World AIDS Day 2011
December 2nd 2011 00:45
:
Gillard and Social Media
Link: twitter.com/#!/DJobling
Silence (Still) = Death
Yesterday it was World AIDS Day in Australia. Every year the 1st of December is taken as a day to remember those who have lost the fight with HIV/AIDS and to educate those who are free of the infection but still vulnerable to it. The day is a day for remembering and hoping we can keep searching for ways to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and for some, people like me, it is a bitter sweet sort of day when we reflect on how our lives may have been had we not been exposed to the virus.
I don't expect or want violins to start playing now and I'm not attempting to pull on any emotional heart-chords. I expect to treat people around me with dignity and respect; when there is a person trying to raise money and awareness around a cause that needs support I try and do what I can. I personally lost a lot when my sero-status came into the public sphere of awreness, and I'm generally pretty quiet about my personal situation, but this year something has changed.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard ignored World AIDS Day. She didn't tweet or update her status on Facebook; she seemed to be keeping her head low for a couple of reasons. She was just awarded a massive pay rise - what amounts to about a decades income for me on a disability support, and the othe other reason... the National Conference of the Australian Labor Party is happening in Sydney. There are a lot of people hoping to convince Labor that they should get behind same sex marriage and allow equality and fairness to same sex attracted people by giving them the common freedom to marry each other. While this push is on - a push for equality - it seems that the folk who are lobbying for the change as well as the politicians are all completely blinkered.
It seems as if they do not want to rock the boat in any way and allow anything that may distract from the matter at hand to get in the way. The idea of celebrating or remembering something like World AIDS Day could be taken the wrong way in this climate I suppose. Right wing people who think AIDS is not a personal issue may feel this is the Prime Minister favouring homosexuals maybe, if she were to wear a red ribbon or mention it on the day... given that these types of people probably see HIV and AIDS as homosexual diseases. I don't know, I'm not sure.
Obviously there are more people who are not living with HIV in their blood than there are living with it... but I feel the Prime Minister has snubbed me. I feel she has been rude to every man woman and child who has died of HIV or AIDS related complications over the past thirty years. It is a rude and pin-headed sort of thing to do - ignore something that the World Health Organization has put in place to assist in getting information out, education out and allowing some level of dignity for those of us who live each day within the confines of taking our medication and trying to survive with complications that include dealing with government as well as discrimination and lack of education.
I have legislation governing the way I can conduct myself in the bedroom that is far more complex than anything JUlia Gillard is dealing with - I am not particularly committed to seeing myself getting married to a man, but I respect the wishes of younger same sex attracted people to have that choice, and I understand it as an equal rights issue not just a political bun fight.
So I'm not saying there shouldn't be a huge movement encouraging the adoption of equality when it comes to marriage, but at what cost? I don't want it to be at the cost of acknowledging that AIDS is an important issue, that World AIDS Day should just be ignored... Only a few days ago the Prime Minister was at the ARIAS giving Kylie Minogue a special award... oh ah... and she was wearing a white ribbon as a stand towards violence against women... so why ignore wearing a red ribbon on World AIDS Day? Why ignore the violence enacted against People Living With HIV (and) AIDS every day in all parts of the world? What kind of politician ignores something like that?
As the National Labor Party Conference tweets and status updates it's way through all the issues, with a pun every second press of a return button, and as the groundswell of support for same sex marriage grows and the same sex attracted lobbyists get their hoped for outcome - don't forget those of us who live with this every day - because if you do you are more likely to end up being one of us.
Silence (Still) = Death, even in 2011. Ignore World AIDS Day and ignore the people who live with the virus. Legislate our lives, watch as we rot in poverty, turn a blind eye and before long you will be wondering why the virus is still around... why didn't it go away? Because you stoped educating. You stopped caring. You removed the dignity that once was. You took the warnings away.
Ignorance is not bliss in this situation, it's more likely to become a blister, silence is not golden, it is more likely to end in tears. If the Prime Minister and the Australian Labor Party are going to ignore PLWHA, AIDS and the education that is required to keep people safe and alive, then their use of social media is nothing more than a running advert to support their own platform. That's a dangerous thing I think. To take a tool that was once used to educate and make it no more than a wish list platform for a politician - bad news.
Any way - I know that Julia attended a concert in 2010 to support World AIDS Day (last year), and I know that ABC Radio 891 interviewed a 'young sufferer' for WAD this year, and I know that Kelly Osborne is shocked and disgusted like me that our Prime Minister Gillard went the full 24 hours of World AIDS Day without a word on her socila media platforms about it, but Obama didn't, Mandella didn't, and a whole lot of other real people didn't - I just think Julia has shown herself to be ignorant, and selfish and not nice - and that saddens me because I thought she was better than that. I really thought she was better than that, but no, she is not.
David Paul Jobling
Yesterday it was World AIDS Day in Australia. Every year the 1st of December is taken as a day to remember those who have lost the fight with HIV/AIDS and to educate those who are free of the infection but still vulnerable to it. The day is a day for remembering and hoping we can keep searching for ways to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and for some, people like me, it is a bitter sweet sort of day when we reflect on how our lives may have been had we not been exposed to the virus.
I don't expect or want violins to start playing now and I'm not attempting to pull on any emotional heart-chords. I expect to treat people around me with dignity and respect; when there is a person trying to raise money and awareness around a cause that needs support I try and do what I can. I personally lost a lot when my sero-status came into the public sphere of awreness, and I'm generally pretty quiet about my personal situation, but this year something has changed.
It seems as if they do not want to rock the boat in any way and allow anything that may distract from the matter at hand to get in the way. The idea of celebrating or remembering something like World AIDS Day could be taken the wrong way in this climate I suppose. Right wing people who think AIDS is not a personal issue may feel this is the Prime Minister favouring homosexuals maybe, if she were to wear a red ribbon or mention it on the day... given that these types of people probably see HIV and AIDS as homosexual diseases. I don't know, I'm not sure.
Obviously there are more people who are not living with HIV in their blood than there are living with it... but I feel the Prime Minister has snubbed me. I feel she has been rude to every man woman and child who has died of HIV or AIDS related complications over the past thirty years. It is a rude and pin-headed sort of thing to do - ignore something that the World Health Organization has put in place to assist in getting information out, education out and allowing some level of dignity for those of us who live each day within the confines of taking our medication and trying to survive with complications that include dealing with government as well as discrimination and lack of education.
I have legislation governing the way I can conduct myself in the bedroom that is far more complex than anything JUlia Gillard is dealing with - I am not particularly committed to seeing myself getting married to a man, but I respect the wishes of younger same sex attracted people to have that choice, and I understand it as an equal rights issue not just a political bun fight.
So I'm not saying there shouldn't be a huge movement encouraging the adoption of equality when it comes to marriage, but at what cost? I don't want it to be at the cost of acknowledging that AIDS is an important issue, that World AIDS Day should just be ignored... Only a few days ago the Prime Minister was at the ARIAS giving Kylie Minogue a special award... oh ah... and she was wearing a white ribbon as a stand towards violence against women... so why ignore wearing a red ribbon on World AIDS Day? Why ignore the violence enacted against People Living With HIV (and) AIDS every day in all parts of the world? What kind of politician ignores something like that?
As the National Labor Party Conference tweets and status updates it's way through all the issues, with a pun every second press of a return button, and as the groundswell of support for same sex marriage grows and the same sex attracted lobbyists get their hoped for outcome - don't forget those of us who live with this every day - because if you do you are more likely to end up being one of us.
Silence (Still) = Death, even in 2011. Ignore World AIDS Day and ignore the people who live with the virus. Legislate our lives, watch as we rot in poverty, turn a blind eye and before long you will be wondering why the virus is still around... why didn't it go away? Because you stoped educating. You stopped caring. You removed the dignity that once was. You took the warnings away.
Ignorance is not bliss in this situation, it's more likely to become a blister, silence is not golden, it is more likely to end in tears. If the Prime Minister and the Australian Labor Party are going to ignore PLWHA, AIDS and the education that is required to keep people safe and alive, then their use of social media is nothing more than a running advert to support their own platform. That's a dangerous thing I think. To take a tool that was once used to educate and make it no more than a wish list platform for a politician - bad news.
Any way - I know that Julia attended a concert in 2010 to support World AIDS Day (last year), and I know that ABC Radio 891 interviewed a 'young sufferer' for WAD this year, and I know that Kelly Osborne is shocked and disgusted like me that our Prime Minister Gillard went the full 24 hours of World AIDS Day without a word on her socila media platforms about it, but Obama didn't, Mandella didn't, and a whole lot of other real people didn't - I just think Julia has shown herself to be ignorant, and selfish and not nice - and that saddens me because I thought she was better than that. I really thought she was better than that, but no, she is not.
David Paul Jobling
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