[sci.med.aids] COMMENT ON "PATTERSON"

Adam.Selene@f269.n107.z1.fidonet.org (Adam Selene) (11/10/89)

Nassau county was located somewhere in some distent rural setting, 
FAR, far away from access to AIDS information/education.
+
+    Actually, Nassau's County Seat is 40 miles from the center of New 
York City ... and has a People With AIDS Coalition chapter of its own.
+
+     A large and partially State-funded organization Long Island AIDS 
care has been campaigning for AIDS care in nursing facilities for the 
past 4 years.
+
+     There is ONE "local" newspaper ... the award winning "Long 
Island Newsday" ... a serious competator for readership in the overall 
NY Metro area ...   Many activists consider NEWSDAY's coverage MORE 
"pro-PWA" than either THE TIMES or THE NEWS -- though THE TIME'S 
*medical* reportage is considered more complete and accurate.ers
+
+      So,  how is it that county medical and government 
administrators are still,  themselves, uneasy about the safety of 
admitting PWAs to nursing homes ... and are dead-certain that the 
voters would object sufficiently to affect the coming elections ?
+
+       Hasn't there been enough "education" of the professions and 
the populace at large?  Can it be that an AIDS related story EVERY DAY 
for THREE YEARS  (that's NEWSDAY's average)  PLUS the Network TV 
coverage, PLUS the Federal Government's information outreach, PLUS the 
combined efforts of LI AIDS CARE, ACT UP, and PWA Coaltion over 
several years isn't "enough?"
+
+       When the Germans living within a few miles of the various 
death camps were asked "How did you let this happen?" ... they replied 
that they simply "didn't know."
+       Until recently, I couldn't accept that as an excuse ... "not 
knowing" !   How could they not know?  Surely they must have noticed 
the late-night trains full of people coming IN but none going OUT ... 
surely they noticed the SMELL of the crematoria ...  Even though their 
own goverment was involved in a day-to-day disinformation program 
concerning the function of the camps ... even though the Media were 
under strict Party/Goverment control ... HOW COULD THEY NOT KNOW???
+
+       Well,  based on what is going on here in Nassau/Suffolk
+       I guess the human capacity to 
+                                       " not know" 
+       Is SO vast that it now seems reasonable that the civilian
+workers and suppliers for the death camps should NOT have been blamed 
for their participation in the horrors ...
+
+   It's obvious that they REALLY didn't know ... they were never even 
TOLD by a "valid source" that anything out of the way was going on -- 
+
+    If Guelotta and his party are returned to office in Nassau (a 
nearly foregone conclusion) perhaps we need to consider PAYING 
REPARATIONS to those good citizens of Ravensbrook and Buchenwald who 
were "De-Nazified" or actually punished for "not knowing".    Compared 
to my neighbors ... they were (by comparison) just  innocent little
lambs who needed "more  education".

 382/1

--  
Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!107!269!Adam.Selene
Internet: Adam.Selene@f269.n107.z1.fidonet.org