Freedom and Biology
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2021 5:10 am
When the AIDS epidemic really started hitting San Francisco, there was tremendous pressure to shut down the bath houses, which were primarily gay. The opposition to closing the bath houses in the early days of AIDS was strong and well-funded by a lot of the bath house owners. At the time, bathhouses were seen as symbols of gay liberation, and it was fairly easy to inflame the debate by saying that closing the bath houses was a step back into the closet after some hard fought gains.
The AIDS virus didn't give a crap. It was only too happy to hitch a ride in anybody, regardless of their sexual politics. People let their paranoia and financial interests turn the bath houses into a fertile breeding ground for AIDS until the bath houses were shut down.
Pandemics and Epidemics require prophylactic measures. Some people will try to make political hay out of a biological reality. Just as some gay activists looked past the biology and saw only potentially lost political ground, some activists now see this as the first steps to taking away guns, or a general erosion of freedom.
Let's say that you really want to live the New Hampshire Motto: Live Free Or Die. Just live it all the way. If you feel your freedom is more important than the potential risk to your health, that's okay, so long as your decision does not adversely affect the medical infrastructure for the rest of us, who want to live as cowardly slaves to the best medical advice. In short, if you choose to Live Free, choose to live with the consequences. If you get Covid after refusing to get a shot in the name of freedom, recover at home with a couple of mustard poultices. Failure to recover activates the Or Die part of the motto.
The AIDS virus didn't give a crap. It was only too happy to hitch a ride in anybody, regardless of their sexual politics. People let their paranoia and financial interests turn the bath houses into a fertile breeding ground for AIDS until the bath houses were shut down.
Pandemics and Epidemics require prophylactic measures. Some people will try to make political hay out of a biological reality. Just as some gay activists looked past the biology and saw only potentially lost political ground, some activists now see this as the first steps to taking away guns, or a general erosion of freedom.
Let's say that you really want to live the New Hampshire Motto: Live Free Or Die. Just live it all the way. If you feel your freedom is more important than the potential risk to your health, that's okay, so long as your decision does not adversely affect the medical infrastructure for the rest of us, who want to live as cowardly slaves to the best medical advice. In short, if you choose to Live Free, choose to live with the consequences. If you get Covid after refusing to get a shot in the name of freedom, recover at home with a couple of mustard poultices. Failure to recover activates the Or Die part of the motto.