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Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

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Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. And yet here we are, with governments spending billions of dollars to find a cure when we can stop the spread of COVID-19 by reducing certain behaviors. The difference in government response to the (ongoing, btw) AIDS crisis and COVID-19 has a hell of a lot to do with the fact that COVID-19 is not…

Understood. But Covid is of course a different disease, and different in many ways. No consent is required to obtain it from another person. No time spent in private naked. Just be near someone in line at the bus stop and a sneeze. So there's that.

I did not know that getting HIV required consent, or being naked.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#62
post #57
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is... not exactly true: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/21/6219083... I was not trying to diminish the atrocity that is how the AIDS epidemic was handled, I was only trying to illuminate that people (and the super-majority of our lawmakers) are immature and uninformed when talking about all infectious diseases. Edit: just look at our President’s response to Covid... it is bumbling and moronic.

So what, this tentative research that shows no causal link whatsoever between HSV-1 and alzheimers is the same as the 32 million killed by AIDS globally? No. It isn't. Stop trivializing HIV. I don't know what you're getting out of it, but it comes across as incredibly tone deaf.

I truly was not trying to offend or trivialize anything: my only point, as best as I can distill it, is that people react irrationally and inappropriately to infectious diseases. And we need to work on that. This is not at all unique to HIV/AIDS, even though people suffering from AIDS have born the brunt of the actual suffering. If we can’t have open, rational discussions about HSV, how can we do the same with HIV?

Edit: grammar

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#63
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was worse than that. They laughed and made jokes while they did nothing [1]. [1] https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1/9828348/ronald-reagan-hiv-aids

[flagged]

A $2 trillion dollar bailout - primarily to industry - is not comparable to $100 million dollars on medical research.

That's not a valid comparison in any way, shape, or form.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#64
post #62
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what, this tentative research that shows no causal link whatsoever between HSV-1 and alzheimers is the same as the 32 million killed by AIDS globally? No. It isn't. Stop trivializing HIV. I don't know what you're getting out of it, but it comes across as incredibly tone deaf.

I truly was not trying to offend or trivialize anything: my only point, as best as I can distill it, is that people react irrationally and inappropriately to infectious diseases. And we need to work on that. This is not at all unique to HIV/AIDS, even though people suffering from AIDS have born the brunt of the actual suffering. If we can’t have open, rational discussions about HSV, how can we do the same with HIV? E…

I understand the point you were trying to get across. Many STIs have substantial stigma around them and it makes it harder to fight them.

I just want to caution you that making these forms of equivalences is a common tactic to derail and discount the impact of HIV or the experience of populations disproportionately harmed, in the same way that people derail discussions about the disproportionate killing of black people by police with statements like "why focus on black people? nobody should be killed by police."

I believe that you were not intending to do so, but I also hope that you understand and can be cognizant of that dynamic.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#65
post #54
post #3

I didn't understand the AIDS epidemic until I listened to a podcast [1] where they interviewed a gay survivor. I can't imagine my friends dying off one by one around me from an unknown specter. The government pretending you didn't exist and ignoring you because it was a "gay problem". Society demonizing you. He said that even after it was understood that AIDS was not transmissible by touch, morgues would refuse to ac…

The Australian government's 1987 "Grim Reaper" ad gives some impression of the mood at the time. Of course, it didn't do any favours to the gay community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lhFc_9U_UY

Italy’s 1990 “AIDS: If you know it, you avoid it” public service advertisement is indelibly seared into the consciousness of my whole generation. Drawing purple outlines around things is still an instant reminder of that. The soundtrack is often heard overlaid over threatening scenarios much as the Benny Hill soundtrack is overload over situations to indicate they are ‘funny’.

https://youtu.be/so94WTK8kBw

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bathouse behaviour is still present. I went to a korean spa in nyc with my kids and ran into a group of young men having an orgy in one of the spas which is not private. I was so embarassed, didnt know what to say to my kids, they saw a live scene. We never talked about it. So, some of that stuborness in behaviour is something rampant in the gay community. They have for example, drug fueled parties and have conti…

> They have for example, drug fueled parties and have continuous sex for days Don't straight people do this too? Loaded question - of course they do. People take drugs and have sex. It's a human thing, not a 'gay' thing.

Its not too human to have sex for hours and am not against it whether its gay or straight or whatever, as long as they at least are aware of STDs and even that is not really my concern, it’s a free country. But I do get upset even at my behaviour in cases like i was at the SPA. I didn’t say a thing cause I was with my kids and wouldn’t have said a thing if i was alone either. It’s become delicate to say these things as you are labeled as a bigot which I refuse to accept. Im not a bigot, I understand its not abnormal to be gay, one of my kids may turn out to be gay and I’d be supportive and educate them that its okay to be gay and not take part in orgies, its okay to have protected sex etc.

Hypersexuality in general gets on my nerves because it’s an industry that wants to make money and makes people do and buy stupid things.

Someone is saying that Im racist and I should be “fixed” up by someone in these protests. Why, because I have my views? Because i am unconfortable running into gay men having sex in a public place? Should I just shut up? I did shut up and pretended it didnt happen but it was a weird family moment

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#67
post #11

Semi-related: Thinking about this era I wondered how long it look for AIDS to kill 100,000 Americans. The answer is about 5 years. CoViD did it in 5 months.

Which doesn't really mean that HIV/AIDS is not dangerous, but rather it underscores how much more dangerous CoViD really is.

I truly hope we manage a better response than the AIDS crisis, because a similar response to COVID-19 would be incredibly devastating.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#68
post #62
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what, this tentative research that shows no causal link whatsoever between HSV-1 and alzheimers is the same as the 32 million killed by AIDS globally? No. It isn't. Stop trivializing HIV. I don't know what you're getting out of it, but it comes across as incredibly tone deaf.

I truly was not trying to offend or trivialize anything: my only point, as best as I can distill it, is that people react irrationally and inappropriately to infectious diseases. And we need to work on that. This is not at all unique to HIV/AIDS, even though people suffering from AIDS have born the brunt of the actual suffering. If we can’t have open, rational discussions about HSV, how can we do the same with HIV? E…

[deleted]

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I had the option to downvote, because thinly veiled homophobia is really a disgusting thing to see on a supposedly enlightened site. As if straight people don’t sleep around and have drug-fueled sex parties. And my god, swingers were and are a thing - as if gay men have a monopoly on getting laid. The behavior is not rampant in the gay community; “they” do not have drug-fueled sex parties and fuck for days; th…

> seriously, it’s straight outta the 70s I felt like I was re-hearing a church youth pastor sermon from 1985 reading the parent comment.

Dude, i dont have those views of gayness. How about you go to a spa with your kids and unawares you see a gay orgy. I didnt say a thing because of my kids and because i didnt want to to be the gay hater you’re talking about. But yeah, use that bigot label carelessly and it will mean nothing

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#70
post #64
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly was not trying to offend or trivialize anything: my only point, as best as I can distill it, is that people react irrationally and inappropriately to infectious diseases. And we need to work on that. This is not at all unique to HIV/AIDS, even though people suffering from AIDS have born the brunt of the actual suffering. If we can’t have open, rational discussions about HSV, how can we do the same with HIV? E…

I understand the point you were trying to get across. Many STIs have substantial stigma around them and it makes it harder to fight them. I just want to caution you that making these forms of equivalences is a common tactic to derail and discount the impact of HIV or the experience of populations disproportionately harmed, in the same way that people derail discussions about the disproportionate killing of black peop…

MiroF - I (could not initially) reply to your comment directly, but that was a perfect analogy to make your point. I can definitely see how my first comment could be taken that way, and that was not at all my intention. As with many things, I gotta work on my contextual phrasing and presentation!
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