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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

#71

Post by qubex »

drewbug01 wrote: post #17
etrabroline wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

> 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…

Funnily enough, in Italy (where I grew up) there was next to no association in the public mind between HIV/AIDS and homosexuality. It was linked to drug use and sexual promiscuity, but it was drilled into us that any kind of unprotected sex (and for most people, that was automatically construed as heterosexual sex) was a risky behaviour.

I was honestly very surprised when, towards the end of the nineties and early 2000s, it gradually dawned upon me that elsewhere there was a connotation of HIV/AIDS as having been somehow associated with homosexuality ‘abroad’.

For us, in Italy, it was very much perceived as an activity-related risk, not an identity-related one. (As I dare say it should be, methinks.)

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

#72

Post by drewbug01 »

dolgo wrote: post #55
drewbug01 wrote: post #17

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…

I have to say, you are really good at calling people names when you don’t agree with their views. You’ve made a terrific straw man out of the poster above. Obviously, they were referring to reckless, unprotected sex with many, many partners. Yet you chose to interpret it as a single sex act. You’ve gone all through this thread calling people out for having views that are different than yours. Maybe try practicing the…

> I have to say, you are really good at calling people names when you don’t agree with their views. You’ve made a terrific straw man out of the poster above. Obviously, they were referring to reckless, unprotected sex with many, many partners. Yet you chose to interpret it as a single sex act.

You misread my comment. I'm well aware that the poster was referring to reckless, unprotected sex with many, many partners. What I'm yelling about is the assumption that all gay men do that, which was a statement they explicitly made. No reading into necessary.

> Yet you chose to interpret it as a single sex act

A strawman involves setting up an argument that wasn't made, and then knocking it down. Ironically, that's exactly what your statement does. I didn't interpret their statement as referring to a single sex act, I reminded them that HIV transmission is not only through rampant, unprotected sex.

> You’ve gone all through this thread calling people out for having views that are different than yours. Maybe try practicing the tolerance you preach?

I don't know if it's cliche to quote the paradox of tolerance yet, but I can't stand by while people make ugly comments about my community under the guise of rationality.

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

#73

Post by redis_mlc »

drewbug01 wrote: post #43
Scaevolus wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transmission rates vary widely by sex act. 2/3 of transmissions in the US are between homosexual men. It's not homophobia to observe that some populations are at more risk from HIV.

You’re right. But the homophobia isn’t in the statistics (which the commenter didn’t provide, anyways). The homophobia was in the comments about “destructive lifestyles” and stating that it was because of rampant sexual partners. As I stated, you only have to have sex once (and I don’t believe that statement is controversial) to contract HIV. Please examine your own biases, because if your takeaway from the comment t…

There's no need for the SJW act. Everything said in the previous comments was reported in the press of the day, and you can find stats on those topics.

I suppose one lesson from then was that telling people how to behave doesn't work, even if their life is at stake.

Having said that, the question is, "What can we learn from the AIDS epidemic to apply to corona today?"

Sure, Reagan was slow in tackling AIDS, but it turned out that developing drugs for AIDS was really hard, and I'd estimate it took a decade to get major progress.

So either we get lucky with corona, and it takes 18 months for an approved drug, or we don't find one. It's hard to make policy when you have 2 opposite answers like that.

Corona is an airborne disease, and AIDS wasn't. That's a big difference, and I suspect for the US, where corona testing and tracing is a failure, that herd immunity is the best we'll get for an airborne virus with 95-98% non-fatal results. People are reluctant to accept that though.

Speaking of behavior, California just made an edict today that everybody has to wear a mask outside home at all times.

AFAIK the US doesn't have enough supply of masks, so I guess we're all reusing them daily?

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

#74

Post by fennecfoxen »

sn41 wrote: post #14
bluetwo wrote: 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.

It's disturbing that we are being told to learn to live with the virus when there is such a high risk of contraction.

Insofar as you are being told this, the reason you are being told is the high risk of contraction.

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

#75

Post by drewbug01 »

tacheiordache wrote: post #69
mgkimsal wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

It's the rest of the comment that's the problem (not the bathhouse bit).

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

#76

Post by drewbug01 »

tacheiordache wrote: post #66
mgkimsal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> So, some of that stuborness in behaviour is something rampant in the gay community. They have for example, drug fueled parties and have continuous sex for days. The gay scene is doing itself a disservice by turning a blind eye on this and promoting hypersexuality at the expense of its health. I understand it’s found its freedom recently but they gotta get their shit together

That is the problem with your comment and the subject of all the replies. I don't think anyone here takes issue with you being upset that you stumbled onto an orgy, my friend.

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

#77

Post by fortran77 »

redis_mlc wrote: post #6
klmadfejno wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The white house lawn comment sounds powerful. But I don't see any evidence it actually happened. Right?

I followed the AIDS crisis in the newspaper from Day One, starting with one-inch long columns about "mysterious purple lesions called Kaposi's sarcoma" to shrines with hundreds of photos occupying whole sections. The similarity with corona in 2020 is that so little was known, but for years, not months. The difference was that AIDS was 100% fatal until drugs were developed, and AIDS killed a generation of young adults…

Isaac Asimov was so embarrassed to have contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion that it wasn't mentioned 'til after his death.

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

#78

Post by 77pt77 »

interestica wrote: post #16

"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.

This is an amazing piece of history.

Human nature at its most unfiltered.

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

#79

Post by fortran77 »

drewbug01 wrote: post #17
etrabroline wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

> 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…

Exactly. One of the biggest risk factors for COVID-19 is obesity. (See https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid... )

Is our government demanding that people whose lifetyle makes them obese or overweight pay for the cost of the coronavirus epidemic?

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

#80

Post by MiroF »

NoSorryCannot wrote: post #42
tacheiordache wrote: post #18

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…

Thank you for being tolerant. I extend the same tolerance to you even though one time I saw a homeless man having sex with a homeless woman on a public riverbank. I try very hard every day to not assume everyone is homeless. Kind of my way of keeping a chipper attitude for the sake of the kids.

Disgusting that heterosexual people tend to behave in such an indecent way.
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