Oh, I'd be the last one to say that people shouldn't make the best of their situation, we agree there.
There are many "diseases" that people have some input into contracting, that doesn't (in my opinion) negate their being deserving of help. If a smoker gets cancer, he still needs medical treatment. If a person eats poorly their whole life and gets diabetes, they still need help. Some of these illnesses are somewhat hereditary, so if they are born with a predisposition to them, they have less influence on whether they will contract that disease than the average person. Such is true of addiction. Those who have a genetic predisposition are far more likely to become addicted to a substance than those who are not. Do we really believe that ANYONE would choose that? People don't, nay CAN'T "become" an alcoholic. They can drink too much, sure. They can have car wrecks from driving drunk, but the actual disease is a low seretonin level, which is the same issue primarily with clinical depression. How can someone choose where their seretonin level is? Yes, such a person could choose to never drink or use chemicals, but chances are they don't know this about themselves until AFTER they have already begun using, following their natural urges to correct the imbalance.
HIV is a scourge on the world, but even moreso is our nation's reaction to it. It's not that we can't cure diseases, it's that we won't. Shameful at best. We allow these drug companies to control us at the very level of our human existance- they get to determine who lives and dies. You want to get on your moral high horse and put down promiscuous people, fine, go for it. I want to insult and rebuke everyone who has their head so far in the sand that they are unaware that the huge profits treating the symptoms only of diseases like HIV, cancer and diabetes are the very reasons cures will never be released. Likewise, safe sex will never be taught in schools NOT because of religious reasons, but because uneducated people are more likely to contract HIV and thus become a client for life. Drug companies actually PAY religious leaders like Pat Robertson to preach because guilt is good for THEIR campaigns, money. As long as we are feeling bad about ourselves, huge profits can be made on drugs like Welbutrin and Prozac. As long as men feel inadequate about their dicks, huge profits can be made on drugs like Viagra and Excite, as long as we can position the religious faction of our country into believing everyone else is a "sinner" and unworthy of the love of God, they will exterminate any goodwill between men as brothers. The reason you and I are arguing right now is because some fat guy in an office somewhere profits from the dissention. Keep people believing "right" and "left" equals "right" and "wrong", it feels good to think you're superior, doesn't it? Gives you confidence. It doesn't make it true, but it is reassuring to people who don't have their own sense of morality separate from their leaders.
