Politics Corner September 23

   

beware of Harlan Crow

photo mine

The Swifties are coming from inside the house and I'm about to scream. I'm understanding P!nk's point of view right now. No. No one else is allowed to tell me what makes me angry. No one else is allowed to tell me what drags back long buried fears, terror, dread. This is my history. It shaped who I am so if you like me now then know that I will accept NO excuse for using "Patient Zero" in a pop song. Ever.

You wanna dance on Trump's grave? Good. So do I. That'll probably piss off a lot of people and I won't care. Trump deserves all of the shit he gets and more. Putting "Patient Zero" into a zombie movie? That's apt even though with 11% on Rotten Tomatoes they didn't do it right. It still blames the victim but this one started a zombie apocalypse so whatever.

The original "Patient Zero" was made up by Randy Schilts for his early history of the AIDS Pandemic. How early? The word AIDS hadn't clicked yet. People were still calling it gay cancer or GRID -- Gay Related Infectious Disease. I believe Schilts had good intentions and meant to show how a virus in one part of the world could have devastating consequences worldwide. He did not even write it in such a sensational manner as say The Hot Zone. He didn't have to. The story was dramatic enough.

And the Band Played On had a culture shifting reach. It terrified those of us at risk. It emboldened all of our enemies from the President down to the school board. The media was rolling in ratings demonizing us. Our families kicked us out to the street to die. Major cities lacked hospitals to take us in. Insurance would not cover us. The government only might step in, might, after we exhausted everything we owned. And then we were given poison because no company would research treatment and the government outright refused to pay for research because we "deserved to die."

ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) had a slogan: Silence = Death. It's corollary: Action = Life. It was true then and it's still true. It applies to many more things than just AIDS. I live my life by that. I live my life in honor of those who have gone before me. And I sure as hell ain't gonna be silent now.

I was there.

my best friend Jay had bones broken by Chicago police

we didn't find out until after waiting hours for him to be released from jail

Sandra Johnson, being interviewed in the still

she was awesome, we went to Atlanta to protest at the CDC

this is the world we lived in in the shadow of "Patient Zero"

we were the enemy

our lives meant nothing

if the virus didn't kill us then the police and all of society was waiting in line

 Political Discussion Welcome