Are they effing serious?!?!
“The controversy centers mainly on three issues: the U.S. preference for unilateral action over collaborative effort, the emphasis on sexual abstinence in U.S.-sponsored prevention programs and the Bush administration’s refusal to pay for generic AIDS medicines that the World Health Organization has endorsed and many countries are already using successfully.” –Newsweek 7/14/2004
“President Bush's policy of fighting AIDS by promoting abstinence ran into opposition yesterday from scientists and activists who touted condoms as the best weapon against the disease.” -The Washington Times 7/13/2004
Are you effing kidding me?!?!?!
"In an age where 5 million people are newly infected each year and women and girls too often do not have the choice to abstain, an abstinence-until-marriage program is not only irresponsible, it's really inhumane," said Mrs. Lee.
Proponents say there is no better way to prevent the spread of HIV than by using condoms and giving clean syringes to intravenous drug users. The Bush administration says that promoting condoms encourages sexual promiscuity among youths.” -The Washington Times
WTF?!?!?!?
“Under a mandate from Congress, a third of PEPFAR’s prevention funds are earmarked for programs that focus exclusively on sexual abstinence. Is there a good rationale for that restriction?
Zeitz: There is no good scientific evidence that preaching abstinence protects people from HIV infection. And this administration’s ideological obsession with marriage could actually put young girls at even greater risk. Marriage is not protective for young women in Africa. Young women who get married are at higher risk than young women who stay single.” -Newsweek
Apparently Mrs. Lee didn’t get elected into office for her logic skills.
-This oppositional absurdity only manifests more the division between God’s ways and man’s ways. I mean God forbid we invoke any sort of “moral” aspect to this problem. We don’t want to infringe on peoples’ rights to eff whomever they want to (end sarcasm). I digress...
Maybe you found these aforementioned comments and objections to a part of the Bush Administration’s AIDS policies just as ludicrous as I did. Or maybe you didn’t. Maybe Bush’s support for robust abstinence-only programs seems just as unrealistic to you as some of these people protesting America’s vision on how to combat AIDS here and abroad.
Folks the HIV virus is like a bomb. And like HIV, a bomb is a problem. And what do the authorities do to combat a bomb? They send in the bomb squad to diffuse it. Oh it may go off, but never before they’ve tried to diffuse it first and foremost as to quell the potential problem before it ever explodes (simile pun intended). But the point is they don’t just sit there idly and let it got off or try to build a barrier around it and hope some of the shrapnel doesn’t hurt anything. Diffusing the bomb is the optimal way to solve the problem. And further, this solution negates any possibility of anyone or anything else getting hurt, even the poor little bomb itself. Folks, the HIV virus is like a bomb. And instead of diffusing the problem at its source, we sometimes go the sub-optimal way of trying to get away from the explosion hoping it doesn’t hurt anyone (sex education that exonerates the teacher (society) from taking blame when the student (the others) fails) and we try to build barriers around the bomb turning our heads and plugging our ears hoping none of the shrapnel escapes (condoms).
Pure logic in a controlled system concludes the best, optimal way to stop the spread of the HIV virus is to conscientiously stop the mechanism that spreads it; sex. Unless your brain is composed of completely cheese and sour cream, you cannot logically and honestly refute that assertion (yes I understand the current global situation complicates things, and I will get into that later, but at the base of all logic, abstinence is the best tool society has in combating the spread of AIDS throughout the world.) To object to that and even actively oppose it causes such ludicrously disparate mentalities between social policies it’s not even funny. I cannot believe these scientists (who thrive on logical conclusions) and lawmakers are making such comments as this!
Ok enough logic bashing. For a moment I will try to emit some compassion. (which I’m much devoid of, yes I know this. I am not proud of it. God is graciously refining me to exhibit more of it by breaking me in certain areas.) Though initially what these people say seems like pure balderdash, I must put myself in my place. Obviously because it’s the biggest problem zone, Africa is the main concern of all AIDS combatants. And yes I know that many cultures in Africa subsist much differently than we do in suburban US of A. I also know that these scientists and officials comment from most likely years of research and/or first hand experience in the worst of AIDS war zones. They’ve seen the devastation, I have not. They’ve seen the millions of orphaned children, I have not. I admit this and do take it into consideration. But this does not change the fact that humans are humans and not animals. We have the ability to make a moral choice in every moral decision. We are not animals merely acting completely on instinct and only instinct. Sex is much more than just a human mechanism of existence and progeneration.
Mrs. Lee mentions that girls “too often don’t have the choice to abstain (from sexual relations)”. WTF?! Is she referring to rape instances? I guarantee you the number of AIDS cases resulting from STDs transferred via rape sequences are so low it’s almost negligible. Is she referring to some Africa cultures that endorse fornication and/or other pre-marital sexual rituals? Is she referring to girls everywhere being overly pressured by society and guys to have sex? The only logical explanation could be the reference to rape, but again a fraction of rape cases have AIDS implications. But for some reason I don’t think she’s talking about that. I really believe she doesn’t think abstinence till marriage is a “realistic” goal, especially in some cultures (and like most liberals, they don't want to tell other people what their doing is wrong, afraid to step on their toes). If she is referring to some twisted African cultures or whatever, if these cultures exist, where rape and what have you is a “state” sponsored activity, why the hell aren’t we sending the Marines to kick those bastards’ @$$es!? Sounds to me like a scapegoat for these peoples’ own inability to make the right decisions for themselves, the very which they are completely capable of making, irregardless of the environment of culture they grow up in. We all have written on our hearts a code of ethics and morals, abstinence till marriage being one of them. The young Ugandan, Simon Onaba, said it best at one of those conferences,
"It is possible for young people to abstain. We are motivated, we are empowered. If I can start having sex, I can also stop having sex," -Simon Onaba
Simon is a real man, taking responsibility for his actions, and conscious lack thereof. He’s not skirting the issue or trying to band-aid it when it needs a complete heart overhaul. He’s diffusing the bomb, not merely trying to reduce its damage. I’d hate to bring this up, but for example, a lot of homosexuals and homosexual advocates play the card that they’re born with it and that it’s not their fault. WTF!?! Are you saying you have no ability to choose whether or not you engage in homosexual actions?! Scapegoat, plain and simple. You think it’d fly if I claimed the reason I raped a girl was because I had no choice and that my heterosexual inclinations drove it, that I was innocent of any wrongdoing?!? Hell no! We’re all responsible for our own actions and the AIDS epidemic is no different. Millions of people here and abroad are getting infected everyday with the HIV virus for the simple fact that they’re choosing not to keep it in their pants. Abstinence isn’t a solution, it is thee solution.
I’ll throw the “reap what you sow” card in also, just because I have to. I’m sorry, but we can’t go through life not expecting to face the consequences of our actions. Either positive or negative, we have to reap what we sow. FACT: The majority of AIDS patients are facing the consequence of having sex with someone else infected with the HIV virus. That’s not a moral comment. It is a logical observation, just as what goes up must go down. For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.
I don’t know folks. Maybe I’m bringing a very narrow and naive outlook to the table here. But I just can’t see how abstinence isn’t seen as the best tool we have in combating sexually transmitting diseases. I remember one day in high school we had a sexual education presentation from some agency that went around to high schools and stuff and talked about sex, prevention, AIDS, pregnancies, etc. It wasn’t like a class or anything but a one time event that had like 150 of my fellow classmates attend. Anyways, the lady started asking some questions to the audience and one of them was “what are some ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases?” One kid answered condoms, another answered get tested and make sure your partners were tested, etc. I raised my hand and answered, “Don’t have sex.” I think the lady was surprised a bit by my answer, especially coming from a crowd of sexually active teenagers with raging hormones. It took her a moment to respond, and because it was foreign to her agency's goals, she shot back at me with, “Yeah, but are you gonna get gray and old without having had sex?” The audience laughed and I sorted of felt embarrassed though I knew I was completely in the right. She changed subjects after that and the presentation carried on as planned. I thought about her question back to me and it only further enhanced my resolve to maintain my standards. You see, the world has got it wrong. They think sex is just an extension of our humanity, much like eating or sleeping (A Brave New World anyone?). I think its much more than that, invoking deep emotional and spiritual connections. Yeah, if our world embraces the former mentality, that sex is just a product of everyday humanity, then yeah I’d say forget pushing abstinence cause it is unrealistic in that case. Go ahead, pass out those condoms to high schoolers! If they’re gonna do it, might as well help them with the protection part. But as for me, I subscribe to the latter view on what sex is and that it’s indulgence is a deep moral choice. If we value sex with such deep respect and honor, then maybe abstinence can make some headway into society. But Keith, what if you never get married? You’re never gonna have sex?! If it comes to that...yes. I don’t know about you, but I know I’m more than just an animal...
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” -1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“We were meant to live for so much more, have we lost ourselves?” -Switchfoot, Meant to Live