Might also be because AIDS also isn't really seen as an automatic death sentence anymore, so there isn't a depressing cloud of mortality that surrounds mention of it.
Yeah, I figure the not a death sentence anymore thing factors heavily into it -- I mean, I can definitely see why it would be viewed differently from when Pedro was on The Real World. But I did find it kind of cool that they just treated it as really no different than Sam being diabetic on Top Chef.
I don't know why those Top [Whatever] shows are so addicting, but they are. A marathon of Top [Whatever] is a good way to lose an entire morning/afternoon/good lord have I really watched an entire season of Top Chef in a day.....
Just to be nitpicky, there is a difference between AIDS and HIV, and AIDS most certainly IS a "death sentence". HIV however can be managed so that AIDS does not develop, though it of course causes problems of its own. Once one's t-cells fall below a certain count, that is when AIDS develops.
Anyway I think that, like in the previous thread about teh gay, it's more likely that younger people will be comfortable with HIV+ people just as they would with gay people.
Yeah, I have several friends who have been HIV+ for nearly twenty years now.
Tia, could you resend it to the address in my handle?
JM, you've got like 20 emails waiting for you in your realname gmail account. I'll try forwarding the important ones to your yahoo one.
I partied with pedro from the real world one time.
Diabetes may be a pretty good ana... ehh... comparison to HIV. It's serious, it's expensive, and it likely will take years off your life, but at the same time, you can live pretty normally for a long time with it.
What's maddening of course is that like some types of diabetes, changes in behavior could make it much less common, and it is serious enough to be worth trying to avoid.
11: Always make sure to leave room in the tip when you put the condom on the Snickers bar.
Speaking of teh gay, it has come to my attention that God hates a fag.
In other news, these bands will make you gay.
In other news, MAE should read Unfogged.
Ah, I knew those could not have gone unnoticed here.
So much Unfogged, so little time.
Yeah, I saw that ep too and thought it was a strangely muted response, but my take was most of these people didn't know each other yet so it's not like they're suddenly going to hug him. (Also, what do you say to someone upon this disclosure?*) Plus, he said it by way of explaining that he's taking testosterone, i.e. This is Why I Was an Asshole during the last challenge.
*Me: Some variation of "Dude, that sucks."
Maybe it's the melodramatic Beethoven fetishist in me, but it makes total sense that going blind is more shocking. We all gotta die. But go blind first? When your profession centers aroudn the visual experience? Ow.
Did anybody else used to like Bravo when it was Fellini movies and Miles Davis concerts and stuff? Then for awhile it was a bunch of poker and West Wing reruns before they hit on the Gay Lite theme. Sad example of demo drift. Same thing is going on with Food TV. Getting away from cooking and into low-budget travel shows with prefab microcelebs like Rachel Ray etc.
Yeah I know I sound old dude who complains about no music on MTV.