The real truth about AIDS

So, the morning of the 12^th of January 2015, I took a leave from work to watch the Golden Globe awards live. This year’s winners were mostly first-timers and a large group of actors were awarded this time. One such significant winner for me was actor Matt Bomer, who won the award for Best Supporting actor in a TV movie or miniseries, for his work in the movie ‘The Normal Heart.’

In this film, he portrays the lead actor’s gay lover, ultimately dying in the movie due to AIDS. I haven’t seen the movie yet (all this information is sourced from Wikipedia) but I read that the movie got rave reviews, especially Bomer being singled out for his performance, culminating in a win for him at the Globes.

 

This is a consecutive award for an actor playing an HIV-AIDS patient. Last year, Matthew Mcconaughey and Jared Leto swept the acting honours at almost all the award ceremonies. They, too, won for portraying characters battling the dreaded disease. 

After all, they all worked hard, underwent dramatic weight loss to correctly portray the effects of the disease on oneself. 

The world is more aware about this doom than it was 30 years ago. 

The web can provide you with exhaustive information on the R & D undergoing the world over for HIV-AIDS. There are charities, funds, donations, etc., which are making sure the baton doesn’t fall. The entire world is united to defeat this monster.

But AIDS can never be defeated..

Yes, this is the grim truth.

AIDS is a never-ending, multi-faced Hydra monster. You chop one head and a new head will sprout in its place. 

I am sorry for sounding bitter, but this is the truth. We, as an organism, on this big planet, can never end it. We have no chance of making AIDS sound a thing of the past. It is our dirty legacy to our future generations.

You may question the reason for me sounding so pessimistic. You may even feel like abusing me or bashing me for being blunt. Some may even suggest me to look on the brighter side of things. There would be reports being waved on my face, showing how far we have come from 1981. 

The reports are nothing, but a way of escape; a denial that humans choose to take refuge in from escaping this harsh reality. We never left 1981. We are still in the same place.

The real truth behind the growth of AIDS; the real reason why it can be never be defeated is because of the STIGMA attached to it. 

To all those, who question this reason and state it as obsolete; I have one question for you all:

CAN YOU OVERCOME THE STIGMA?

Being diagnosed with HIV is like getting a label stamped across your forehead. You are a criminal of the society. 

But have you ever wondered why a person becomes a criminal? Why is a person treated like an outcast? Science has proved that HIV is not transmitted by body contact and yet, a HIV person is given a wide berth. We tend to avoid that person. A friend yesterday, becomes a stranger today. We avoid eye contact, touch or even getting close to that person. 

This really does sound odd and to some extent, even annoying, considering the amount of information we have on this disease.

This leads me to my next question: WHY DO PEOPLE BEHAVE IN THIS WAY?

As stated above, people are knowledgeable about it. But yet, I have seen and witnessed the duplicity of society it for myself. The person loses all support – friends, colleagues and sadly, even family. The entire society turns against you. My own mother was turned away from a number of private hospitals, resulting in her losing hope and sanity.  In India, at least in the city of Mumbai, there is not even a single private hospital that treats HIV patients. You have to go to the government hospitals, where lack of empathy further saps the patient’s morale.

The trauma has already kicked in, even before the virus has started to deteriorate the body.

The patient’s mental health has given up. It can sustain no more. It cannot take the pressure. It cannot take the pain society is inflicting on it. 

Doesn’t it make you think about it? We are all for peace and support and love, yet when it comes to proving it, we walk away from showing the simplest of human emotion of compassion. 

Why are we like this? What drives a person to hate a HIV-AIDS person?

The answer lies in our mentality. It seriously does. 

We get stuck at the very start – the fact that a person has HIV – we fail to look past this primary aspect.

It is a known fact that HIV transmits through body fluids particularly semen and blood. So, no matter even if a person has contracted the virus through anything else perhaps via contaminated needles or syringes, the first thought that crosses our mind is ‘sexual transmission’.  And by that, I mean, the thought process shifting towards the character of the person:

‘He/She must be sleeping with hundreds of people around’

‘Deserves it for going against God and Nature’

This is the sad truth; the real reason behind the triumph of AIDS in our society. It has radicalized us. We are no longer human beings. Today, there is a new label in town – gay or straight. A friend’s hand on your shoulder or a lingering hug arouses the other’s suspicion.  We are no longer bound together by humanity, but are separated by sexuality and its preconceived notions. No matter how well you knew a person, the fact of them ‘being not normal’, is reason enough to sever all bonds and justify the neglect and sick attitude. 

Even as I am writing this, I see CNN-IBN news channel flashing a breaking news story of Goa’s sports minister, claiming LGBT youth need special treatment and there is a need to set-up centres, required to help them convert back to normal.

Need I say more?