Joe, Why should a list avoid passion and experience?
REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Gichuki" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 2:38 AM Subject: RE: [Futurework] Stephen Lewis has one word for us: Help > I read the post below with amazement. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought > the author was trying to put a retro logic point across. I thought it was a > pathetic attempt at levity. But there was no punchline. > > I concluded, as one English gentleman said, that "being a gentleman, I would > not say what I think of you, and my secretary, being a lady, would not type > it, but you, being neither, will know exactly what I mean!" > > Mr Pollard is actually technically incorrect when he attempts to be > technical. It is possible (and there are documented cases) of people > catching infections from vaccines. AIDS without HIV isn't AIDS. Immune > deficiency does occur congenitally and it is called (naturally) CIDS. There > is no proof as yet to suggest that one can survive indefinitely with the HIV > virus. > > But the phenomenally obscene assertion or implication that the AIDS problem > is a scam designed to rob well meaning American and European taxpayers of > their hard earned sympathy dollars is so disgusting I wonder if it merits > the dignity of a reply. Get this Mr Pollard, we die of malaria in Kenya > because we can't afford the full course of (one dose) treatment that costs > less than one US dollar. More people die of malaria than of AIDS even now. > And yet sixty (that's right sixty) percent of the patients taking up our > hospital beds are AIDS patients. Not "people with antibodies," I'm afraid, > but people who are skeletal, wasted and unlikely to make next month. We no > longer "know someone who heard of someone" around here. We all have both > friends and relatives who have died and are dying. It is a raging epidemic > and Mr Lewis' fury and frustration are, to say the least, warranted. > > I am sure rural Africans would be surprised to learn that they need to be > taught how to feed themselves. It just so happens that "market forces", as > Mr Pollard describes them, have led to the phenomenon of farmers in our > grain basket district of Uasin Gishu refusing to grow more maize, and > thousands of tons of their maize rotting because they can't get a price that > covers their costs, while two hundred miles to the south, other farmers sit > in the dust waiting for relief food imported by WFP and distributed by the > government which can't afford to pay for the Uasin Gishu maize. (Well > actually they could but corrupt government officials have made that a whole > new problem.) > > All we need is a revisionist armchair intellectual. Pretty soon he will > prove that statistically, since Africans comprise less than one tenth of the > world's population, AIDS isn't even a human problem. Car crashes in the west > kill far more people. > > We need help here. This is not a scam. The solutions that people come up > with from the comfort of a study in California may even be well meaning - > (though quite frankly I don't see that in this case - I see a donor fatigued > Westerner who probably never actually made a donation) - but they do not > begin to deal with the fullness of a tragedy such as AIDS. > > I know this kind of heat is not generally recommended for a list like this > one and I shall probably regret my rashness by the end of the day - in which > case I seek your forgiveness and forbearance in advance. But right now, I'm > really mad!! > > Joe Gichuki > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: 10 January, 2003 1:40 AM > To: Brian McAndrews; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Stephen Lewis has one word for us: Help > > > Brian, > > One's heart goes out to Stephen Lewis, but he is probably the worst person > to be in charge of an AIDS project in Africa. > > Some time ago, I said to Karen (I think) that anger and other emotions can > get you started on attacking a social wrong. These emotions are also useful > when you are actually doing things that will have an effect. > > However, in between, you have to think what to do. Then emotion is the > enemy. You really must think clearly if your activism is later to have any > point. > > If Stephen thought more about the problem (though I concede, his reported > actions may be intended for propaganda than the actual problem) he might > remember some things about AIDS. > > AIDS is a behavioral disease. It isn't easy to catch, but heavy frequency > of sexual intercourse will raise your chance of catching it. (The number > used to be > 500 contacts as opposed to gonorrhea and syphilis with numbers of 1 and 2 > contacts.) > > This is why it was noticed first with homosexuals who not only frequently > connected, but they used drugs to enhance their natural abilities (before > viagra). For a year or two, AIDS patients in LA were reported in the LA > Times every month. > > Invariably, more than 90% were homosexuals, some more were bi-sexual, a few > were hemophiliacs and others. The Times no longer prints the figures. > > Probably because a new statistic is added. HIV is included in a the > HIV/AIDS figures. You are tested for HIV by checking the antibodies in the > blood. If you have them, you have HIV. If you had a polio shot, your body > would be full of antibodies. Does this mean you have polio? Of course not. > > I should mention that the real test for AIDS is expensive and not > straightforward, so it tends rarely to be done. If you test positive for > HIV, it is assumed you have AIDS, are about to get AIDS, or will eventually > get AIDS. Actually, there is AIDS without HIV and a veritable landslide of > HIV patients without AIDS. > > Nevertheless, we combine the HIV/AIDS numbers to get disaster figures. > > Further, if someone has pneumonia, he has pneumonia. If he has pneumonia > and he has HIV - he has AIDS. (I have forgotten the listing of "AIDS" > diseases. They keep increasing. I seem to remember they lately included > cervical cancer!) > > In this way everyone who is seriously ill in Africa can expect to be marked > down as an AIDS casualty. The mere fact that money is available will raise > this figure. If I was an overworked African doctor and knew money was > available for AIDS patients, all my patients would quickly have AIDS. (The > two basic assumptions - remember?) > > This is why after a $92 billion expenditure, there appears to be not one > person cured of AIDS. No simple vaccine, or something, has been found for a > quick fix. As this is the way things go, it is likely that all this money > has prevented alternative and possibly more hopeful research from occurring. > > I should add that although getting HIV isn't going to kill you - continuing > the behavior that got you the HIV may well do so. Hey! That proves HIV is > responsible for AIDS! > > In today's LA Times, Stephen cried for the little kids "weakened by hunger, > ravaged by AIDS". Could hunger be responsible for the poor health of the > little kids? Even if they were fed, could they change their adult behavior > away from numerous sexual contacts? > > Stephen, the socialist, wants food supplied for the hungry. Perhaps the > free market attitude would be to provide them with seed so they can feed > themselves. We should load the UN groups up with people who can teach them > to feed themselves. > > A study in England - I think by Birmingham University, but I'm unsure, > found that at 12 houses to the acre, British back yard gardens produced as > much food in retail value as if the land was free of houses and in the > hands of a farmer or smallholder. > > Or let's continue to use toxic AZT to treat the dying AIDS patient. It does > make you feel you're making a difference. > > Harry > > > ****************************** > Harry Pollard > Henry George School of LA > Box 655 > Tujunga CA 91042 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tel: (818) 352-4141 > Fax: (818) 353-2242 > ******************************* > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
