An Analysis Of Alan's Ambition

In the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” FRONTLINE examines the outbreak of AIDS since its first diagnosed case in 1981. The film investigates different medical, political and social environments under AIDS pandemic in the US and worldwide. The film not only focuses on the scientific research and progress in treating the disease, it also looks at the social stigma, government strategies and public campaigns around different countries.

Thirty years ago, many believed that only gay people contracted the HIV virus, however, such speculation was disregarded once millions of people were infected. Humans were afraid to be infected, thus they stereotyped those who were infected in order to protect themselves, but the reality is that no one was safe from the HIV virus. Mary Fisher was one of few individuals that accepted the cruelty of the virus, but only by accepting what HIV is, she was able to challenge the virus. In order to awaken the society about the reality of AIDS, Mary Fisher’s speech, “A Whisper of AIDS” would send a message of challenge towards the virus and unite the humans to fight against AIDS. By balancing three different persuasive appeals; ethos, logos, and

The poem “Faith”, written by Mark Doty in 1995, works to destigmatize Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) through his relationship with his partner, Wally. Since this poem was written in the mid-1990s, it is a progressive piece that focuses on normalizing homosexuality and raising awareness for AIDS. His writing focuses on combatting the largely-held belief that AIDS only affects homosexual men. There was also the idea that there were “good gays” and “bad gays”. “Bad gays” were the ones who had the misfortune to contract HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and “good gays” did not contract HIV. Additionally, he describes the profound effect that a terminal disease can have on a relationship. Doty’s poem represents the idea that true love provides mankind with the ability to conquer fears. The main purpose of his poem is to show his love for his significant other and show the effect that AIDS had on their relationship, strengthening it, while making it more fragile at the same time. Doty’s poem is important because it opens up a non-judgmental conversation about AIDS, which was unique for that time.

The AIDS epidemic began in the early to mid-1980’s and since it’s recognition in America it has become a very heated and debated topic among health professionals, the gay community, and most of all for the ones that are carrying the virus. The real debate is not over the virus itself but, rather about the infected individuals and whether or not they should be made morally obligated to tell their sexual partners if they are in fact infected. Both sides of the argument make very valid points. From one standpoint you have the gay community that believe in “safer sex ethic”, which keeps their partners in the dark about their overall health status and feel they are not morally obligated to tell their

In 1992, August 19th in Houston Texas, Mary Fisher, the HIV positive speaker, gave an inspiring outlook on her and countless others lives. Fisher speaks about a prevailing issue in her life, her diagnoses of AIDS. At the Republican National Convention Address, Mary teaches the audience the lesson “If you believe you are safe, you are at risk.”

“Tonight, HIV marches resolutely toward AIDS in more than a million American homes, littering its pathway with the bodies of the young -- young men, young women, young parents, and young children. One of the families is mine” (Fisher). Mary Fisher, born April 6, 1948 would have never imagined growing up one day to speak those exact words and more. Fisher never expected to be telling her story while pleading for others to become aware of HIV and AIDS, to help those who have these awful diseases. However, on the night of August 19, 1992 she did what she would have never expected to do growing up, she delivered a speech on the importance of helping those with HIV and AIDS and told her story trying to prompt others to figure out a way to stop this epidemic that was happening with HIV and

“Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying” Two hundred thousand Americans, two hundred thousand brothers, friends, loved ones, all fighting a war; this war is not fought in foreign countries, this war is HIV/AIDS (“American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher”). Sadly, Mary Fisher is one of the many victims that are crushed by the heartbreaking diagnostic of being HIV positive, however, this was her alarm to the severity of the virus. As a result, Fisher dedicated her life to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS. In addition to the jaw-dropping speech, Fisher, has dedicated her whole life to the awareness of AIDS, through her store, biographies, non-profitable organizations, and many more. However, “A Whisper of AIDS” is the first domino in her line of work to break the “shroud of silence” known as AIDS (“American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher”).Fisher spoke from the heart, and as well as the mind in “A Whisper of AIDS”, which effectively touched the hearts of many and did exactly what she hoped it would, turned the whisper of the word AIDS into a shout spoken from numerous to prevent fear in the hearts of many. In order to show the dire importance of awareness of HIV/AIDS, Fisher, Effectively uses heartbreaking pathos, strong logos, and persuasive ethos.

On August 19, 1992, a woman named Mary Fisher spoke on a rather sensitive topic in an attempt to change the world. In an address to the Republican National Convention, Fisher lectured on a subject close to her heart, HIV and AIDS. Mary Fisher is an artist, author, and of course political activist. She contracted HIV from her second husband and has since been on a mission to educate people about prevention of the disease and the treatment of people that have HIV or AIDS. Fisher was speaking at the convention in Houston, Texas in an attempt to get people to take action. Fisher wanted people to be informed about the diseases and have a genuine care about those infected. I found her speech exceedingly compelling as well as an exceptional display

Four years earlier he had been asked by his local hospital to come in for an Aids test. But the stigma surrounding the condition meant his family were not given a definitive picture.” - https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jul/11/health.aids1

HIV/ AIDS affect African Americans at a higher rate than any other race (White, Asian, and Hispanic). With African Americans making up approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population, in 2014, they made up almost half of all new HIV/AIDS cases; 44 percent. African American men accounted for 73 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases, and of that 43 percent of African American men were heterosexual (CDC 2014). Since heterosexual African American men don’t equate to the larger population of HIV cases as compared to African American men who have sex with men, these heterosexual men are virtually invisible in the theoretical and empirical psychological HIV/AIDS literature (Bowleg, 2004, p.166).

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

Forty million people worldwide are infected with the HIV virus. About six percent of them will not inform their intimate partners about their health condition. Many efforts that have been made over the past decade towards establishing a HIV/AIDS law, have finally paid off. The act of disclosing the virus was written in 1990. It caused quite a stir among the citizens of the United States. Many people concluded that there were holes in the disclosure law concerning HIV/AIDS because it lacked complete thought. Some felt that if HIV positive people had to tell others about their condition, they would be more susceptible to discrimination and rejection. Essentially, it was a law that ended a few problems and then led to a massive

In the last three decades HIV/ AIDS has become the one of the most notorious and widely spread diseases in the modern world. Its discovery in the late seventies prompted worldwide concern. The one thing that has become the most bothersome thing about the HIV/ AIDS epidemic is prevention. Prevention or stopping the transmission of the diseases is hindered by factors such as: denial or non-acceptance by infected persons, unsafe sex, and non-disclosure by infected persons to their at risk sexual partner(s). According to Alghazo, Upton, and Cioe (2011):

Thirdly, If one has a STD and its publicly known, that individual's social status is degraded and negatively affected. In society as a whole concealing a STD creates a false sense of security and attempts to preserve a faulty self image. Along with herely keeping an STD a secret many are to embarrassed to even get tested after unprotected sex with a mentality that what they do not know will not hurt them. This alone has a major sociological implication as it reinforces a negative social construct and creates a poor symbolic representation of STD testing to displeasure rather than emotional relief. In order to influence the proper usage of regular testing after practicing unsafe sex it must be shown that the alternative leads to social distress in that untested individuals live their days without knowledge of major health issues where untested STDs cannot be treated causing visual displeasure such as unexplained skin lesions that may influence one to be self conscious progressing to sickness and self harm.

After reading the five given articles carefully there are critical points that I would like to articulate in my reaction paper. These articles provoked me to think that we are blessed to have health professional that were able to discover HIV/AIDS and the causes of Kaposi 's Sarcoma and Pneumocystis pneumonia of homosexual men in July 1981, following the report of these cases of PCP and cases of other rare life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers in America we began to recognize the importance of being aware of HIV/AIDS.