"When AIDS was funny" https://youtu.be/yAzDn7tE1lU It shows the challenges of the press to have serious conversations about the disease with the Reagan administration.
Is it that much different than how everyone jokes about HSV1 today? It is still a (ridiculous and stupid) running punchline on SNL. Obviously it is a far less dire virus (as far as we know, today) but, we as a species (generally) compared to our individual potential, are absolute idiots and almost always take the easy intellectual route (humor and bullshit) when faced with uncommon information. The video really seems…
Yes, the governments refusal to act on the AIDS crisis and the substantial stigma around the disease - resulting in hundreds of thousands of dead is "much different" from jokes about oral herpes on SNL.