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The communication breakdowns around COVID-19 can't help remind one of the way communication breakdowns magnified the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s.
So I'm not a virologist or epidemiologist by any means, but my fascination with that topic led me to focus on health communication in grad school.
My takeaway? When people get sick, it makes the problem worse by:
- lying about it
- ignoring it
- blaming the sick for it
My takeaway? When people get sick, it makes the problem worse by:
- lying about it
- ignoring it
- blaming the sick for it
We lost four or five years of ground on containing AIDS because of prejudice against the gay community. Nobody in America at the time felt any sort of moral obligation to help.
When we don't feel morally obligated to help people, we also don't feel responsible for using appropriate language. We had researchers and politicians calling it "gay cancer" or ACIDS. 'Cause, ya know, those aren't panic-inducing phrases at all.
It is disconcerting to see some members of our government (
) lack any feeling of responsibility about how to talk about COVID-19. It is an unforced error of villainous proportions to create a backlash that could hurt more. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/20/coronavirus-trump-chinese-virus/
) lack any feeling of responsibility about how to talk about COVID-19. It is an unforced error of villainous proportions to create a backlash that could hurt more. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/20/coronavirus-trump-chinese-virus/
At least we're talking about coronavirus at all, right? Even if people can't get tested, the idea of flattening the curve is in the wind, and people (many, if not all, are taking it seriously.
That did not happen in the HIV/AIDS crisis for far too long. Ronald Reagan didn't make public comments about AIDS until 1985, a term+ into his presidency after thousands had already died.
For the three or four years previous, however, Larry Speakes, Reagan's press secretary had made vile, homophobic cracks about Americans dying from AIDS a recurring feature in his briefings. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/reagan-administration-response-to-aids-crisis
Nancy Reagan turned Rock Hudson away when he asked for help fighting AIDS. His death shocked America into action a year later.
Lesson: taking action because it's right is better than taking it because "the right people" have started to die. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hollywood-star-who-confronted-aids-silent-epidemic-180965059/
Lesson: taking action because it's right is better than taking it because "the right people" have started to die. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hollywood-star-who-confronted-aids-silent-epidemic-180965059/
Even today, the nation's largest programs for helping those with HIV/AIDS are named after Ryan White, a young, white suburban American kid who was infected through a blood transfusion.
To be clear, Ryan White's life helped mobilize America to fight the disease and his memory deserves our utmost respect. But it tells you a lot about our culture that we wouldn't talk about AIDS - let alone fight it - when it was "just happening to gay men."
The cultural silence on HIV/AIDS naturally led to an era of loud, in-your-face activism that changed American culture forever. Organizations like the GMHC or ACT UP (among many others) took to the streets, to the media, and government buildings to be heard,
To unpack that movement in a single tweet is impossible. A great place to start, however, might be David France's How to Survive a Plague.
Randy Shilts' "And The Band Played On," an account of the spread and fight against the disease, is still gripping, tragic and vital. Well worth a read if you can handle another pandemic story during this current crisis.
Some of the trainwrecks he describes might seem familiar.
Some of the trainwrecks he describes might seem familiar.
You can't ignore a crisis. You can lie by omission about how serious it is. You need to tell people what to expect and how to prepare. You need to tell people what's going on.
Arthur Ashe told people the truth and he's one of my heroes for that. #RVA https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/04/09/arthur-ashe-announces-he-has-aids/eeb305b9-e36e-4e7c-8fba-c7912a2d5368/
Arthur Ashe told people the truth and he's one of my heroes for that. #RVA https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/04/09/arthur-ashe-announces-he-has-aids/eeb305b9-e36e-4e7c-8fba-c7912a2d5368/
Terrible things are going to happen in our lives. Trouble always comes around. The entire point of collective society, however, is that we weather those storms together.
We just need to know what kind of storm it is.
We just need to know what kind of storm it is.
I'll leave off with a quote from one of our former leaders that current and future ones should remember:
âI have faith in the people...Let them know the truth, and the country is safe.â - Abraham Lincoln
âI have faith in the people...Let them know the truth, and the country is safe.â - Abraham Lincoln
