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August 24, 2006
Don't Look Away
I never do this, particularly not with my own pieces, but please read this.
August 24, 2006 | Permalink
Comments
Ezra, they are all brown people, or worse, very black, very poor, and not so many are even Christian. There is no way this country is going to spend money on eradicating AIDS, ESPECIALLY becuase it is being managed here at home. So, you see, it is no longer OUR problem, it is dirty, nasty, Africa's problem, and God knows, they deserve it. For being born black and all, don't you know.
When Pat Buchanan can get on TV saying we need to close our borders to keep our nation from becomeing brown, you know there is no longer a forum for caring about the worlds poor - who are mostly, and manifestly, not white.
Get used to it, Ezra. This is a racist, bigoted world we live in. That we sent even a paltry coupld billion $ is amazing. Now if you were talking cluster bombs, THEN you'd get some money!
Jake
Posted by: jJake - but not the one | Aug 24, 2006 12:19:29 PM
Really liked the penultimate paragraph.
Posted by: slickdpdx | Aug 24, 2006 12:36:23 PM
Whitehouse.gov
The United States Is Supporting Our Partners Through The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief. PEPFAR, the largest international health initiative dedicated to a single disease in history, is providing historic levels of support to the fight against the AIDS pandemic. This effort is designed to support and strengthen the AIDS-fighting strategies of many nations, including 15 heavily afflicted countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The President has committed $15 billion over five years to support treatment for 2 million people, support prevention for 7 million, and support care for 10 million. After two years, approximately 400,000 sub-Saharan Africans are receiving the treatment they need
Maybe Canada is giving more.
Posted by: Ron Greiner | Aug 24, 2006 12:46:51 PM
I think that your article is overall good, but you miss an important link: the link between governmental competence, confidence in government, and belief in the ability of state action to solve or ameliorate problems (including but not limited to HIV/AIDS).
It may be, from an objective perspective, that HIV/AIDS is an easier problem to ameliorate than many suspect -- that the hopelessness that many people feel regarding it is unjustified. However, who can blame people for thinking that the task is simply too monumental for people of the likes of Donald Rumsfeld or Michael Chertoff to handle after seeing the manifest incompetence in Iraq, Katrina, etc?
American -- and global -- neglect for AIDS is not the fault of Bush; his policies, per se, have probably been an improvement on Clinton's. However, the overall corruption and incompetence of his administration have lead many people to be understandably shy about undertaking big tasks.
In other words, we're kinda feeling hopeless about AIDS, becaus we're kinda feeling hopeless about pretty much everything.
Posted by: Julian Elson | Aug 24, 2006 2:55:33 PM
Ron,
Ezra's point is not that the US is giving nothing, or even that other nations are giving more. Quite the opposite. His point is that not enough is being done to stop a catastrophe far bigger than any the world has yet seen.
Anyway, despite Bush's SOTU rhetoric, we are not close to meeting those goals. He has deliberately underfunded that initiative. Whether Canada or any other nation gives at all is beside the point. Bush should keep his commitment at the very least, and as a nation we can certainly find more money to spend on measures that will improve the social, political and economic stability of an entire continent.
Posted by: Stephen | Aug 24, 2006 11:09:54 PM
