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bovinerebel
Joined: 27 Feb 2008
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 Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:25 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
I gave this topic a little knockaround down in the CE forum.
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?p=1679347
I did some research into how the epidemiological surveys of Africa were being done. I discovered that the World Bank does diagnosis by symptom. Also, the World Bank has their researchers attach HIV to any TB case.
Anyways, I've been around this bush with people dozens of times. Typically, after I get annoyed with people who have not researched the issue beyond headline reading I just email them this picture from the University of Washington.
http://depts.washington.edu/hivaids/images/post/post_c5_d01.gif
How in the hell is is possible that 30% of a population has HIV when it is that difficult to get. Nonsense.
HIV causes AIDS, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. A poor immune system. Many of the symptoms of AIDS are very similar to the outcomes of being dirt poor. If you don't have clean drinking water, access to sanitary tools, clean food, medicine of any kind and you shit near where you eat/sleep you will get a poor immune system. We are over diagnosing HIV significantly in Africa and it is easy to see why. Some of the money we are spending on HIV would be better spent focusing on other projects. Diagnosing by symptoms and applying rates in at-risk groups to the wider society is leading to an improper allocation of medical and development cash. Dogma, and an improper way of measuring the likely number of infections are doing a great deal of harm.
Here are two articles, one from the Rolling Stone and the other from the Spectator.
http://www.whatisaids.com/rollingstone.htm
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/11032/africa-isnt-dying-of-aids.thtml
| Quote: |
Cover Story
Africa isn�t dying of Aids
Rian Malan
Saturday, 13th December 2003
The headline figures are horrible: almost 30 million Africans have HIV/Aids. But, says Rian Malan, the figures are computer-generated estimates and they appear grotesquely exaggerated when set against population statistics |
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Sometimes it's hard to get by. You think you are the only sane and rational person in the world and then someone like this comes around. Awesome. The fact these idiots are asking us for proof when they are making the absurd claims that just don't meet reality is too rich. I'd like to buy you a drink sometime and share ideas. |
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bovinerebel
Joined: 27 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:34 am Post subject: |
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Thank you for this...
http://www.whatisaids.com/rollingstone.htm
It's my story too. so cathartic to read articles like this. It's been a 4 year long battle for me and finally to see people joining in is amazing. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:38 am Post subject: |
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| bovinerebel wrote: |
| Sometimes it's hard to get by. You think you are the only sane and rational person in the world and then someone like this comes around. Awesome. The fact these idiots are asking us for proof when they are making the absurd claims that just don't meet reality is too rich. I'd like to buy you a drink sometime and share ideas. |
It is like anything else. Humans are evolutionarily inclined towards respecting authority. I'm sure that there are a great many things that I believe to be true, and haven't gone about trying to falsify, that are quite properly wrong.
In this case, I find the dogma totally inappropriate. We have a finite amount of medical/development dollars with which to spend on uplift. This improper allocation of funds is certainly a historic mistake.
Should I roll through Korea again, Ill take you up on your offer of beer. |
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bovinerebel
Joined: 27 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| bovinerebel wrote: |
| Sometimes it's hard to get by. You think you are the only sane and rational person in the world and then someone like this comes around. Awesome. The fact these idiots are asking us for proof when they are making the absurd claims that just don't meet reality is too rich. I'd like to buy you a drink sometime and share ideas. |
It is like anything else. Humans are evolutionarily inclined towards respecting authority. I'm sure that there are a great many things that I believe to be true, and haven't gone about trying to falsify, that are quite properly wrong.
In this case, I find the dogma totally inappropriate. We have a finite amount of medical/development dollars with which to spend on uplift. This improper allocation of funds is certainly a historic mistake.
Should I roll through Korea again, Ill take you up on your offer of beer. |
I don't buy the excuses. It's pure intellectual laziness. Maybe I have the advantage of living in africa , but even the most superficial overview of this issue should be able to throw it into a more sane light. It's not just the wasting of funds that's problematic , it's the fact that the fear mongering stops people with perfectly treatable conditions such as TB from seeking medical help , and causes huge amount of stress which kills them. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.
Our minister of health suggested our black people eat more vegitables instead of their diet of maize and meat. Her name was throw around the media as if she was insane. The fact is her plan of introducing vitamins into the peoples diet would have saved countless lives. Thabo Mbeki (a highly intelligent man with the utmost respect for the scientific method) was called a "loony" for just trying to look at the issue hollistically. This type of over the top reaction to perfectly sensible and rational perspectives by the media suggest that there are stake holders at play insmearing anyone who proposes we need to look at the issue alternatively.
Whether their agenda is as sinister as population control , or financial gain , or mere ignorance we can't be sure. That's neither here nor there , the problem is that regular people need to open their freaking eyes and stop this fear mongering and nonsense , or they are guilty of being complacent to murder. And when that's the case I lose my patience with peoples penchant to follow "authority". |
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