Elton John Puzzler

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OK, first we have a confession:

"Sir Elton John should now be dead from Aids like his friends Freddie Mercury or Rock Hudson, he said on Monday. For years he was addicted to drugs and drink and put himself at high risk of contracting HIV by his behaviour."

I'm glad you made it through, Elton.

But then:

"Because the Aids disease is caused by a virus, but the Aids epidemic is not. The Aids epidemic is fuelled by stigma, violence and indifference."

Huh? What did "stigma" have to do with Elton getting high and having unsafe sex?! And the thing is, if we blame the spread of AIDS on an imaginary cause ("stigma" -- I'm not saying gays haven't been stigmatized, I'm saying that is imaginary as the cause of the AIDS epidemic), it tends to allow people to ignore the real problem. "Hey, I'm not at risk of AIDS because I'm sharing a needle with a hooker, no... it's because I'm stigmatized!"

And then we move on to total blather:

"If this country wanted to end HIV infections at home it could do so in a heartbeat... All it takes is a bit more funding and a bit more understanding. All it takes is dialogue."

So, if people are having unsafe sex and sharing needles, just "a bit more funding" will fix this "in a heartbeat"... how, exactly?

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