duuuuude.....lol Should people be held responsible for their irresponsible behavior? Should smokers be called courageous for fighting an inevitable cancer? Of course not! AIDS is the United States is being spread mainly through irresponsible behavior- you can't deny this fact. HIV could be controlled EASILY, but the gay community won't cooperate. I want people who have unprotected sex to be shamed and stigmatized. Instead, our society asks us to wear red ribbons and honor these "victims". Enough!!! Hold these people accountable, and the AIDS transmission rates will plummet.
Seriously responding to this thread: Please re-read both of Mrs JB's posts again and again. They pretty much dispell the nonsense about this being about responsibility, and accountability. And since when do we refuse treatment, or research into treatment because of an assignment of blame? If someone is hurt, even if doing something foolish, we try to cure them. Don't forget, A.I.D.S is also transferred by intravenous drug use, and blood transfusions. It's not just about them gays. While it may be true some gay men, especially the club scene party boys, may be very promiscuous, others are not. This has not been one of the boards more compasionate threads.
johnheath -- i understand your call for personal responsibility. i really do. but people do make mistakes...sometimes with grave consequences. it only takes one inopportune mistake to transmit this deadly disease. again...where does the finger-pointing get us? what does it solve? we simply can't point our collective index finger at a dying man and say, "ha, ha..you're getting what you deserve." i can not do that...no matter what the cost. instead of playing the blame game, i'd rather be finding a cure...for everyone, no matter how they got this disease.
should my girlfriend's friend's mom be blamed for getting HIV? for the love of god just answer that one question
did you even read what i wrote before? she was dating a guy for six months who had HIV and didn't tell her.
Sorry, I did read your post, but I am doing 5 things at once. When I started dating my wife, we abstained from ANY unprotected sexual contact until we saw the results of our HIV tests. We acted responsibly, but your girlfriend's mother acted irresponsibly. It is her fault is she contracted HIV, and her story should be told to young people so fewer people suffer these same consequences for not thinking clearly.
you do know it's a crime to not tell someone if you have HIV/AIDS before having sex with them? it's called manslaughter.
You do know it is stupid to have unprotected sex with somebody without having them tested? Take responsibility for your actions, and you won't find yourself in these kinds of messes.
ok so say you're wife had HIV and a condom busted on you and you got infected wouldn't you have to say that your behavior of engaging in any sex before knowing whether or not she was clean was irresponsible? is it also irresponsible to assume that your wife is completely faithful to you?
Robbie, you are going off on wild tangents now. You made your point, and I made mine. Have a good day.
no i'm not....my point is that if someone doesn't tell you then that is a violation of trust. if they tell you they are clean and they are not and you trust them then how much blame do you accept? also...if you want to say it was irresponsible for her to be having sex....i don't know if it was unprotected or not...then it was also irresponsible for you to be engaging in the activity you were involved in with your wife before yall got tested.
so what are you actually proposing, heath? how do we "shame" people? we've talked a lot in theory here...but logisitically...how does this work? it seems to me there's a great deal of shame already for those who contract AIDS.
We stop spending a ridiculously disproportionate amount on the AIDS problem to start. Heart disease should be our number one concern. We, as a society, should also view AIDS in America as a completely preventable disease that is only contracted through irresponsible behavior. The message needs to be sent loudly and clearly that if you contract HIV, you screwed up, and society will not coddle you.
ok...so we stop all federal funds going towards aids research?? or just some?? and how do we send loud, clear messages in a free society? do we pass legislation regarding this? how do we as a society shame dying AIDS patients? is this a government thing?
You have to know that's completely unreaslitic and bogus. Anyone who gets mono is stupid for not having people tested before kissing, anyone who gets E Coli is stupid for not having that food tested, anyone who trips on the sidewalk is stupid for not being more careful... lol.
Did you wait 6 months after your previous sexual encounter to get tested? Because if you didn't then a negative test result does not necessarily mean that you are HIV-free. You said unprotected so I'm guessing you did have so-called safe sex with her before getting tested? What if the condom broke and you had infected her? Does faulty latex absolve you of responsibility? You are chastising the whole "homosexual community" when half of that group is the least likely of anyone to get HIV. The U.S. has the highest rate of unintended teen pregnancy in the developed world with over 1 million per year. That is a lot of "irresponsible" straight couples. Is their behavior any different than those who you want to shame? For those of you here who don't care about HIV and don't want the government to find a cure, I hope that no female in your life ever gets raped because even if she doesn't contract the disease from the guy she will have to go through the drug treatment and go through the torture of not knowing her HIV status for 6 months. And you better hope you never go to prison because HIV rates in prisons are 5 to 6 times that in the general population. Nobody is "100% safe" from this epidemic and if you really believe that then you are fooling yourself.
We force them to wear a big, red "A" on their clothing, right John? You tell em! "The 'A' will stand for AIDS! Man, this is clever! There's no doubt in my mind that this will benefit our society in the long run! John, your answer to this problem sounds like something a child would come up with. Its similar in stupidity to something like, "We ought to fire machine guns at whoever tries to cross the Rio Grande into our country... if you find an illegal immigrant then shoot em. After all, they don't have any rights as citizens and they are trespassing on OUR God given property! They knew they weren't allowed to come in illegally so they ought to take responsibility. That sure would stop a lot of our illegal immigration problems because they'll know that we MEAN BUISNESS!" Who knew? The way to solve all our problems is to get TOUGH on it! Lets get tough on drugs! Get tough on crime. (Hang em high!) Get tough on AIDS. Get tough on gays. Get tough on those who don't wear sunscreen! (Because isn't it common sense?) Getting TOUGH seems to have worked on just about everything in the past, johnheath. What do you think of my red 'A' idea? Nothing brings more humiliation than wearing a big 'A' around town! I just wish you could come up with such insightful wisdom on a daily basis john.
instead of targeting positive people against their will, why not have a voluntary system that identifies negative people? For example: a HIV negative ID card that you can show to a prospective sexual partner the last time you tested negative. To get a new ID card you would have to get tested every 3 months. The cards would have expiration dates on them and if you test positive they don't give you a new one. Of course there would be some people who create fake cards but with the marking plan there is also room for fraud (tattoo removal). If the person you want to sleep with doesn't have a card or her last test date was too long ago for your liking then you have the option of not sleeping with them.
i wasn't actually being serious...more of a reaction from what i have seen with some of these people who are infected and don't care about others and if they catch HIV or not. but anyhow...the problem with your plan is that would imply the person getting the card is responsible enough to get tested. these people who are already infected and don't tell people don't care and wouldn't bother with it.
