Jezebel 
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New York, 4:46 AM
Tue Dec 15
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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But I used to sneak my stepmom's People magazines, and I watched the made-for-TV movie with Lukas Haas when it came out, and I was so upset by the whole thing. Not just that he had this fatal illness through no fault of his own, but that other people were so cruel about it. I mean, I was old enough to know that people could be real dicks to each other - I knew about slavery and the civil rights movement and sexism and sex abuse and ugly divorces and custody battles - but even so, the language used to discuss people with AIDS was shocking to me.
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When he died, it was an immensely sad moment because he was a good friend and it seemed so tragic. My mom told me more details as I became older, and I really began to understand the impact as I became more familiar with the disease.
I guess what I really want to say is that the Kami character is wonderful and knowledge is always a great thing. Promoting tolerance early on makes sense, doesn't it? #sesamestreet
11/11/09
11/11/09
It does not. Although I always kind of find it interesting that some people feel free to slam people for having, say, Herpes, but fall over themselves in a PC flurry when HIV comes up.
Bittah..... #sesamestreet
11/11/09
Anything that promotes tolerance for something that has been so stigmatized is a positive in my book.
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[pathmicro.med.sc.edu] #sesamestreet
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Protecting American's traditional lack of understanding since the inception of the country. #sesamestreet
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Nearly two years ago, I worked on an HIV-education/treatment project in Kwa-Zulu Natal, one of the provinces of South Africa. It's estimated that 40% of the adult population of KZN is HIV+. Some of the people I met on that project provide services to "child-headed households" - families where both parents are dead, and a kid not much past Sesame Street age him- or herself ends up trying to support younger siblings. Think about that for a while.
The state of HIV/AIDS education in South Africa has improved slightly since then, but it is still horrifically bad, in large part because the previous government spent years denying the link between HIV and AIDS even existed. There's also (at least among the Zulu people I worked with) a strong cultural taboo against talking about sex or HIV at all; several of the people I met had tested positive and stayed in denial about it for YEARS afterward until they had a health crisis. Anything that can be done to lessen the stigma of HIV, anything that can be done to support those kids whose parents are sick, or dying, or who maybe have friends whose parents are sick or gone, anything, is a good start (and local SA TV has done some good educational entertainment initiatives as well, to be fair).
The idea that someone could be against Kami because she would "indoctrinate kids into the homosexual lifestyle" is beyond maddening in its homophobia, it's murderously ignorant. #sesamestreet
11/11/09
My dad was also careful to destigmatize the disease in an age when rumors were flying fast and furious. #sesamestreet
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