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Aids Reduces African Life Expectancy To 33

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DavidV

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AIDS reduces African life expectancy to 33

As the above article mentions, in some countries, AIDS afflicts more than one in three people and has reduced life expectancy to 33.

Why is the AIDS problem so severe? Why is sexually dangerous behavior so widespread in face of the obvious risks?

I suspect the primary reason is twofold:

Totalitarian regimes, tribal warfare, and the influence of Marxism has destroyed both the economic infrastructure as well as African’s ability to engage in meaningful value pursuit. Faced with bleak futures and the obliteration of both traditional moral codes as well as Western values, Africans turn to wanton sex (and warfare) to escape their bleak reality and attempt to pursue some sort of values. Those affected by AIDS have no resources to treat it because the socialism has destroyed the economic infrastructure and continues to prevent the establishment of a market for treatment of AIDS.

Another important factor is a culture that denigrates women and glorifies male promiscuity – but the dominance of such attitudes is made possible and exacerbated by a lack of meaningful alternatives (such as rational values or life-valuing moral codes) faced by young Africans.

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I think colonialism is slightly more responsible for Africa's problems than Marxism.

"Colonialism," as used by Marxists today is an anti-concept. It is an attempt to deny the distinction between international trade, capitalism, and Western values, and military conquest in order to associate the former with the latter. To the extent that is represents the former, colonialism is the only thing that can save Africa from total self-destruction.

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As far as I know, 'colonialism' is almost uniformly used in the context of military imperialism and the expropriation of a country's resources. In any case, it seems rather unbalanced to completely omit the military interference of Western countries in Africa when discussing possible causes of its current state, especially when you are choosing to blame 'Marxist influences' instead.

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My teacher, who spent many years in a few African countries told me a few things that he thinks contributes to it:

-The leader of a village (or priest) tells children their penis will fall off if they don't have sex at 13

-When the president of a country says "We have no AIDS problem, because AIDS dosnt exist" it spreads the problem

-Those women who know about it are subservient to men

-Some Africans think AIDS is some fallacy propagated by North Americans to get them to stop procreating.

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As far as I know, 'colonialism' is almost uniformly used in the context of military imperialism and the expropriation of a country's resources. In any case, it seems rather unbalanced to completely omit the military interference of Western countries in Africa when discussing possible causes of its current state, especially when you are choosing to blame 'Marxist influences' instead.

While the military occupation of Africa was a major drain on the western empire, it actually provided a great benefit to the Africans - industrialization, western values, and international trade. Colonialism is what extended the average age of Africans by 25+ years and sustains a population of a billion. The fault lies not in the western influences, but their reversion to tribalism and totalitarian forms of collectivism. The major fault of the west lies in spreading the Marxist dogma that keeps Africa crippled.

If you think colonialism refers primary to military conquest, go read any academic paper on it. Again, refer to my explanation of colonialism as an anti-concept.

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Why is the AIDS problem so severe?  Why is sexually dangerous behavior so widespread in face of the obvious risks?

I suspect the primary reason is twofold:

Totalitarian regimes, tribal warfare, and the influence of Marxism has destroyed both the economic infrastructure as well as African’s ability to engage in meaningful value pursuit.  Faced with bleak futures and the obliteration of both traditional moral codes as well as Western values, Africans turn to wanton sex (and warfare) to escape their bleak reality and attempt to pursue some sort of values.  Those affected by AIDS have no resources to treat it because the socialism has destroyed the economic infrastructure and continues to prevent the establishment of a market for treatment of AIDS. 

The fact is that the risks are not self-evident: you cannot see -- with your naked eyes -- that sex with infected people causes AIDS. This is a bit of knowledge that takes work to acquire.

My opinion is that it stems from ignorance, and that politics has little to do with it except in how that affects ignorance (and that is a significant "except"). A noteable exception is South Africa, where President Thabo Mbeki both contributed directly to the ignorance problem by imposing policies against importing anti-viral drugs. In Africa, it is not widely known what causes AIDS, and since belief in witchcraft is so surprisingly strong, attempts to educate people as to the cause of AIDS are not so effective. In the village, AIDS deaths are often attributed to a witch. There is a particular pernicious practice in South Africa, where some people believe that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS, which contributes to the spread of the disease. Resistance to using condoms is very high (and availability outside the city is low).

I disagree with the causal connection to Marxism. There was relatively little economic infrastructure to start with: it would be quite correct to say that Marxism has retarded the development of an economic infrastructure (which is quite relevant, since education requires electricity which requires roads and trucks). But Marxism has been essentially irrelevant in Malawi, yet they have one of the highest AIDS rates in the world.

Another important factor is a culture that denigrates women and glorifies male promiscuity – but the dominance of such attitudes is made possible and exacerbated by a lack of meaningful alternatives (such as rational values  or life-valuing moral codes)  faced by young Africans.

And old Africans. This, I think, is the more important factor: monogamy is not as high a value there as it is in the west.

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Allowing for a moment that colonialism harmed african nations, that harm ended 40+ years ago. Think about how long 40 years is to a country where the life expectancy is 33. The blame for any problems Afirca has today rest strictly on the shoulders of kleptocrats that run them. Virtually no one in these societies is old enough to even remember British rule, let alone still be harmed by their policies.

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I think the best book on this issue is "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts. It doesn't really go on to the crises in Africa but I think there is a lot in comparison between the homosexual male community at the first 5 years of the U.S HIV/AIDS problem and Africa today.

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AIDS reduces African life expectancy to 33

As the above article mentions, in some countries, AIDS afflicts more than one in three people and has reduced life expectancy to 33. 

Why is the AIDS problem so severe?  Why is sexually dangerous behavior so widespread in face of the obvious risks?

I suspect the primary reason is twofold:

Totalitarian regimes, tribal warfare, and the influence of Marxism has destroyed both the economic infrastructure as well as African’s ability to engage in meaningful value pursuit........

Another important factor is a culture that denigrates women and glorifies male promiscuity – but the dominance of such attitudes is made possible and exacerbated by a lack of meaningful alternatives (such as rational values  or life-valuing moral codes)  faced by young Africans.

I'm strongly inclined to agree.

It's worth noting that in the 18th and 19th centuries, and even continuing into today, many central African states adopted Islamic fundamentalism in their socioeconomic frameworks.

This contributed greatly into the political framework and social values which you describe.

It is very unfortunate that until the vise of totalitarianism is broken, what with its stranglehod on the economies of these countries, that the AIDS problems will persist.

Many other health problems exist in these countries as well, including diseases which are nonexistant in the Western world.

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I think the best book on this issue is "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts.

I agree. That's probably one of the best books on the start of the outbreak.

Amazing when we take a step back and realize how much things have changed. I remember my sister who worked in an oncology pharmacy and was talking about this new "gay cancer" ie KS that some of the oncologists at work were talking about. Mind you this was a LONG time ago.

AIDS is now omnipresent, at least in the west. Once people in non-western countries start to realize how critically important behaviour is, then and only then will things start to change. But, when the people in charge gain/maintain power by denying education to their people therefore incresaing their power due to their control of the drugs.... This more applies to Africa but could very well apply to places like India or China whose military's blood collection procedures have literally wiped out entire villages.

Of course one of the big problems in the west is people are starting to think of HIV as another illness like diabetes or herpes. You've got the disease/virus but you can be treated for it. I've noticed some of my friends teenage kids taking that sort of view. Or worse, the morons that insist that HIV isn't realted to AIDS etc. But then there are always idiots. And evolution has a way of thinning them from the gene pool.

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HIV/AIDS is a "disease" that does not exist. We are perpetuating an idea that such a disease should be treated, even if it is through costly, harmful and toxic chemicals. I am disgusted by the statist paradigm some Objectivist advocate by believing in such myth and advocating its demise through wasted tax dollars. Where is the skepticism so dominant in Objectivist ranks? Do we now hold hands with statists and murderers like the United Nations? They threatened sanctions against those who do not comply in accepting AIDS dogma. They wish to kill by embargo and kill by coercing populations to take toxic immunosuppressants. These bureaucrats kill while lining their coffers with blood money and somehow it is a personal and public good?

"HIV" is a convenient term used for over 30 diseases and conditions which includes malnutrition, malaria, shingles (where such diseases are prevalent in Africa), Kaposi Sarcoma and PCP (diseases afflicting gay communities due to excessive drug abuse). The symptoms of "AIDS" manifests when those diagnosed as "HIV" are given a toxic drug like AZT, as virologist Peter Duesberg claims.

Have you ever wondered why in South Africa, Botswana and Angola "AIDS" cases are skyrocketing? African people are tested differently than in the US or Europe. The Elisa and Blot tests are sufficient in establishing HIV, but aren’t necessarily available in Africa. Some of the "test kits" available merely test a person for a T-cell count below 200 which is enough to be diagnosed as HIV positive. Registering such a low T-cell count is not indicative of "HIV" but of other conditions or diseases (listed above). Instead of treating the actual diseases one is given toxic chemicals. South African doctors have also treated malnourished patients, not by feeding them but injecting them with toxic medicines, thus producing AIDS symptoms!

Join me and South African President Mbeki to stop the tests, treatment, the philanthropy, the funding, that is the "AIDS myth." Go to www.virusmyth.com for more information and sign the petition. We believe and support regimes that have blood on their hands. Why further the blood shed?

I guess I need to explain myself more…… I will respond with more details later.

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HIV/AIDS is a "disease" that does not exist.

I don't buy it. There is too much evidence, not only that AIDS IS a disease, but of what the causal agents are, how they are transmitted, how they affect various body systems, and how they can, to some degree, be prevented from progressing to fatality.

The people who deny that AIDS is a disease are not a very credible bunch. Most of them distrust modern science, see conspiracies everywhere, and tend toward kooky ideas like extreme environmentalism, apocalyptic religious fundamentalism, and anarchism.

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Care to cite such evidence? Despite popular opinion, absense of evidence does not make the "HIV causes AIDS" hypothesis any more valid. HIV is the only known "disease", a so-called retrovirus that doesn't actually harm its carrier, up until of course that the "disease" develops into AIDS. Then again the symptons associated with AIDS are produced when toxic immunosuppressants are introduced into the body.

The "disease" also defies Koch's third postulate that states that a disease/virus/bacteria must be replicated on a petri dish and be treated, disposed, and erradicated accordingly. The fact that it has never been isolated is enough to be skeptical of what we are told to believe.

Ever since the "discovery" of this retro-virus their is untold suffering, death and exploitation. Even if this "disease" is proven to be true what right do governments have in coercing its citizens to wear condoms and take AIDS medications?

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Ever since the "discovery" of this retro-virus their is untold suffering, death and exploitation.  Even if this "disease" is proven to be true what right do governments have in coercing its citizens to wear condoms and take AIDS medications?

Are you saying the discovery caused "untold suffering, death and exploitation" and not the disease itself?

How and where is the government "coercing its citizens?"

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Are you saying the discovery caused "untold suffering, death and exploitation" and not the disease itself? ~ Betsy

YES! ....if it can even be said to be a discovery at all.

How and where is the government "coercing its citizens?" ~ Betsy

There are people in this country that are prescribed toxic AIDS medication against their will, especially children whose parents were HIV positive and couldn’t take care of them. There is a place called the Incarnation Children’s Center (ICC) ran by a division of the National Institute of Health. There children are forcedly medicated drugs to “help fight" their HIV. The area instead serves as a place to experiment on and kill children. The drugs that are introduced into these children vary from AZT to Nevirapine, all of which are toxic and do nothing to “treat” the disease.

In an editorial by Liam Scheff, he interviews a woman name Mona whose nephew Sean is being “treated” at the ICC. He is grossly sick from medication and sensing that she takes him under her care. For a year she didn’t give him the drugs. He became healthy and gained weight. Once the center learned she wasn’t prescribing the medicines the Agency for Child Services threatened to take him away. They did and he was put on the medication once again. He became sick and almost died but in the end Mona succeeded in getting him out of there. Unfortunately she was helpless to save any other child in that center. The article can be found here: http://www.altheal.org/toxicity/house.htm

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HIV/AIDS is a "disease" that does not exist.

"HIV" is a convenient term used for over 30 diseases and conditions which includes malnutrition, malaria, shingles (where such diseases are prevalent in Africa), Kaposi Sarcoma and PCP (diseases afflicting gay communities due to excessive drug abuse). The symptoms of "AIDS" manifests when those diagnosed as "HIV" are given a toxic drug like AZT, as virologist Peter Duesberg claims.

Have you ever wondered why in South Africa, Botswana and Angola "AIDS" cases are skyrocketing?

Based on Duesberg's research, your second paragraph is correct if you change the first word to AIDs. He says HIV isn't connected with AIDs and you won't die from HIV, but he thinks the AIDs diseases are real. He thinks they won't find "A cure" but should work on each of the sub diseases.

The numbers in Africa are skyrocketing because if you fall out a window they say you died of AIDs, because that brings in more international aid.

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It's funny. In "And the Band Played On", it was first thought that the men catching "The Gay Disease" caught it because they were living in the fast lane, ya know, exessive drug use like poppers, PCP, crystal and other "party drugs. But the doctors suddenly realized each men had something in common, and that was each other's sex partners.

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