Vote for the one eyed witch doctor!

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Comments

[bikinisquad3000.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so I was just reading about how monkey lung samples used for an experimental hepatitis medication were the more likely way AIDS was introduced to the U.S. gay community out of seemingly nowhere, and this Patient Zero story (the real version I mean, the flight attendant banging everything that moves even after knowing something is seriously wrong with him) isn't even accurate but was more a dramatic device created to make 'And the Band Played On' read better. That gift keeps on giving I see.

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

Where did you read that? About the lung samples, I mean.

[bikinisquad3000.livejournal.com]

It was on Queerty and basically unsourced so I'm taking it with a grain of salt, let me tell you, but it didn't exactly strike me as implausible.

http://www.queerty.com/how-people-with-hiv-became-the-new-suicide-bombers-20140409/

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

The reason I asked was because I remember reading that HIV made an appearance in the late '50s, but no one knew what it was back then. I can't remember where I read about it, but it emerged first from primate medical samples and careless lab practices - More than once.

My memory is so awful though, I could have been reading about something else entirely.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

isn't even accurate but was more a dramatic device created to make 'And the Band Played On' read better

Shilts based that on the best CDC research up to that time, and that study was published. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6608269)

[bikinisquad3000.livejournal.com]

I'm talking more about the details like this:

As the story goes, [the] energetic Dugas spent lots of time in the very early 1980s getting laid in practically every city with an airport, even after learning he had the mysterious new “gay cancer.” He wanted to go out with a bang, the book claimed, and he didn’t particularly care who he might infect in the process. The book repeated rumors that after sex with bath house tricks Dugas would point out his skin lesions and then announce, “now you have it.”
The only problem is that the story isn’t true. Two years ago, the book’s editor admitted the narrative needed a “literary device” and had encouraged Shilts to create the epidemic’s first “AIDS monster.” The scandalous sex life of Gaetan Dugas fit the bill nicely. Dugas died in 1984, never having the opportunity to answer his accusers regarding his alleged behaviors. After Dugas’ death, CDC data made it clear that HIV was being spread in the United States long before Dugas was around.

It's here: http://www.queerty.com/how-people-with-hiv-became-the-new-suicide-bombers-20140409/

[telemann.livejournal.com]

One of the first epidemiologists to research HIV on the ground in San Francisco was Dr. Selma Dritz (she was the assistant director of SF's Health Department's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control.). She personally interviewed 100s of people to get the epistemological origin of the outbreak. She recounted hearing from bath house patrons exactly what Dugas is reported to have said in Shilt's book. And she specifically mentioned that for an interview. Time marker 8:00

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/patient-zero/

And sure while the CDC years later knew HIV had been in the United States before Dugas, he was nonetheless responsible for infecting a lot people after he was aware he was infected.

[bikinisquad3000.livejournal.com]

Shrug. Having sex with a guy and then saying "now you've got it" while pointing to his lesions is not what she describes in the interview, but it's certainly close. As I said (not in a reply to you in fairness), I was taking the Queerty post with a grain of salt, they're not exactly bastions of journalistic integrity. I've been trying to find the actual statement from the editor of the book that's referenced there, since that would really clear up what they were saying happened in the book's writing, and so far haven't.

This much—"he was nonetheless responsible for infecting a lot people after he was aware he was infected"—nobody is disputing. But the myth that he actually brought it to North America is what has people like this genius STILL saying it "came from the gay community" and blaming it on gay people not being celibate for life, or whatever it is he'd want. Would you disagree?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Shrug.
Dumb people will believe dumb things, no matter the quality of the information that is available to them. That's pretty obvious he couldn't be bothered to read a simple Wikipedia article on the subject. And seems to be really clueless on the demographics of AIDS in Africa. But even if Senator Campfield had read some good sources, I don't think he would really care, since he is clearly obsessed with gay sex, and what teenagers are doing (he sponsored a bill in Tennessee that if school councilors discovered any students were gay or mentioned they were gay, the parents were to be notified).

[bikinisquad3000.livejournal.com]

Fair point, better info wouldn't exactly help him out it seems; it sure isn't now.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Thank you both for this thread. It was like a slow motion war. Everyone was dying in a matter on months.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Sure thing. Some of that Qweerty article in the earlier link is some shitty journalism and reflective of bad science reporting. When AIDs was hitting the gay community, some of my friends were denying it even existed and were suggesting it was a big government conspiracy to stop gay sex and the gay lifestyle. A current friend still doesn't believe in HIV / AIDs. Some really dumb dumb shit. Larry Kramer was one of the leading gay political activists during that time that was trying to bring some sanity to the situation in the early 1980s by talking some shit to elected officials in New York City (Ed Koch and others) and saying some things the gay community didn't want to hear.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I know. I have friend who felt the same, but you could hardly blame them given the glowing treatment to date. And let's face it, all too many drug their heels for a variety of indefensible reasons. I admire those who fought for what was right against the darkest odds:

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

God, that was a horrible time. It arrived on whispers.