Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucla-cs!Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org From: Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Richard DeWald) Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: To Politicising Aids Message-ID: <29773@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Date: 5 Dec 89 15:13:23 GMT Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU Organization: FidoNet node 1:382/70 - Humanitas, Austin TX Lines: 102 Approved: aids@cs.ucla.edu Archive-number: 1538 In a message of <28 Nov 89 18:15:56>, Adam Selene (1:107/269) writes: AS>I'm not sure I understand the problem ... what exactly IS the objection AS>to PWA policical organization and pressure. When did "politics" get AS>re-defined (along with "liberal") as a hate-word ? I can't speak for everyone, but I have no objection to a well-informed effort to bring about changes in public health policy for PWA's by political means. You are certainly well-informed, your previous messages about examples of patient groups facing political problems is more extensive than one I could have come up with. What bothers me is the reactionary screaming about Gay-bashing because of people's concerns about AIDS. What bothers me is the assertion that medical discrimination began and ended with AIDS, and it is really just a thin cover for homophobia and hatred. You are clearly not involved in that kind of politics, so I have no problem with you. Politics got its bad name long before "liberal" was a bad term. The kind of politics that honors humanity (in modern times) got snuffed out with the assassination of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, in my opinion. Politics has come to mean the kind of back-room wheeling and dealing to take power away from the people that is practiced by Reagan-era public "servants." This kind of activity deserves a dirty name. Pay it no mind, Adam. I am a liberal, and I love politics. I am also a nursing student, a Christian (there's another maligned and mis-used term), a heterosexual, a Caucasian, a Texan, and I have been called (in the local press) a "radical populist" (whatever THAT means). Labels are conveniences, not ends in themselves. Look at Sickle Cell Anemia. It afflicts a racial group that has suffered for four-hundred years on this continent. If there is ever an oppurtunity to use medical means to discriminate, it is there. But, SCA is different, its victims are innocent in everyone's eyes. We have no control over our genetic make-up. AIDS is an infectuous disease, people can avoid getting it (now that we know). Most people agree that IV drug users are a problem for our society. I know that life in, for example, the most economically depressed areas can be tough, I know that addicts can be seen as initially just seeking relief from that misery. The most compassionate have trouble condemning people for seeking relief. However, I think it takes a singular lack of moral courage to resort to sticking needles in your veins. I believe a moral stand must be made. This is morally wrong. So, one of the patient groups carries this judgement in my mind. Homosexuals are a different problem. Adam, there is one person in this world that I care about who they are sleeping with: my lover. It is beyond me why people care so much about other people's sex lives. If AIDS were a heterosexual disease, we would be pining about the tragedy that something so deadly is transmitted through an act of love and affection, not making judgements about the morality of the afflicted. So, I don't buy the moral arguments about homosexuality, I think they are ridiculous. However, for reasons that I cannot fathom, people think homosexuals are deserving of scorn. Perhaps it is because the homosexual sex act is purely for the excahnge of love, pleasure and affection, not that sacred act of procreation, I don't know. It can only be a tiny fraction of the heterosexual sex acts this evening that will be for the purpose of procreation, so even this I don't give much weight to. So, because of these prevailing attitudes of the majority against the populations largely afflicted with AIDS, PWA's are forced to exercise their political power as a minority to assure that their rights are protected. Our leaders may not understand the document well, but the constitution provides for just such action. So, do it, but keep in mind that you are doing it in solidarity with the minorities that have come before you, not like some newly oppressed group out of the blue. Actions like this can clean-up the stain that Reagan and his criminals left on the term "politics." I fully support it. AS>+ Would you say that the "Grey Panthers" and the "American AS>Association of Retired Persons" are A-political groups using ONLY AS>education and persuasion to advance their advocacy of for older people AS>? AARP is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. Congressmen are scared silly by it. They use strong-arm hard-ball tactics EVERYDAY!!! Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. AS>+ Do you believe that the American Medical Assoc. and the American AS>Dental Association DO NOT have political agendas that they advance by AS>political means ? Do you believe in the Easter Bunny? AS>+ Or is the issue that SOME ... "the right people" SHOULD have AS>political organizations and influence ... while "OTHERS" (in the AS>existential sense) ... "wrong people" SHOULD NOT ?? Well, who wants a bunch of queers hanging out at the Capitol anyway ? Right and wrong in political arenas are issues that are decided at the polls and at the Supreme Court. It will take a thick skin to survive the slings and arrows that political life will buy you, but you are the only one who should decide is you are worth fighting for. It is not an easy life, but it has its rewards. Richard O. DeWald Sysop at Fido 1:382/70 -- Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!382!70!Richard.DeWald Internet: Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org