CS_STOKE%SWTEXAS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (02/10/90)
This morning's New York Times has a long article about Andy Rooney being suspended for three months from CBS news for alleged anti-black and anti-gay remarks. The Times quotes him as saying "Many of the ills which kill us are self-induced. Too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes. They're all known to lead quite often to premature death." This was on a December CBS special called "The Year with Andy Rooney." In a letter to the Advocate, a gay paper in Los Angeles, Rooney in a half-hearted attempt to apologize stated, "AIDS is a largely preventable disease, and I expressed the opinion that there is a growing public resentment about being taxed to pay for the health care of people suffering from self-inflicted diseases." Mayor Dinkins of New York City made some interesting remarks. "In my mind, Mr. Rooney's unwillingness to disavow his anti-gay remarks taints the credibility of his denial of racist comments about African-Americans. I find it difficult to believe that an individual who is apparently willing to embrace prejudice toward one group would not be capable of making prejudicial comments about another. Before he is reinstated, CBS News ought to be certain it will not be embarrassed by Mr. Rooney in the future." As a gay man with advanced HIV disease, all I can say is that Rooney sounds like a bigot to me. I surely didn't know what caused AIDS years ago when I caught the virus. Now that I'm ill, I knock myself out taking care of myself. Rooney is prejudiced and Dinkins is right to label prejudice for what it is!