futor@lll-crg.UUCP (Randal Futor) (09/10/85)
I hope this goes well; it's my "first(!!!)"... For those of you not fortunate enough to live within his zone of syndication, Arthur Hoppe is the political satirist in the San Francisco Chronicle. He is usually on target & quite funny, but sometimes (esp. lately) his sense of humor flags with his reaction to the world around him. Unannounced & unpermitted, I forward for your examination his column for today (10Sep). I DO hope that only ONE copy of this shows up at any given site & that it's legible; this editor & I have had to throw away 3 of these already!! "The New Lepers" It was at a party. I had filled my glass at the bar and turned. Behind me was a middle-aged man I had known for several years. I don't know him well. We had talked several times. He is a gentle, soft-spoken soul and I like him. A month or so ago, I heard he had AIDS. I thought of calling or writing him, but what do you say? And now here he was. He held out his hand. For a fraction of a second, I involuntarily hesitated. Then, of course, I shook it. If he does have AIDS, I can only pray that he didn't notice that flicker of hesitation. I am deeply ashamed of it. I can think of nothing more dishonorable than to fail to offer your hand to a dying man. Only the day before, a dear friend who is a reasonable sort demanded to know why "the newspapers didn't print the truth about AIDS" - primarily about what a danger AIDS poses to the middle-class heterosexual community. "I was at dinner the other night and we spent at least an hour talking about nothing else," he said, and there was a hint of fear and anger in his voice. I tried to tell him that for the last couple of years newspapers have gone out of their way to publish stories about AIDS and their message was precisely the opposite: every recorded case of AIDS has been the result of the virus being transmitted into the bloodstream either by contaminated blood or contaminated semen. There is no other known way to contract the disease. I don't think he heard me. I don't think people are listening. I think they are too unreasonably scared. "The food's good," said a woman I know, talking about a restaurant she no longer frequents because many of the waiters are gay, "but why take chances?" "My heart goes out to him," a mother was quoted as saying in a news story about a young pupil who had AIDS, "but I wouldn't feel right letting my child be in his classroom." In San Francisco, city officials denounced as "a cruel hoax" notices falsely claiming that AIDS patients would be quarantined in remote loca- tions. Yet at least some gays took it seriously. And rightly so. From most reports, gays are being increasingly evicted, fired and ostracized as the disease spreads increasingly among them and the heterosexual community becomes increasingly frightened. It's no wonder gays refuse to give their names when taking tests for AIDS. If I were gay, I wouldn't want my name on any list. There's not much harm now, but if no cure is found and if the disease and the fear continue their exponential growth... I keep thinking about leprosy. We used to ring bells and shout, "Unclean!" when we saw a leper coming, or lock them up in deplorable colonies for the rest of their lives. We knew that their very touch would make us lepers too. Today, we have learned that leprosy is transmitted only through prolonged, intimate exposure. We now call it "Hansen's disease" and treat its victims as out-patients. They walk among us posing no more danger than a stranger with AIDS. I like to believe that the human race is getting better over the millenia. Aftr all, that hope is our only chance of survival in a nuclear age. So I can only pray that we react more reasonably to an unreasonable fear this time around. Thus I'm afraid - not of AIDS, but of our reaction to it. Your reaction and mine. And if a dying friend of mine reads this, I hope he will forgive me. I'd like to shake his hand. end-of-citation -- I hope this doesn't get me a subpoena... sorry it got so long... later -- Randy (futor@lll-crg.arpa) "...the little faggot is a millionaire..." -Dire Straits if the quote (in place) isn't great enough for you, surely the group name in the citation is all the irony ANYone should require in a day!! :qw :wq
futor@lll-crg.UUCP (Randal Futor) (09/10/85)
I hope this goes well; it's my "first(!!)"... I wanted to share today's column by Arthur Hoppe with you. For those of not fortunate enough to get him regularly, he's the political satirist in the San Francisco Chronicle. He is usually quite funny & on target, altho this particualr