Why do black people have more STD's?

[Sally]

Leave that talk for conspiracy-only related forums with the rest of the nutters. Gotcha...

Exactly. You implied--strongly implied--that the Holocaust was some sort of conspiracy, i.e., it wasn't obvious that the Nazis were trying to kill Jews and other people, but they were doing something "subversive" (one of the definitions of conspiracy). That shows a certain, shall we say, lack of information on your part. So definitely, leave that particular kind of talk for conspiracy-only related forums with the rest of the nutters. I don't have the cred to talk about the hangings of black people in the Southern US and I wouldn't insult their descendants by doing so. I doubt if you have the cred to talk about the Holocaust. So don't.

[Display]

Is "cred" short for "credibility"?

[dasein]

This is the backbone spirit behind Capitalism and Christianity and the idea of absolute free will. People who subscribe to these ideas revel in putting the blame on the poor and misfortunate.

I have a lot of issues with Christianity but blaming the poor is not one of them. If anything, I see churches and other Christian-based organizations donating and creating more charities for the poor than anyone else around here. Not to mention, I routinely have Christians offer to buy me things in the spirit of charity (while slightly misguided, the intention is far from "blaming the poor.")

Nika

It's not your run-of-the-mill friendly neighborino that is a problem. It's the neo-conservatives in the republican party inner-circle that believe in three things: that a strong christian moral framework produces a stable society, free-markets are the best way to run an economy, and the collapse of the soviet union proved that god was on their side.

I can see what you're saying. I'd be careful not to claim it as the "spirit of Christianity" though, as Electroid said. That's accusing a much wider circle of people than the rich capitalist neo-conservative Christians you're talking about.

Nika

The neighbourinos watch Fox News and then they vote for the neo-con because of their "Christian Values". It's not their fault that they are manipulated by rich people, the elites like the status quo, so they control people by making them too afraid to accept change.

[PiF]

Do we forget about how brainwashed they were into thinking that they were still in charge of their lives through ultimatums? Don't resist, don't look like a fool now, just walk in and take a shower, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6_bBmy-9bw

electoid..do you happen to know perhaps..shadow girl..tristy even?

[Edward Cullen]

If you don't know the sexual history of the person you're sleeping with, then you're opening the door to the possibility of any and all STD's, including AIDS.

It's got nothing to do with race or creed; people should know their partner before deciding to share their bed with them.

[Guest fridayoak]

I guess it's a mixture of lack of healthcare access compared to other ethnic groups, less sex education and a cultural aversion to using condoms within some quarters of the black community. There was an interesting documentary by Darcus Howe about the high percentage of Black males in the UK who have prostate cancer, it's well worth watching.

[Display]

If you don't know the sexual history of the person you're sleeping with, then you're opening the door to the possibility of any and all STD's, including AIDS.

It's got nothing to do with race or creed; people should know their partner before deciding to share their bed with them.

While you have a point, I think it's ignorant to think that every culture deals with and views sex in exactly the same way. Sexual practices, like the acceptable age for losing one's virginity, the acceptable number of partners, and so on, vary from culture to culture. Things like race and creed can factor into cultural norms. Of course I can't claim that all black people or all poor people treat sex the same way, everything from your race to your religion to your gender to your socioeconomic status to your upbringing factor into how you view sex and therefore how much exposure you have to STD's or education you have about STD prevention.

Nika

[Electroid]

I think I'll just make a few threads called "Why do black people have more babies?" or "Why do black people love friend chicken?" or "Why do black people smell funny?" or "Why do black people wear doo rags?" or "Why do black people talk in ebonics?" or "Why do black people commit RACIAL CRIMES? or think the police are after them or feel like they're singled out and discriminated against?" I don't know, just throwin' it out there....

[facepalms]

Why are black people dumb, poor, and violent? It sounds wild, I know it really does, but there might be reasons underlying their current conditions that caused it in the first place. We can talk about creed and religion all day but isn't it funny how we ignore prejudice and oppression that is the real explanation? And heaven forbid we come to think that there might be really hateful people out there with a lot of power and money who aid it...

Actually, it isn't, I find it very very sad.

[Inevitable]

I like friend chickens.

[Sally]

We can talk about creed and religion all day but isn't it funny how we ignore prejudice and oppression that is the real explanation? And heaven forbid we come to think that there might be really hateful people out there with a lot of power and money who aid it...

Speak for yourself, not "we."

[PiF]

somedays..just somedays..I worry about the future given the youth of today...and what I see in here

agreed with sally..don't count me in your rant

[dasein]

somedays..just somedays..I worry about the future given the youth of today...and what I see in here

agreed with sally..don't count me in your rant

Most of the time I worry about the future given the adults of today.

[PiF]

without whom you would not exist :lol:

[TheMuffinMan]

I am pretty sure that out of the billions of adults in the world, each individual person owes their simple existence to two.

[dasein]

In conclusion.

Poverty will give you AIDS?

[Sally]

In conclusion.

Poverty will give you AIDS?

And often AIDS will give you poverty.

[Guest Pelagic]

I heard something kind of interesting a few days ago, and while it's more speculation than cold hard fact...

I heard that people with ancestors who survived the Black Plague (mostly European Caucasians) have a slight resistance against HIV/AIDS than those who didn't. The Plague affected your immune system, and so does HIV/AIDS. While having unprotected sex with an infected individual will certainly expose you to the virus, there are individuals who are immune. Most of these individuals are white.

It was just a theory, I remember hearing, and we don't know very much about HIV/AIDS or how our genetics come into play where viruses are concerned. But it sounds possible.

somedays..just somedays..I worry about the future given the youth of today...and what I see in here

I think every generation says that :lol:

I've started to say it and I'm just barely an adult.

[Sally]

I heard something kind of interesting a few days ago, and while it's more speculation than cold hard fact...

I heard that people with ancestors who survived the Black Plague (mostly European Caucasians) have a slight resistance against HIV/AIDS than those who didn't. The Plague affected your immune system, and so does HIV/AIDS. While having unprotected sex with an infected individual will certainly expose you to the virus, there are individuals who are immune. Most of these individuals are white.

It was just a theory, I remember hearing, and we don't know very much about HIV/AIDS or how our genetics come into play where viruses are concerned. But it sounds possible.

somedays..just somedays..I worry about the future given the youth of today...and what I see in here

I think every generation says that :lol:

I've started to say it and I'm just barely an adult.

It was actually a mutated form of a particular gene that prevented the HIV virus from ravaging the body by killing T cells. That mutated gene also prevented people from being sickened by the plague bacterium (plague's caused by a bacterium; HIV is caused by a virus). The people in the isolated little village in England in 1665 didn't die of plague because they were all pretty inbred and shared that mutated gene. Their descendents who had the mutated gene weren't affected by HIV either.

It wasn't really their immune system; it was their genetic makeup.

[Tanwen]

I have a genetic resistance to smallpox (no great advantage now, but still) when polio was rampant, and before the advent of a vaccine, my mother was told not to worry too much about me as I had the cold sore (herpes simplex) virus and the two could not live in the same host...didn't stop me from getting the jab though :(

Thing is, in every population some will have a natural resistance to a virus, no way of telling who, how or when.

[Nugan]

And equally, a lot of people like the Jews ignored what was in their faces until they ended up in concentration camps.

Ignored? More like blinded by sheer disbelief and inability to comprehend how such mass cruelty can take place.

No, I don't think so. The Jewish people were well aware of humanity's capacity for mass cruelty long before Adolf. They had been a chronic target of groupthink dickishness for, well, centuries would be an understatement. The holocaust had nothing to do with ignorance or blindness on the part of Jews. You can be well aware that you are in a horrible situation and still be powerless to change it. With all this talk of the lessons of history, let's not forget that.

However:

You implied--strongly implied--that the Holocaust was some sort of conspiracy, i.e., it wasn't obvious that the Nazis were trying to kill Jews and other people, but they were doing something "subversive" (one of the definitions of conspiracy).

To Electroid's credit, the full scope of the Holocaust did not become clear to most until the death camps and Nazi records were discovered following the fall of the Reich. People knew some awful shit was going down in Germany, but a lot of people thought it ended at forced deportations and nasty work camps. In fact, a excellent film about the Nazi leadership's decision to begin mass extermination is called Conspiracy.

On the main topic: I wonder how the Centers for Disease Control arrived at these numbers. The CNN article does not link to the actual study. People are not generally eager to share private health information, particularly when it pertains to STDs. Did the CDC interview people? Did they speak to doctors? Did they use hospital treatment records? If they used data from medical sources, did they cover private physicians and free/open clinics equally? I'd need to see the answers to all of these questions before I'd trust these statistics.

As far as the origin of AIDS is concerned, I honestly don't know. As others have said, there is absolutely no question that the United States government has subjected minority populations to disease (or withheld treatment for disease). I'm sure you've heard the examples countless times before: Smallpox blankets. The Tuskegee Experiment. Forced sterilization. And so on. There are numerous well documented incidents that are widely accepted by historians and scholars who are in no way affiliated with conspiracy theorists. I haven't read anything that has convinced me that AIDS had anything but a natural origin, but I can see why many believe so, given history.

[Sally]

To Electroid's credit, the full scope of the Holocaust did not become clear to most until the death camps and Nazi records were discovered following the fall of the Reich.

People knew some awful shit was going down in Germany, but a lot of people thought it ended at forced deportations and nasty work camps.

No, it was known, but nothing was done about it. Warsaw Ghetto inhabitants who looked "Aryan" who sneaked out to work with the partisans followed the deportation trains and brought back news of the extermination camps by 1943. No one really wanted to deal with it. The British wouldn't let people into Palestine; the US actually turned away a ship of refugees and sent it back to Germany. It was the soldiers who first went into the camps who were shocked, not world leaders.

[Ocelot]

I don't know. How did AIDS get from animals to humans? :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

[Nugan]

No, it was known, but nothing was done about it. Warsaw Ghetto inhabitants who looked "Aryan" who sneaked out to work with the partisans followed the deportation trains and brought back news of the extermination camps by 1943. No one really wanted to deal with it. The British wouldn't let people into Palestine; the US actually turned away a ship of refugees and sent it back to Germany. It was the soldiers who first went into the camps who were shocked, not world leaders.

Yes, some people did know, but the full reality of the holocaust was not common knowledge at that point. Yes, this was largely because antisemitism was widespread well beyond Germany and many people were apathetic to the plight of Jews in Germany, but this doesn't change the fact that most outside of Germany (and many inside of Germany) did not know everything that was going on. I know that the United States (and a number of other Western countries for that matter) turned away Jewish refugees, but, as I said, even assuming they were oblivious to the holocaust, Western leaders knew of plenty of reasons why German Jews would want to emigrate, as many of the Reich's antisemitic policies were public knowledge. That's not to say that world leaders didn't have a better understanding of what was going on than humanity at large. They clearly did, but my argument was simply that many, many people did not learn about the extermination camps and the gas chambers until after the invasion of Germany. This doesn't justify their apathy or prejudice, and I wasn't trying to excuse them. I was just explaining that it would not be totally unfounded to view the holocaust as a conspiracy. Men with power did conspire, and there was a real attempt to conduct the mass killings with some level of secrecy. That doesn't make it a kooky conspiracy theory or diminish the reality of the suffering. It also doesn't excuse or justify it.

[Electroid]

That's why you gotta do it like the Mexicans and haul yo azz over to your destination. Nevermind the rules, the borders, the races. We all have power in us to disobey. The holocaust is the perfect example of how nothing worse could happen. Forget the lies and laws of the leaders. Use your head.

I'm about to get out of this country for reasons of my own.