It’s true that we don’t know what we don’t know until we know it. That’s why I can, in a manner of speaking, “see” how people who have never been through an epidemic before might hold certain ignorant views. But rejecting wholesale the experience of others who’ve been through epidemics previously is just downright stupid.
Those pathetic man-children at Michigan’s Capitol Building recently showing up with AK47s? What the fuck? What do guns have to do with Covid19? Nothing.
And unhinged maskless crowds taking to the streets demanding that the economy “open back up”? What these protesting fools are in reality demanding is that the owners of places of recreation they themselves patronize—namely gyms, stores, restaurants and sports venues— compel their vulnerable employees to return to work at an unlivable wage and put themselves and their families at risk so as to service the profoundly selfish, bored and restless sadlings who after 6 weeks of staying inside are so abjectly lacking in any genuine life purpose that they are losing their tiny minds. “The Greatest Generation” they are not, and never will be.
For 15 FUCKING YEARS gay men hunkered down, social distanced, lost their businesses, STOPPED HAVING SEX, and buried in many cases HUNDREDS of their best friends, customers, doctors, nurses, EMTs, neighbors, service people and beloved life partners while the government LITERALLY LAUGHED at the AIDS EPIDEMIC. (watch the video below for the Reagan Administration’s jaw-dropping hilarious “response”)
When it was made clear by our own US Government that they had no intention of providing any emergent response to the AIDS epidemic, even after thousands had already died—in direct contradiction to that same government’s LUNATIC frantic emergency response to fighting Legionaire’s Disease after only 12 people had died—gay doctors, gay scientists, gay politicians, and gay and gay-friendly celebrities rallied and stepped up to do it all themselves.
As of 2020 there is no cure for AIDS, but gay men still must do what needs to be done EVERY SINGLE DAY. Gays who are HIV-negative take a prescription drug DAILY called PREP to prevent acquiring AIDS. Those who are HIV-positive take a prescription drug DAILY called TRUVADA to manage the disease and keep from spreading it to others, but most significantly, to keep themselves from getting sick and dying. Blood must be drawn and tested every few months. Habits or activities that compromise the immune system are voluntarily curtailed.
Gays know what transmits AIDS and how to prevent its spreading—and adhere to the guidelines, just like everyone today knows what transmits Covid19 and how to prevent its spreading, but instead rebel against the guidelines.
Our leading political crybabies who have proven to possess no understanding at all regarding contagion, are proposing that the lives of people (other than themselves), especially older people, are expendable. And if they themselves happen to infect others because of their refusal to wear a mask or gloves because such preventive measures impinge on their “personal freedom,” then that’s just how the cookie crumbles, right? And just like “straight” people once believed that they wouldn’t get AIDS because they weren’t gay, and then were proven literally dead wrong about that, younger people today absurdly believe they won’t get Covid19—or spread it to others—because they’re “healthy” and because, you know, only old people get it, bro’.
President Reagan and his White House gang thought the AIDS epidemic was hilarious: just listen.
I don't know how to express my thanks and admiration for your entire post here on this issue. You have expressed, so accurately, the history of the AIDS pandemic and the brave individuals in the gay community who did what had to be done to deal with this horror, in the face of overwhelming odds. This is contrasted to the "Snowflakes" upset about easy mitigating types of behavior (masks, social distancing, etc.) to deal with Covid. Thank you so much.
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