of humans are hooked on irresponsibility. Hooked on thumbing up their nose at convention.

For some, fear works to dissuade. For some, common sense does the trick.

For too many... what they're hooked on will allow them to make whatever excuses or ignorance are necessary to get the 'high' they've become addicted to.

[James]

Still watch my copy of the film, "And the band played on" about the cdc and how their hands were tied

[princealbertofb]

When I asked whether it could have been prevented, I meant could we have done more in prevention for this disease not to spread the way it did?

One of the contentions of The Normal Heart is that because this cancer was only seemingly affecting gays, they did not do much about prevention. The authorities didn't care and didn't listen. They didn't deal with this humanely and they didn't treat it like a normal disease that might one day affect straight people too. Well, it did. And I also remember in the 80s and 90s how insensitive governments were about the dreadful spread of the disease. We didn't know of a good way to contain it with drugs that would treat sufferers gently. Now things have evolved and it's become treatable in a much less aggressive way, so it would seem, but the disease is still affecting too many people. 1 million people affected in the United States alone, which means 1 person in every 350 approx, has HIV. It may seem like a low percentage but I'm sure it doesn't match other treatable and preventable diseases. The new generations of gays between 18 and 25 are becoming infected much more than they should be. What happened to prevention of sexually transmitted diseases? In a world that no longer needs to worry about unwanted pregnancies so much, it doesn't make sense that we can't contain sexually transmitted diseases better, does it?

[princealbertofb]

Bowyn, quarantining is what they always try to do when the medical profession is dealing with something new that they don't know how to contain, and as long as they don't know the science about the disease. When they know it's a dangerously contagious disease and a deadly one, they quarantine and that's how it should be. I'm not saying they shouldn't. In fact if would seem that this wasn't sufficiently "quarantined", in that the governments and authorities didn't want to spend the money on prevention that might have saved quite a few lives. As Jim said, the CDC had its hands tied.

I know there is such a thing as a death wish, and that some people (chasers) supposedly go after HIV, to become infected with the virus, as if it was a badge of honour, but there are probably more people out there who would have preferred to have the choice of knowing what they might be getting into. That was denied to them by the secrecy that governments encouraged.

[princealbertofb]

...
We all know how HIV/AIDS is contracted - we all know that wearing a condom greatly reduces potential to spread this (and other) infection(s). We also know that promiscuity leads to greater risks of contracting than monogamy, we all know that no sex at all means no STD at all.
...

I would like to contest that assertion that we all know. Maybe in the western world, in the gay communities out here, we all know, or should know. It means somehow, somewhere, we've had the information, the education.

But why is the spread of the disease now reaching more and more women and in Africa and Asia, it must be precisely because they DON'T know, and those who bring it to them may or may not know their status, but they still don't know that they should use protection. So, in a way, I can't agree with you that we all know. If we all knew, we would not have the disease spreading so fast.

You say that humans are risk takers, and that may be so, but they are also capable in some cases of eradicating some diseases. It's been done before. In today's world, with all the information technologies we have, it's bad that there is still so much ignorance out there. I thought my kids in school (some 16, some 19 years old) would know about HIV AIDS and for the first time this year, it seemed to me that they didn't really have a clue. Times move on, people forget.

Just as D-Day was in the remembrance cycle again yesterday (it being the 70th anniversary of June 6th, 1944) we should remember that 30 years (plus) have passed since the first case of AIDS was spotted. Time for a reminder, even if the treatment has progressed in the way that you describe, Bowyn. If drug research hadn't made that progress we'd be facing much higher numbers of casualties, I guess.

[AlohaShannon]

I used to feel invincible in my 20s but since coming out, I'm very concerned about getting back in the dating scene. I was with my ex for 14 years and loved the feeling of safety that I had. Now I realize that this is something very real that I have to be concerned about once again. Thank you for the post and thanks to those that have responded.