How AIDS Changed America

[RobbO]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 5:40pm

an interesting special report from newsweek.
How AIDS Changed America

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 5:42pm

Someone showed this to me a few days ago, mainly because Larry Kramer is quoted, but it is really interesting.

[Zyla]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 9:26pm

You'd think that this would have more responses by now!

As Em said, the article was very interesting. I don't know what else to say, other than I still can't believe the ignorance that this issue apparently met as it emerged. I remember learning about AIDS for the first time when I was in elementary school (this was in the mid-90s), thus giving me the illusion that the public was aware of the disease, accepted its reality and was working on research towards a cure.

Edit: Just adding, it's great that the article mentioned the positive impact of Hollywood and (of course) Broadway!
Updated On: 5/13/06 at 09:26 PM

[Dancinqueen123]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 9:29pm

I get Newsweek in the mail and when I got the magazine on monday I read the article. I got really excited when it mentioned the impact it had on Broadway

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 10:12pm

I find I so agree with this statement from the article, even though a lot has been done:

"Don't you dare tell me there's any good news in this," says Larry Kramer, who has been raging against the disease—and those who let it spread unchecked—since it was first identified in 1981. "We should be having a national day of mourning!"

One of my neighbors told me a couple months ago that he's had it for a year and he is the sweetest guy. Out of work now and has had a very bad health battle with it and karposi's cancer treatment.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 10:59pm

on the other hand Nom....there are people going strong after 20 years, and doing well.......most likely your neighbor didn't get tested until a year ago. So the disease had much time to work its way in.

I remember when you didn't see someone for awhile you wondered if they were sick........and monthly and even weekly you'd lose someone. That's why it's so shocking now when I do lose someone as it's very rare.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 11:01pm

when I first heard this, it forever changed my opinion of Bob Hope....no matter what good he did, this negated it. And I was probably one of the very few in Palm Springs that did not mourn him.

"I just heard the Statue of Liberty has AIDS," Bob Hope quipped during the rededication ceremony of the statue in 1986. "Nobody knows if she got it from the mouth of the Hudson or the Staten Island Fairy." Across the river in Manhattan, a generation of young adults was attending more funerals than weddings.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:08am

Bob Hope showed poor taste rather often. He got booed during a USO show during Vietnam for ill-timed jokes. Quoth Christopher Hitchens:

He was to the comedy of the war what Nixon was to its negotiation and what Billy Graham was to its husky religiosity.

As to the article -- this is also why I didn't spend a second mourning Reagan nor the Pope. Scumbags, both of them, who had more to do with the spread of this disease than almost anyone.

My intro to the disease was when I happened to catch a few minutes of "An Early Frost" on TV as a boy of 6 or 7. It scared the crap out of me. Fortunately, I had parents who were able to explain to me what it was and were able to ease that fear.
Updated On: 5/14/06 at 02:08 AM

[DG]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:19am

It is actually unbelievable to me the kinds of discussions that I see and hear now regarding this disease. There is ample history to put things in context, there is ample education to address the situation in our 'civilized' society.

I still wonder about those in this country who want to personalize the situation. Granted, it's not unwarranted - but the world situation calls for a specific attack, and the American response is still mired in retro mentality.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:20am

Did anyone see that South Park episode about Subway?

[BluCat500]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:22am

haha, I did!

Nothing says weight loss like Subway and AIDS!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:24am

I saw that last night. I really thought they were talking about AIDS, and my friend was shocked that I didn't pick up right away that he meant aids, as in assistants.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:30am

Right. I saw it last night, too. For like the hundreth time!

(Thank G-d the WB made a cocaine decision to air the show!)

But...that is explained at the very beginning...

AIDS FOR AMERICA
I'm gonna give evry child AIDS!

I love "Oh, not A-I-D-S. A-I-D-E-S!" Updated On: 5/14/06 at 02:30 AM

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:33am

Anger at the Pope is far from retro mentality. The Catholic Church is still a major impediment to doing anything about AIDS. Recently, they've been debating whether it's acceptable for a married couple to use a condom if only one of the couple has AIDS. Common sense means nothing to them. And this goes far beyond AIDS. A lot of problems would be, well, certainly not solved, but improved, if the Vatican would get over its birth control hangup.
Updated On: 5/14/06 at 02:33 AM

[DG]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:39am

Calvin - by 'retro' I mean the American philosophy of categorizing this in terms of sexuality. This plague on a global scale goes far beyond the lunacy of our puritanical stance. I'm just amazed that it still persists.

And by that I mean, I'm amazed that our ignorance is that entrenched. It's sickening.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:50am

Ah -- in that case, I totally see your point.

Like the hand-wringing coming from social conservatives here when the African version of Sesame Street added an HIV-positive muppet. It's sexualizing a children's show, they cried. They just can't get past the sex. Or the brilliant idea that somehow abstinence education in Africa is going to solve everything. Perhaps we haven't come to far from the schoolmasters who wanted to kick out Ryan White.