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Reagan did plenty of wrong things, you could even argue the response to AIDS was flawed however comparing that to what is going on now is ridiculous.
To the OP, if you had a choice of spending 24 hours in a packed arena full of AIDS victims or a closet with one Ebola victim your choice would be?
Easy enough to say with 30+ years of science under the belt.
I was one of the early on employers of someone who chose to announce he had Aids to our small company within a larger company, over after work cocktails, one evening. I chose to trust science and have no regrets.
At the time, there was tremendous social uncertainty and hype that it was or could easily mutate and become airborne and would transfer via ventilation systems and surfaces and kill all of us. Back then, there was no such thing as 24/7 political news TV/radio, no internet or social media so the opportunities for fear mongering as well as communicating factual information were limited, compared to today.
A lot of conservatives and Republicans have been criticizing President Obama for mishandling the current Ebola situation. Why didn't these same people criticize President Reagan when thousands of Americans were contracting HIV/AIDS?
No point of comparison to be made.
Obama takes the hit because like the ppaca rollout and other headlines he 'read about in the paper', he demonstrates his disinterest, read as, lack of responsibilty of leadership in the face of crisis.
It was very clear the response from the CDC was politicized and obama's words as well were, as usual, just sounds that didn't matter as he spoke ninsense that was later modified. Read that as the best way to lose trust.
So in the face of a frightening pathology, the leadership needed to prevent panic was obama's to give, however he failed miserably and is held accountable for the growing panic.
Obama is the captain of the Italian cruise ship who was the first person to abandon the passengers.
How can obama be so oblivious to the issues that the public are passionately engaged in?
Closest comparison to be made is GWB and Katrina where a sound and trusted agency was ill prpared for a catastrophe of biblical proportions for which no contingencies were ever planned because statistically no one ever imagined such a disaster. Generations of legislators diverted money meant for updating the levee system. It wasn't so much Katrina as it was a poorly maintained levee system. GWB just happened to be there. then there were the idiot governor and mayor who failed their town and state and the media instead gave them a apass and jumped all over GWB.
So if GWB was 'responsible for the aftermath of historical neglect, Obama owns obola crisis from latex glove to the ebola czar and growing panic.
If he doesn't have responsibility for ebola then you have to admit Obama is just a figurehead like the queen of England.
Obam is choosing Poitcal Correctness of the well Being of the USA
Quote:
Originally Posted by nononsenseguy
Oh, give me a break!!!
There is no, absolutely none, zip, zero, nada, similarity between the spread of AIDS, which is only contracted through sexual contact, and Ebola.
Obama's irresponsible failure to take the most obvious preventative measure, that of restricting or banning flights altogether from West African countries known to be dealing with this epidemic, is worthy of blame for the virus entering the United States, and also, his bringing the victims here for treatment in the first place was also a big mistake.
Just anther bad thread. What a loaded Point! Aids was not even fully understand during Reagan. We have years of Research and even GW Bush champion Aids in Africa.
Its 2014 and we have truly made medical advances since 1980. The Fact have been on the table and President Obama choses to put the safety of America on the back burner. This goes to show you Obama leads from behind and only acts if he absolutely has too.
A lot of conservatives and Republicans have been criticizing President Obama for mishandling the current Ebola situation. Why didn't these same people criticize President Reagan when thousands of Americans were contracting HIV/AIDS?
1. Reagan couldn't control gay men having sex, but Obama has some control over limiting risk exposure in the U.S. ?
2. AIDS was brand new, Ebola's been around for a while ?
3. Liberals blamed Reagan, so R's are getting payback 30 years later ?
It's not just "conservatives." It's people with common sense and critical thinking skills.
1. Many of us were small children during the Reagan administration. We were outside playing, not watching politics.
2. AIDS and Ebola aren't that comparable; AIDS is only spread by sex, contaminated needles or blood transfusions. If you STILL insist they're remotely comparable please explain why we are scrubbing down planes, have someone quarantined on a cruise boat, and wearing hazmat apparel when dealing with Ebola while we don't do those things with AIDS? How many nurses have caught AIDS from an AIDS patient?
3. Reagan didn't routinely put political correctness ahead of safety, and though he didn't always make the best decisions, was an immensely better leader than Obama by almost all measures.
That's easy to say with the benefit of 30+ years of science under the belt.
There was indeed Aids Hysteria in the early 80's that persisted into the 90's. Heck fear and ignorance persists, today.
Back in the 80's not enough was known. Some scientists warned it was either airborne or mutation was just around the corner and that bodily fluids on surfaces could spread the virus.
Here and there, across the US, school districts sent letters home to inform parents that a child was enrolled in the district who was living with someone with Aids in their household. Then came initiatives to ban gay teachers in classrooms because they would infect the children.
There was an abundance of moral panic within churches.
Employers faced serious, serious challenges when they became aware one of their employees had Aids.
Landlords and communities faces challenges upon learning someone with Aids was in their community.
The biggest differences between then and now was the absence of 24/7 fear mongering on political cable TV/radio, the internet and social media.
Very well stated.
This was huge in the medical community in the '80's. But communications and information pathways as they are today create much more uneducated controversy.
Reagan ignored AIDS and look what happened. Last stats I read, there are over a million people in the US infected with HIV today. HIV was badly handled by Reagan. There is no doubt about it.
Does acknowledgement of Reagan's failures to recognize the impact of AIDS on Americans mitigate Obama's failures to do the same, including appointing a LAWYER as Ebola Czar, make you feel better, safer, happy? Good grief.
Because Reagan is practically the second coming of Jesus Christ, gays are icky and deserving of whatever happens, and people believe stupid things like this...
Quote:
Originally Posted by nononsenseguy
There is no, absolutely none, zip, zero, nada, similarity between the spread of AIDS, which is only contracted through sexual contact, and Ebola.
Somewhere around 6-10,000 Americans got HIV through contaminated blood products like Factor VIII. The CDC knew about it at least as early as 1982, yet the executive branch didn't feel the need to actually put a stop to selling contaminated blood products until May of 1985. Companies like Bayer, of course, being out to make as much money as possible, simply went right on selling infected blood products overseas.
Let us just accept for a moment that gays are icky and deserve what they get. Why does Reagan get a pass for the thousands of American infections and deaths that came about as a direct result of his administration's inaction on contaminated blood products?
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Obam is choosing Poitcal Correctness of the well Being of the USA
