Just curious. I got to thinking, as I am wont to do, about the constant drumbeat of gun control advocates: 33,000 killed by guns every year in America. In 2012, 11,000 of those deaths were by murder or violent crime. The rest suicide. That suicide number is tough, because there is no way of knowing if tighter gun laws would reduce suicide. It might. It could go up. We don't know. Then again, we don't know if gun regulations would help. Gun violence spiked after the gun regulations that hit back in the early 70s. In some countries, there does seem to be a link between non-existent gun rights and non-existent gun deaths. But then, sometimes those countries are known for their fast and loose approach to rights overall.
Beyond the suicides, 11,000 are killed by guns in violent crime. And yet, in 2012, almost 14,000 died of AIDS. That's right, died of AIDS. That's not counting those newly infected. That's those who died. That's almost 3,000 more than were killed by guns. I'm not sure, but I'd wager you heard a lot more on the news about gun deaths than about AIDS deaths.
Why? I can only guess. But I have a feeling that if we were really about reducing preventable death by whatever means possible, then we'd be doing more than we are. And if it means getting crazy about the 2nd Amendment to reduce gun violence, I'd think it might include something like getting crazy about our sex and drugs culture. Call me a simpleton, but I'm one of those types who bucks the scientific consensus that AIDS exploding on the world stage in the 1970s was just bad luck and had nothing to do with the drugs and sex culture that had been going strong and spreading its message around the world for the previous generation or two. I think there's a link. I think we could reduce AIDS by returning to some pre-Freudian/Kinseyan approaches to sexuality.
And you'd think, if human life is really so important, that we'd all agree. At least as much time spent calling for radical solutions to gun violence would be spent calling for radical solutions to the sex and drugs driven AIDS pandemic. You'd think. Assuming, of course, that it's all really about saving lives and reducing preventable deaths.
Oh, and lest you say the solution lies in more sex education, three of the five states with the highest rates of new HIV infections have either mandatory comprehensive sex education and/or comprehensive HIV education. But then again, think of the endless millions, if not billions, spent on mental health, and yet our suicide rates are higher than they have been in times past when such things as mental health counseling and treatment as we know it were virtually non-existent. Again, if we want to solve the problems, like we do with guns, we should be willing to go radical. If not, then it does make you wonder about the commitment to solving the problems. As some might say, I dare suggest that this is a pro-life issue.
Many thanks for this posting. It is truly amazing how the media manipulate our perception of reality and we do not even notice it! Thanks for bringing this truth to our attention.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if we are less informed than those old Medieval Peasants we often reference when trying to come up with an example of people who were ill-informed about the world.
ReplyDeleteThe reason we don't hear about the AIDS "crisis"....and it is a public health crisis...is bec of the LGBT activists. They don't want these stats bandied about although the CDC has been aware of this for decades. They aren't allowed to follow up as they would be if say, TB reared it's ugly head again (which it is doing and the CDC is all over it). The AIDS thing is politicized.
ReplyDeleteOf course Phyllis. Just like it was the LGBT activism that stood in the way of treating AIDS like a pandemic in the early days, even compromising the ability to ask questions and investigate. It's a pattern with the progressive mentality. Rather than admit the latest idea or revolutionary morality is wrong, dig in. If people die, so be it. Sad, but true. Ironically it is a headstrong stubbornness devoid of reason that is a defining tendency in a movement that prides itself for elevating reason above all things.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that 1) AIDS was initially a disease primarily affecting heterosexuals in Africa (and still is, in Africa) 2) AIDS related deaths in the US have fallen dramatically from a high of 50,000 people in 1995 3) that rate continues to decline while gun-related deaths are rising 4) a combination of comprehensive sex education for students as well as adults, the PRP vaccine and vastly improved medical treatment have reduced new HIV transmissions and AIDS deaths dramatically in high risk areas like New York and San Francisco and 5) states like New York and California may have mandatory, comprehensive sex education but they also have high rates of migration of people coming from states that don't. My point is that the article makes it seem as if nobody is doing or saying anything about HIV/AIDS when, in fact, they are not only saying and doing, they are SUCCEEDING in reducing HIV infections and AIDS related deaths! The opposite is true of gun deaths.
ReplyDeleteI know AIDS deaths are down, and that's a good thing. Homicide rates are also down as well. Gun deaths are also down from their peak in the early 90s. And yet we hear, almost weekly, 33,000 killed by guns (or alternately, 11,000 murdered by guns). Compare that to how many times we've heard about 14,000 people who died from AIDS in the US in a year. I've not heard it mentioned. As for other things you mention, the point isn't to discuss how to improve AIDS stats in light of our current approach to sexuality, though I notice we're not going to budge on the modern sexual ethic, and millions infected and thousands dead every year seems to be a price we're willing to pay rather that admit our post-Freudian/Kinseyan approach to sexuality was wrong. But it remains that gun deaths are mentioned weekly (and in cases like this following a mass shooting - hourly) while I can't remember the last time an actual statistic referring to the thousands dead, or three times that number infected, was mentioned on the level of our national media or popular culture.
ReplyDeleteThousands of people die from hundreds of diseases every year. I don't remember hearing about the number of people who die from lung cancer like we used to (although I'm sure it is still substantial), either, or diabetes, heart disease, etc. We talk about people who die from gun deaths because we know that in European societies, where gun ownership is severely restricted, there are a fraction of gun related deaths compared with the US. Enormous strides have been made in reducing HIV infections and AIDS related deaths. I wish we could see the same dramatic drop in gun related deaths that we have seen with AIDS related deaths. Until then, we'll keep talking.
ReplyDeleteI hear about cancer frequently. Heart disease as well. I've heard quite a few stats about diabetes recently. Though with diabetes, like cancer, cardiovascular, and other disease, the causes are not as apparent. AIDS/HIV is, in the end, overwhelmingly spread by sex and drugs, with sexually active homosexual males making up a disastrously disproportionate number of those infected - at least here in the US. If going radical is what we do for guns, then why not AIDS? Just flinging condoms and hoping for a cure has allowed over a half million to die just here at home. And we seem fine with that. But guns? That's when we hear calls for immediate and radical action.
ReplyDeleteAs for Europe, yeah, they do restrict guns. They also reserve the right to restrict other things as well, like speech and religion. In fact, in an ironic twist, when a more liberal proposal is rejected in America on the grounds that it could compromise our liberties, more than once I've seen advocates of the proposal say 'Hey, we're America. It's not like we're Europe!' Exactly. It seems places that can control guns can also move in to control other things as well.
My point is that AIDS strikes at the heart of our modern sexual ethic. I give Kudos to our Orthodox brethren who seem more willing to state that fact that many here in the West. Yet despite its ability to kill as many, if not more, than gun homicides, we never hear the same level of outcry, statistics, or mentioned. I can’t tell you the last time I heard AIDS deaths mentioned in the media. That can't be ignored. And it should give us pause.