HIV/AIDS: Benjamin Nicholas

Picture from the 15minutes blog

Ok, this is my "guilty pleasure" blog. Even though the man can be stuck up and annoying ("oh, I just love Florence.." blah blah blah... yea, I get it, you're still a professional prositute... er... escort, a job I actually covet but let's call a potato a potato), Benjamin ("I did not have sex with Trent Lott") Nicholas is none the less entertaining.

But one of his latest blog he talks, albeit briefly, about PEPFAR:

First off, getting into the states as a foreigner isn't always an easy thing. Thanks to a little internet research, it's evident that we don't let a whole lot of people pass through without asking them to jump through some hoops. Hell, the USA discriminates against those who are poor, routinely denying Visas for simply not having the means to get back to where they came from. All of this process is in place to not only keep the USA safe, but to continually stabilize our population with the variety of melting pot culture we're accustomed to. Sure, we're a country founded on immigration, but keep in mind that it was highly controlled and by legal means.

Think about it: Is allowing someone into our country with a debilitating, communicable disease a good thing? Would we put up the same anti-discriminatory argument if it was someone with Bird Flu or Polio? Are we giving HIV a hall-pass because slick pharmacological advertising has brainwashed us into thinking it's now a manageable lifestyle?

Believe what you'd like, but HIV is not manageable. It's not as easy as the ads in the pages of The Advocate would have you believe: One simple pill a day and life is back to normal. That's pie-in-the-sky bullshit and if you think for a second that people aren't still dying on a daily basis thanks to complications from HIV and AIDS, you're as dilluted as dishwater. A total cure is light years from being found and a vaccine for the existing uninfected is at least 25 years away from realization (or so says the Bill Gates Foundation).

So, with that in front of me, I say keep them out. Why do we need to take even greater risk as Americans, all in the name of 'equality.' This isn't about equality. It's about grandiose, radical-PCism from people who have no real grasp on reality or self-preservation. You might call it cold-hearted, but when push comes to shove, a survivalist mentality isn't a bad thing.

This also brings me to remind my readers that no matter how muscular, how beautiful or how young that guy may be, always assume he's HIV-positive. With infection rates again on the rise, taking 30 seconds to roll on a condom is more important than ever. In seeing a few former escorts make a quick re-appearance into the industry, I question their motives, as well as their health status. Always be aware and think backwards, connecting the dots, as far as memory will serve.

Good point, failed conclusion.

Unlike bird flu or polio, HIV as a communicable disease requires special means of transmission. Bird flu just requires breathing. HIV requires fucking. The key point you're missing, darling BN (whom I also follow on twitter), is that the people who end up contracting HIV from people from out of the country are engaging in behavior, likely with other people, that is indicative for seroconversion. Though it sounds callous, my point is this: we need more thorough prevention, not discrimination.

And, btw, for a lot a lot of people in the world and in this country, HIV is fairly manageable. It still blows and there are so many thousands of reasons not to get HIV (the fact that, despite lengthening life, it has a really high mortality rate over the lifespan is one of many); don't forget that not everyone is a muscle man with HIV, but some are.

In deductive reasoning (maybe inductive? awww hell, logic), I call this a FAIL.

PS ---> I also don't think Mr. Nicholas is that spectacular of a PR person for himself. The whole Trent Lott debacle was poorly handled. He didn't even get a friend to talk for him.