On Tue, February 2, 1999 at 10:21:06 (-0500) Doug Henwood writes:
>Michael Perelman wrote:
>
>>The disease metaphor worked because diseases do not always respect such
>>barriers.
>>
>>Doug Henwood wrote:
>>
>>> Build gated communities?
>
>No they don't but I think you're underestimating the preference of the
>privileged to insulate themselves as much as possible from a problem rather
>than facing it head on. From the first, the response to AIDS has been to
>ignore its threat to "normal" (i.e., affluent white suburbanites) people,
>and stigmatize it as a disease of queers, junkies, and racial minorities.
>Unless lots of people in Scarsdale and Topeka start falling ill, the
>"normal" people will continue to believe this and act accordingly. I'm
>sorry to repeat myself on this to the point of boredom, but most
>intellectuals overestimate the power of reason in politics.
I'm not sure I follow. You say the "privileged" would rather
"insulate themselves" from the AIDS problem "rather than facing it
head on". I agree. Why bother with a disease you think only affects
"others", particularly when you are privileged ("affluent white
suburbanites") and can live a life of isolated ease? However, I don't
see how your last sentence follows from this. First, how does it
follow, and second, what exactly do you mean? Who exactly are you
referring to and could you give us an example?
I'm cautious about batting about terms like "reason" when coupled with
"politics". Expecting people to behave "reasonably", that is, in ways
which would help, say, the most number of people, would save our
resources, would provide goods and services more efficiently and
safely, etc., given current institutional structure is, well, quite
unreasonable. However, given the institutional structure, I think
many of the choices made, perhaps most, are quite "reasonable". I
think that most people are capable of reasoning fairly well --- they
know enough not to pay much attention to politics and to leave it to
the ten or fifteen percent of people who can afford to purchase
participation in it.
Bill
