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Comment by asveikau | Hacker News Reader

This is a shocking lack of empathy and understanding of the connectedness of the planet.

Don’t share needles and don’t engage in casual sex don’t seem like a too high bar. There is a lot rape, but Botswana has 25% of population infected and per UNICEF

> While there is increased awareness of HIV in general, comprehensive knowledge of HIV remains low, condom use among sexually active young people is declining, and rates of forced sex and teenage pregnancy are ominously high.

> Don’t share needles and don’t engage in casual sex don’t seem like a too high bar.

Very close to what Americans said about AIDS in the 80s. This is now regarded to have been stupid at best, discriminatory and bigoted at worst.

Telling people not to engage in risky behaviour isn't discriminatory or bigoted, bud. Do stupid things, win stupid prizes.

The Reagan administration didn't approve of gay people or heroin addicts. So they said they didn't have to worry about AIDS.

Guess what though? Drug addicts are people. And obviously, the entire world understands now that a disease disproportionally affecting gay people is still very fucking important.

The empathy overdrive is on track to bring down civil live in many cities of the us, maybe the country as a whole.

You say empathy overdrive, I say empathy baseline. Refusing to see others who suffer as human because you think it doesn't affect your bubble (and the latter part is usually false) doesn't meet the minimum.

I'm not saying we should intervene in 100% of people who suffer, because we will not succeed at such an impossible task. But solving HIV and other critical diseases in less developed parts of the world is a relatively small investment with a high success rate, per TFA. Yet some will say "I don't care because it won't affect me". Seems pretty weak to me. Does not strike me as wisdom or emotional maturity to be honest.

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