A Brief, Yet Important, Aside
Another week of working three days in a row and I'm ready for a break! The Oma Bear arrived yesterday afternoon so the rest of the week is going to be busy. But right now she's still snoozing away and Tink is entranced by his 20-minute baby video so I thought I'd sneak away for a few moments and say hello.
What I really want to get off my chest is the huge controversy that one of my oldest friends inadvertently started back at home. She has been giving newspaper, radio, and television interviews, as well as speaking at churches, club meetings etc. The reason she has been doing this is because she is just freshly back from 8 months in Africa, trying to help in any way she can with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In hindsight I suppose we should have known that someone would take offense to the notion of distributing condoms as an AIDS preventative measure. A local woman did two things - she wrote a letter to the editor and she called the local priest and made him apologize to the parish for having my friend speak to them. My friend sat in church the next weekend while the priest publicly shamed her in front of the entire town for five minutes.
Thankfully there have been defences - someone from the local AIDS Committee wrote an intelligent and informative rebuttal to the editor and my friend overheard a man rebuke Father for humiliating my friend in front of everyone. The worst part of all of this is that now a debate has been created about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing AIDS. The byline of the woman's letter was "Condoms do not prevent AIDS/HIV". You tell me how many young people are going to read that and think it's true. Krazy sighs and asks what do I expect from such a backwoods area, but I expect a lot better. My blood has been simmering for days over this and if that man hadn't written to the editor, I sure as hell would have!
Argh. Other than that, things are great! Enjoying my company..now I have to go and get out some baking ingredients so that I can convince Oma Bear to make me some rice pudding. :)
What I really want to get off my chest is the huge controversy that one of my oldest friends inadvertently started back at home. She has been giving newspaper, radio, and television interviews, as well as speaking at churches, club meetings etc. The reason she has been doing this is because she is just freshly back from 8 months in Africa, trying to help in any way she can with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In hindsight I suppose we should have known that someone would take offense to the notion of distributing condoms as an AIDS preventative measure. A local woman did two things - she wrote a letter to the editor and she called the local priest and made him apologize to the parish for having my friend speak to them. My friend sat in church the next weekend while the priest publicly shamed her in front of the entire town for five minutes.
Thankfully there have been defences - someone from the local AIDS Committee wrote an intelligent and informative rebuttal to the editor and my friend overheard a man rebuke Father for humiliating my friend in front of everyone. The worst part of all of this is that now a debate has been created about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing AIDS. The byline of the woman's letter was "Condoms do not prevent AIDS/HIV". You tell me how many young people are going to read that and think it's true. Krazy sighs and asks what do I expect from such a backwoods area, but I expect a lot better. My blood has been simmering for days over this and if that man hadn't written to the editor, I sure as hell would have!
Argh. Other than that, things are great! Enjoying my company..now I have to go and get out some baking ingredients so that I can convince Oma Bear to make me some rice pudding. :)
posted by Melbine @ 8:35 AM
6 Comments:
At 9:15 AM,
Dread Pirate Jessica said…
It's always shocking and disappointing when people are stupid, no matter where they live.
At 10:12 AM,
Sugarplum said…
Making your guest cook - good on you.
I get really worked up on that subject as well. I also try not to be frustrated with my cousin who went to Africa to help with a missionary acting group. As far as I'm concerned, bringing our religious prejudices and teachings to Africa doesn't help them at all.
And it doesn't help when people of authority spread lies. The dude just had to attend a presentation by the Dairy people and the woman told the entire school that you could use hard cheese to brush your teeth and that milk is the only way your body can get Vitamin D. Oh, and that Soy milk gives you breast cancer. He was so pissed off that she was spreading lies that when she sat down to eat across the table from him he left! Could you imagine all those kids going home and refusing to use their toothbrushes because they're convinced that a piece of cheese works just as well?!! (I know this isn't life threatening but it's about people in authority spreading lies to young people.)
At 12:24 PM,
Melbine said…
I have never heard that about hard cheese before. Wait - this woman gave this presentation in front of a group of kids?? That's horrible. As much as I love dairy, I fully recognize that a) there are alternatives to get the same nutrients and b) not everyone's body can handle it.
It is frustrating when misconceptions are absorbed so easily...
At 12:48 PM,
Sugarplum said…
She went to every class at the elementary school that the dude is doing his practicum in last week and told every student all those things. Just last night the dude was pouring himself a glass of "cancer" (soy milk) and he said something like, "That bitch was so full of shit! Soy milk has vitamin D in it!" He was really upset about the way she was misleading all those children.
At 6:22 PM,
Anonymous said…
The priest shouldn't have shamed your friend if he allowed her to speak before. If he disagreed, he could have said something right then. He deserves shaming.
Both the dairy lady and the no-condoms activists should get slapped because they both hide their own agendas behind something else. The dairy lady is paid to sell milk, but she does it lying through her teeth. Is selling your product to kids like that even allowed (in a isn't it against the law sense)? And the no-condom people think that sex without marriage is a sin. That's their own problem, but hiding that behind saying that condoms don't prevent AIDS is a lie.
Anyway, both the priest and the school should know better how to deal with people like that.
At 12:34 PM,
Sugarplum said…
Wise words, Jiri. Shame on those with power who listen without speaking up for the truth.
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