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The AIDS epidemic that never was.
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Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
This is an example of why people tend to doubt the "experts" when cries that the sky is falling come from the chicken little news media. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-495515/The-Aids-epidemic-political-correctness-influences-medical-spending.html Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
Es99 Send message Joined: 23 Aug 05 Posts: 10874 Credit: 350,402 RAC: 0 |
Thank you for reminding me what a vile rag of a newspaper the Daily Mail is. Reality Internet Personality |
Daykay Send message Joined: 18 Dec 00 Posts: 647 Credit: 739,559 RAC: 0 |
Raises some reasonable points. Got to remember though that when AIDS was first discovered very little was known about it other than it seemed to be primarily gay men that were afflicted. Later that changed and there was a fear that something as wonderful as sex would become the worlds great killer. Personally it's never really scared me as I'm not gay, drug user, prostitute or bareback in the developing world. To the other more significant point though, it is interesting to realise that if you look at how many die from poor water sources and how easily that could be fixed and see how much has been spent on something like HIV/AIDS prevention.. Kolch - Crunching for the BOINC@Australia team since July 2004. Search for your own intelligence... |
Batter Up Send message Joined: 5 May 99 Posts: 1946 Credit: 24,860,347 RAC: 0 |
This is an example of why people tend to doubt the "experts" when cries that the sky is falling come from the chicken little news media.That is just one case of the popular ignorance that has had the civilized world in it's grip since the natural order of the 1950s has deteriorated. |
Мишель Send message Joined: 26 Nov 13 Posts: 3073 Credit: 87,868 RAC: 0 |
Thank you for reminding me what a vile rag of a newspaper the Daily Mail is. +asmuchasyouwant Seriously, what a nasty article. The Aids pandemic that never was? Excuse me, what about those millions of Africans? Oh right, Africans, black people and generally pretty poor, don't grow old enough to get cancer most of the time. How dare they hogging all the medical aid money. And see, aids is on the decline for the past decade and surely that has nothing to do with the vast advances in the field of aids medicine and aids prevention, paid for by all that money. No its because Aids isn't serious enough. There should be a law that bans the Daily Mail from advertising itself as a newspaper and its writers claiming they are 'journalists'. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30608 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
[quote]This is an example of why people tend to doubt the "experts" when cries that the sky is falling come from the chicken little news media. With the rise in creationism by whatever name, the teaching of how to apply critical thinking to science related subjects has dropped to near zero, hence the rise of the henny penny media just looking for got-bucks from an ignorant public. wolf, wolf the sky is falling, the sky is falling AIDS, AIDS warming, warming |
Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
I don't doubt the seriousness of the AIDS virus especially to those at most risk but I remember for a while when a barber wouldn't even give you a shave for fear of cutting you and the exposed blood spreading AIDS. I think the point of the article was that massive amounts of money were spent on what ended up being a containable disease when it could have been spent finding cures for other diseases that cause far more deaths. Regarding that newspaper, one mans rag is another mans favorite paper. But since I gave up reading any newspaper a long time ago I'm not an expert on the subject. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
Batter Up Send message Joined: 5 May 99 Posts: 1946 Credit: 24,860,347 RAC: 0 |
Regarding that newspaper, one mans rag is another mans favorite paper. But since I gave up reading any newspaper a long time ago I'm not an expert on the subject.Most now get the "news" they want to agree with from bloggers. |
Daykay Send message Joined: 18 Dec 00 Posts: 647 Credit: 739,559 RAC: 0 |
... I remember for a while when a barber wouldn't even give you a shave for fear of cutting you and the exposed blood spreading AIDS. Reminds me of the stupid "Blood rule" in sports where often the entire game is stopped while a player with any bleeding is completely removed from the field, any bloodied clothes need to be changed before play can resume. There is not a recorded case anywhere of transmission via bleeding in sports but the rules remain in place. Kolch - Crunching for the BOINC@Australia team since July 2004. Search for your own intelligence... |
Darth Beaver Send message Joined: 20 Aug 99 Posts: 6728 Credit: 21,443,075 RAC: 3 |
news flash recent reports that Aids cases have started to increase umoung the youth of there country . Why ? Young ppl don't think Aids is a threat anymore so they are not using safe sex practices anymore So we should not worry about education campains and just spend the money on finding a cure ... oh wait if there is a cure then the drug company's wont make any money ... INSIDE BOARD ROOM OF A DRUG COMPANY so lets not spend any money on education that way the cases will increase and we can make money ..oh we won't find a cure just a remady to keep them alive so we can screw them out of even more money... |
Darth Beaver Send message Joined: 20 Aug 99 Posts: 6728 Credit: 21,443,075 RAC: 3 |
Ignorance is bliss ... I'm a mushroom put me in a corner and feed me B/S i'll grow big and strong until the human comes and cuts me down and eats me ... |
Dena Wiltsie Send message Joined: 19 Apr 01 Posts: 1628 Credit: 24,230,968 RAC: 26 |
news flash recent reports that Aids cases have started to increase umoung the youth of there country . It's worst than that. The kids today do something they call hooking up. I would know it as a one night stand. If the kids get an itch for sex and they can find some, even a total stranger who is willing, they do it. They don't understand the men could have a life long illness and the women could have the same illness along with the mental harm associated with that type of life style. I may appear a bit old fashion but some of the old idea do have merit. |
Мишель Send message Joined: 26 Nov 13 Posts: 3073 Credit: 87,868 RAC: 0 |
I don't doubt the seriousness of the AIDS virus especially to those at most risk but I remember for a while when a barber wouldn't even give you a shave for fear of cutting you and the exposed blood spreading AIDS. I think the point of the article was that massive amounts of money were spent on what ended up being a containable disease when it could have been spent finding cures for other diseases that cause far more deaths. It ended up being a containable disease because of all the massive amounts of money we spend on research and education. Furthermore, while Aids never turned into a epidemic in the West and caused relatively few deaths, in Africa that is a completely different case. But clearly according to the article, Africans don't matter. Because there are other diseases that kill more white people the money spend on Aids research was wasted because it wasn't spend on those diseases and instead on a disease that mostly kills off people that your average conservative prefers to see dead anyways: gays, minorities and black people. Well how nice to be confirmed in my belief that the Daily Mail is racist garbage. |
Daykay Send message Joined: 18 Dec 00 Posts: 647 Credit: 739,559 RAC: 0 |
With regards to Africans dying, they die from many more things like lack of clean water and basic medical services more so than they die from AIDS. Take all the billions in AIDS money and put it to stopping water-borne disease and famine in Africa and you probably save many more lives. That's the point that the article makes, nothing racist. Kolch - Crunching for the BOINC@Australia team since July 2004. Search for your own intelligence... |
John Neale Send message Joined: 16 Mar 00 Posts: 634 Credit: 7,246,513 RAC: 9 |
This thread should be titled "The AIDS epidemic that still is". At least, around here it's still an epidemic. No doubt, the money that was spent developing antiretroiviral (ARV) therapies has curtailed the epidemic in many parts of the world, including in South and southern Africa. Sadly, in South Africa, which is the country with more HIV-positive inhabitants than any other, the president at the time when ARV therapies should first have been rolled out was an HIV/AIDS denialist. Thabo Mbeki and his government are responsible, in my view, for the premature deaths of several hundreds of thousands of people. I posit that, had the money not been spent, the AIDS epidemic would have taken a very different trajectory, here and elsewhere. |
Мишель Send message Joined: 26 Nov 13 Posts: 3073 Credit: 87,868 RAC: 0 |
With regards to Africans dying, they die from many more things like lack of clean water and basic medical services more so than they die from AIDS. Yeah but Aids itself doesn't really kill people. Its an immune disorder, the people that die always die from infections or other diseases because their immune systems can't fight it off anymore. You can provide more basic medical care to Africa but that would be a wasted effort if people have Aids. Furthermore, maybe one of the reasons that Aids is no longer the primary cause of death is because we spend billions on fighting it. |
brendan Send message Joined: 2 Sep 99 Posts: 165 Credit: 7,294,631 RAC: 0 |
I would suggest looking at the stats for HIV/AIDS cases over time. Without education programs, condom use and development of anti-retrovirals, the increase you see from 1990-2000 would have continued. It was the publicity and publicly funded programs which prevented this disease from getting out of control. Arguing that there was no "plague" and that the threat was overstated are incorrect. http://www.avert.org/worldwide-hiv-aids-statistics.htm |
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