The AIDS Epidemic: Where Did It All Begin?

Of all the theories on the origin of AIDS presented in class so far, I feel the most plausible is the “colonization theory”, on which author Jim Moore elaborates in a 2000 edition journal called AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. In this publishing he explores the possibility of HIV having been transmitted through large colonization efforts by the French in Africa, where many Africans were forced to work in labor camps under harsh, unsanitary conditions. This scenario opens a door to many possibilities for how the disease could have emerged, and, seeing as much a lot of evidence exists that indicates HIV came from SIV in chimps, most (if not all) of them seem fairly believable!

In contrast, the theory that seems least plausible to me would probably be either the “conspiracy theory” or the “oral Polio vaccine (OPV)” theory. The OPV theory makes some interesting points, but at the same time it has yet to be proven and because of this seems a little far-fetched. Similarly, I have a hard time believing that one of the world’s most powerful governments has fabricated a virus like HIV just to attack minority groups. Wouldn’t it make sense that any group as powerful and advanced as the CIA would probably be smart enough to realize the virus would have potential to spread to people outside of the targeted groups and, hence, put everyone else in danger, too? Over anything else, the conspiracy theory seems to be just another wild idea sprouted from racial groups that have been oppressed in one way or another. Apparently, we as humans tend to play the “blame-game” a little too often for our own good.

In any case, I feel it is important for us to get to the bottom of all this. If we stand any chance in eradicating HIV/AIDS in the future, we first need to understand the disease in its entirety, including where and how it originated. Once the history of it is revealed, we will not only be able to move forward in finding a cure, but might even be able to prevent similar diseases from emerging in the future.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

In her published article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack", Peggy McIntosh presents the idea of unspoken advantages that benefit many, if not all, majority groups here in the US. The main example she describes here is that of the white ethnic group--according to McIntosh, white-skinned people don't often realize how much they oppress those of other ethnic groups, because the American society surrounding them encourages whites to think their mentality and way of life is commonplace for everyone. Because white people represent such a vast majority of the United States population, they often take for granted certain privileges that most other racial groups are not fortunate enough to have. The author goes on to relate this scenario to men's tendancy for recognizing the disadvantages women must face and how, even after becoming aware of their sexual dominance, men do nothing to better the situation because it would mean sacrificing some of their unearned power. In any case, we as people need to acknowledge when we have been given an unfair advantage. Only when certain dominating groups voluntarily sacrifice will the issue of equality in our society improve.

Peggy McIntosh makes many interesting points; however, I only agree with them to a certain extent. I agree that people should recognize the privileges they have been given in their lives and learn to use them to better society as a whole; however, I do not think that any fortunate person should have to make sacrifices just because others may not find themselves so lucky. All throughout the article Peggy implies that the solution to eradicating this form of racism is for privileged people to recognize that they have an unfair advantage and for them to “step down” a bit, so undermined groups will have a better shot at success. Personally, I feel like this is the completely wrong way to go about it. Shouldn’t we as privileged citizens be helping those with fewer advantages rise up? After all, people with power were the ones to build this country in the beginning—who’s to say the same sort of thing can’t happen with people? True, power only exists when certain groups are dominated, but if we unite as a country we will have even more power as a nation that we can put to use towards bettering the world in which we live. In other words, powerful groups that exist here in the US should do everything they can to help others rise up as well—this wouldn’t mean losing their privileges so long as citizens of our country make a team effort to help out the rest of the world.

One of the main reasons HIV/AIDS is so prevalent in other countries is because of misinformation/confusion on the topic. For example, some groups believe the disease was fabricated by whites to get rid of “unappealing” groups; other individuals think they cannot get it because they are not homosexual. All these false assumptions need to be eliminated before AIDS can be countered—and the United States, along with any other privileged country, should do its part in educating others. Educating is the first step to prevention and, hopefully eventually, eradication of this disease. To do this we must identify each and every system of oppression (not just limit it to race), eliminate them, and then use the newly-obtained energy for good. All in all, teamwork is the key.

So You Think You Know AIDS?

Now that I think about it, I really don’t know that much about HIV. Various sources have taught me that it is an immune deficiency virus that attacks white blood cells in humans, and that the disease in general is still quite young. I also know that HIV can be spread through the blood and through semen, but not through saliva. The virus is not airborne. Once infected, and person can live with HIV for years as it slowly breaks down their immune system. Once a certain point in this “breakdown” is reached, this same infected person is said to have AIDS, and usually will usually die not long after.

The majority of my knowledge on AIDS has come from classes I’ve taken in school, but outside sources have contributed to my view of it as well. For instance, the first time I ever heard the term “AIDS” was when my father explained to me what it was when I was about four years old. Later on, media sources such as TV, radio and magazines also helped inform me about it, as did many of my peers. As for the H312, I was surprised to learn how many cultures seem to not even believe in the disease at all! Therefore I am really curious to hear more about how other cultures around the world view it. In addition, I would like to learn more about recent advancements in AIDS treatments as well as how the disease takes its course (in more detail).

Knowledge is power! ;)

Heterosexism and HIV

Cases of systematic oppression can be found all throughout history. With continuum of time the type of oppressive system usually changes as well, but the same basic patterns can be seen again and again. Put simply, larger, more powerful groups in society will view themselves as superior based on their majority-rules mentality. Moreover, the often-skewed opinions of these groups tend to become more encouraged when various stereotypes come into play. Sure, most existing stereotypes have some level of truth to them (if they didn't, where would they have come from in the first place?), but then again they can only tell us so much about a certain group of people before they become unreliable.

A prime example of what is described above is oppressive heterosexism, at least when it comes to dealing with the AIDS epidemic. Even before the emergence of HIV, homosexuals endured a never-ending amount of stigma and oppression because they were a well-defined minority (on a global perspective), and because the church largely influenced the opinions of people in society when it came to sexual orientation. In other words, the homosexual community was already worldly looked-down on before HIV even came into the picture. Then when it appeared that the only HIV cases resided in gay men, the oppression was further encouraged.

It seems to me that the blame for heterosexism should be placed on global ignorance. For instance, AIDS was originally called GRIDS--"Gay Related Immune Definciency Syndrome"--because society had no idea what actually caused the disease and didn't know it could be spread to women and innocent children as well. Thus, with no evidence to disprove the stereotypical theories people were free to blame the AIDS outbreak on the gay lifestyle, assuming it was the result of "bad morals". Since the discovery of the HIV virus and how it works the oppression against the non-straight community has lessoned some--at least in the United States--but unfortunately we still have a way to go because a lot of the stigma with gay men and AIDS still exists today. If more people knew more about the disease and how it is spread (or, rather, prevented), I feel the number of annual cases could decrease. People seem to be becoming more educated here in our country, so to better the current situation the world's best bet would be to reach out to poorer countries that might not know as much as they should. Prevent one case, and you will prevent many more!