I watch the current news and see a lot about this pandemic and the reports of the administration's slow and inadequate response in dealing with the outbreak despite knowing about it well ahead of time, even when less was known about the virus causing it than we would later discover. And you know, I seem to recall another time when this same thing happened with another administration a long time ago...
Of course I'm talking about the AIDS outbreak in the US and the government's response to it in the early stages when, we now very well know, much more could and SHOULD have been done to mitigate its impact on the people of this country. Isn't that one of the fundamental reasons we as a society decide to create governments in the first place? To protect the people?
In the shocking clip below, we go back to the early eighties and see how the press and the spokesperson for the Reagan administration bantered about the emerging epidemic. I would guess these briefings we hear weren't televised but the audio is so impactful of how attitudes were at the time about the dawning crisis and the prevalent and blatant homophobia which is frankly shocking.
At least today the media seem much more knowledgeable and sympathetic. I don't recall anyone these days laughing and making racist Asian remarks when the news of Covid-19 broke earlier this year while it could then have been labeled a "Chink plague." Oh, except for perhaps the President who still berates Asian-American reporters who, in his mind, need to be reminded loudly and firmly that this disease originated in CHINA!
I haven't looked back in the historical archives as to what Trump said back in the eighties about AIDS. Did he too giggle and guffaw in the New York Athletic Club locker room after a squash match about the faggots and their disease? Betcha he did.
Oh, and BTW, do we think we're dealing with only one pandemic in this country at present? Um, no. AIDS is still ongoing. And like the coronavirus, HIV doesn't discriminate. Anyone can get it and the attitudes and behavior of every American has remained changed irrevocably because of it.
Some things never change.
EDIT: I can't seem to find out how to embed videos anymore with the new Blogger changes. This is making me beyond upset. Here's the URL though:
Ok, I found it...
Had to use HTML view like in a previous Blogger iteration. Ugh. Well, I guess this goes with the title too. Blogger format change issues...it's all too familiar.