« Lady Bunny's DVD | Main | Ma, Look, I am in a "Movie" Movie! »
December 05, 2005
Wake-up People, This Isn't Your Grandmother's AIDS.
The great thing about being self employed, which I have been all my life, is that you can pretty much do whatever the fuck you want! Take today's blog for example- World AIDS day happened three days ago but I just decided to write about it today. So on AIDS day, I turned on this gay channel, I think it's called "Logo", and caught this boring, uninformative report about AIDS. It actually would have been a nice one if it had been made and aired in 1989 or even in 1995. But in 2005, this was just a dry and uninteresting recycle of information we all know about. Keep in mind: Logo is not aired in Africa. It's for American, relatively informed consumers. I can't believe that these people put together this unimportant collage, representing the AIDS epidemic in different countries, interviewing the most uninteresting individuals you can possibly imagine...like Peter Staley who got HIV in the early 80ies, then became a crystal addict and now keeps giving interviews about how he almost died from having too much of a good time. Then there was some guy with a message: Don't have unprotected sex because you will get HIV and you will die, but anyhow, get tested. His audience is African Americans --- and this guy wants them to get tested right after he assured them that they will die a horrible death if they have already caught the virus. No one was questioning him in the documentary, nobody challenged the point of view by maybe saying: It's OK to be HIV positive, get tested, there is treatment today, so don't be afraid to know your status. This is not the 80ies.
On another hand, a friend I know just sero-converted. In his words he was getting fucked, the condom broke, and his partner shot his load inside him. Three weeks later he was diagnosed with HIV. When I asked him why he didn't go to the emergency room in order to get on four weeks of medication which will kill the virus if you start taking the medication 37 hours after the exposure, he was surprised. He had never heard about this. So maybe instead of delivering on a gay channel to the gay community stuff we all know about and wasting time on overexposed recovering crystal users, maybe it would be more helpful to give some up to date tips on how to kill the virus before it is too late. And maybe to give people some hope. To send a message that living with HIV is tough. It will change your life. But it is not the end of the world. You can have a great life, be functional and creative and enjoy your time to the fullest. Those who produced this documentary should change their job. I hear there's an increasing demand for truck drivers around the holiday season anyway.
And in the name of good things like hope for the future, I hope you enjoy these hot pics of Wilfried Knight for Barcelona Nights.
Posted by Michael at December 5, 2005 05:18 PM
Comments
Thanks for the awesome pictures of Wilfried!
Posted by: Donald in Toronto at December 5, 2005 08:38 PM
Nice segue, Michael. That's a real skill.
Wilfried keeps looking better and better.
Oh, and spot-on post about that AIDS thingy, too.
Posted by: David at December 6, 2005 11:00 AM
Great post. Counterproductive incompetence is so maddening - I wonder why the words Bush administration just sprang into my mind
Posted by: pete at December 6, 2005 12:42 PM
Wow. Thanks, Michael. I've never heard of this 4 weeks of medication thing. Any other info on it. Will check it out because that should be put out there if it's all accurate. Very surprised that I haven't heard of it before. Especially living here in LA, But I gues that's Michael's exact point. Bravo!
Posted by: chris at December 6, 2005 01:47 PM
I agree with Mr. Lucas that the gay cable channel Logo sucks ( and not in a good way ). Besides airing a lot of fluff they censure the films they show! If I want "beeping" of certain words I'd stay with mainstream channels...
Posted by: Dale at December 7, 2005 05:53 PM
Great entry. I hope many people read this blog entry. Important words to read. Good for you. There are so many stories out there that just aren't being told.
Posted by: Eddie at December 7, 2005 09:48 PM