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Originally Posted by homeboy
Given the problems with education, culture, reality, etc. that have already been discussed, implying that they deserve this fate since they have a "solution in hand", is callous.
And since you feel they are not "innocent", how about the 12-15 million orphans? Do they deserve this?
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying anybody "deserves" to get AIDS or to be an orphan because of aids. All I am saying is that it is a very dificult situation for me to look at. Part of me knows that it is our duty to care for the poor and needy (and they are the definition of poor and needy), but the other part of me looks at the things that happen right next door and wonders how can I chose one or the other. I don't know anybody in Africa, I don't know any AIDS orphans. I do know a lot of people with cancer, I know several cancer orphans. It's hard, you know what I mean?
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Originally Posted by homeboy
It's not a lost cause at all. Someone could find a cure any day. Given recent news reports, perhaps someone already has.
This is the worst epidemic since the bubonic plague, and may eventually surpass the bubonic plague. If this is not a worthy cause for foreign aid, then there isn't one.
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I agree 100% that this is a worthy cause, but how much $$ do you send?
On a side note... I saw an interesting thing on PBS (nova I think) about AIDS and the bubonic plague. Several researchers looked in to the history of people who were in contact with the afflicted and should have gotten sick themselves. They basically suggested that the people who didn't die of the plague were genetically pre-disposed to deal with it.
They then did studies on several people who, by their own admission, should have gotten AIDS. One man they interviewed was a gay man who had lost almost ALL of his friends to AIDS. He said that he had participated in unprotected sex with many of them and simply had no explanation why he was never infected.
The researchers believe (and did a pretty good job of connecting the dots) that there is a similarity between the two. That the reason AIDS has not spread as widly among people of european decent is because the AIDS virus works in a similar way as the bubonic plague (All of you medical people don't jump down my throat here, I'm just telling you what they said, there were graphs and diagrams and it made no sense to me).
Anyway... The point was this... The bubonic plague ripped thru europe so that most of the people who survived were genetically pre-disposed to resist it. Since HIV acts in a similar way, the euro's kids are less likely to get AIDS.
That is one of the main reasons why the AIDS epidemic has not ravaged the US and Europe like it has Africa and other "non-european" nations.
Anyway... It was a fascinating show...