The Virginia Informer
The Virginia Informer
Forgotten victims
The difference between sufferers and victims of HIV/AIDS
By Ben Farthing, Staff Writer
In the United States, there is a minority that is cast aside, downtrodden, and ignored. This group of men, women, and children has had their minority status thrust upon them by someone else. They suffer, and will continue to suffer great pain and eventual death, not because of their own actions, but through the careless actions of others. This ignored minority group is known as AIDS victims.
In the United States, there is a minority that is cast aside, downtrodden, and ignored. This group of men, women, and children has had their minority status thrust upon them by someone else. They suffer, and will continue to suffer great pain and eventual death, not because of their own actions, but through the careless actions of others. This ignored minority group is known as AIDS victims.
It should first be noted that my intention is not to glorify every person that suffers from AIDS. The specific people that I speak of are only AIDS victims, not all AIDS sufferers. While the difference between these two terms may seem trivial, it is actually very drastic. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word “victim” as “one that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agent.” The word “sufferer” is “one that endures pain, death, or distress.” Anyone who has the AIDS virus can be classified as a sufferer. Only a few deserve to be called a victim.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have divided the list of people who are AIDS sufferers into categories, dependent on how they contracted the disease. Nearly half contracted the disease from male to male homosexual sex. Another 28% got it through injection drug use. Another 6% of sufferers ended up with AIDS through both gay sex and injection drug use. About another 15% contracted the virus through heterosexual sex, whether that be sex with a bisexual male, sex with an injection drug user, sex with a hemophiliac, sex with a blood transfusion recipient, or “sex with an HIV-infected person, risk not specified.”
This leaves a little less than 2% of AIDS sufferers who can rightly be called AIDS victims. This small number of people consists of those who contracted AIDS prenatally, through blood transfusions, and through hemophiliac treatment. These people did absolutely nothing foolish or careless to end up with the disease.
I do not mean to imply that the other 98% of AIDS sufferers are in some way responsible for their condition. I am stating a fact. While there will always be exceptions, 98% of AIDS sufferers contracted it through some foolish or careless action. The statistics that the CDC releases every year are enough to show that AIDS is not something that just happens. It is a result of an action, usually male to male sex or injection drug use. An obvious solution for avoiding AIDS would be to refrain from these acts, and to refrain from sex with people who have put themselves at risk through these acts.
So what of the 2% who were in no way responsible for contracting AIDS? Should we just add them to the list of people who have truly been shafted by life, fate, or some divine power? I say no. These people have contracted the disease due to the careless actions of the other 98%. AIDS should not be an epidemic. The spreading of the AIDS virus would halt in only a few generations if people were not careless with drug use or with their sex life. Now, due to the carelessness of so many people, many innocents are dying.
Death as a result of carelessness—sounds familiar? It’s commonly known as manslaughter.
(All statistics can be found at www.cdc.gov)
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