As part of an AIDS awareness campaign, Bristol-Myers Squibb set up the
Light To Unite
website. They pledged to donate a dollar for every "candle" that was "lit." In another example of people underestimating the power of the internet, they apparently capped the total donation amount at $100,000. The response was overwhelming. So far, more than 1.5 million "candles" have been lit. The good news is, this means the site was visited from at least that many computers, since each machine can only light one "candle." I just wish the big drug company had budgeted more money for the campaign. $100,000 is just a drop in the bucket in the fight against this global epidemic.
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5 comments:
We should put just as much into curing AIDS as we do to cure self-inflicted gunshot wounds!With the exception of chldren born with AIDS, the two are both the same: you have to make a conscious decision to perform an act that you know has a high probability of ending your life.
AIDS is not an airborne illness. You get it from having unprotected sex or by using infected needles. Either way, you choose to do something that you know may infect you... it is like putting a gun to your head.
I am not homophobic as I know AIDS affects everyone regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. The cure is simple: Don't have unprotected sex. If you can't find a condom, then don't do it. If you do have unprotected sex, you are making the decision that a short period of gratification is worth your life... don't ask me to fix it for you.
As much as I hate to feed a troll, I have a few examples to refute your assertions. Remember Ryan White? Well, I do. He was the young man who lent his very innocent face to the AIDS epidemic when people tried to kick him out of school in Indiana because he was infected through transfusions (I believe he was a hemophiliac). You yourself mentioned the children who get HIV from their mothers in the womb. To me, those cases alone would be worth the fight to find a cure. Add to that all the people who are infected by their spouses. Are married couples supposed to use condoms? Unfortunately, spouses cheat, and, even more unfortunately, they can bring diseases back to their spouses. Should we punish the one for the transgressions of the other? What about women (and men) who are raped? Your argument is equivalent to saying we should not try to cure lung cancer because it is caused by smoking and people should know better. Not all lung cancer patients smoked. Not all HIV-infected people knowingly or willingly engaged in dangerous activity. By the way, real brave, posting anonymously.
What about those people who shot themselves accidentally while cleaning a gun? Or children who were shot while still in their mothers' wombs? I have no problem helping children born with HIV or AIDS.
The problem is that there is a simple two-part solution to stopping the AIDS pandemic but nobody wants to do it:
1) If you are an IV drug user, STOP. Rehab is ready when you are.
2) A mutually faithful monogamous relationship. I have been in one for 20 years with no problems and I do not live in fear of AIDS.
And by the way, curing lung cancer is great. Smoking kills more people every year than AIDS, but I do not see anyone calling it a pandemic. Why, because most people who do contract Lung Cancer get it because they made the decision to smoke.
The bottom line: The vast majority of people who contract HIV/AIDS get it because they decided to take part in an activity that would expose them to the disease. I never said cut off funds for AIDS research, but it should be equal to what we put into self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
And by your reasoning, "Should we punish the one for the transgressions of the other?" I certainly hope you do not support killing an innocent child in the womb who had nothing to do with the decision to conceive him or her.
Everybody wants the easy way: They want to have promiscuous sex but be able to have abortions and a cure for all STDs. They want to smoke without the worry of lung cancer. They want to eat like pigs while hoping a drug company makes a magic pill for weight loss so they don't have to exercise. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. But we all must learn: Life has consequences.
That's right folks. I shoulda known better. Never feed trolls, especially anonymous trolls. Here's hoping I learned my lesson. So hard to resist that little baby-killer accusation, but I'm working on it.
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