European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday. August 23, 1987 William f. Buckley or. Ease pressure on the aids panic Button Here is the quarrel going on. Much of it beneath the surface having to do with he epidemic first to disease was isolated As having two highly identifiable target groups male homosexuals and intravenous drug users. Publicity was Given to the dangers of certain kinds of sen and to the use of Needles that might be contaminated. The result of this publicity has not according to preliminary evidence done a great Deal to slow Down dirty Nee dle use this being in part because the drug culture lends to hypnotize users against collateral dangers. The homosexual Community on the other hand has made considerable strides in self Regula Tion. The bathhouses in san Francisco for instance arc closed Down and whereas the infected population was doubling every 12 months As of one year ago that period appears to have stretched to 20 months a step at least in the right direction. 2. But along the Way the fear of the disease and its increasing incidence among women and children gave Rise to he Assumption that for ii intents and Mary Mcgrory purposes it is and should be considered to be a general epidemic from which Only the monogamous non drug using non Hospital working minority were entirely Safe. Although one cannot and should Noi Endeavor to conclude that these general fire alarms were cynical ii is Rue that hey served particular Pur poses. One such purpose obviously is the Call for Federal funding. There arc those i am one of them who believe inc Feder Al government is properly called upon to fund research for any disease no Mailer How particularized its victims. If an Epi Demic were to break out hat afflicted Only scandinavian Sun worshippers re medics arc properly investigated by government funding. But it is Correct that much of the Public lakes the position that if homosexuals desire to continue to live promiscuously then they should suf Fer the consequences of doing so and hat if drug users persist in using dirty Needles let them die a dirty death. Accordingly it was in the political interest of the two Standard victim groups to uni verbalize aids aids will gel you if you Don t watch oui. A second reason for considering inc virus to be Universal had to do with inc desire of inc victim groups to make themselves Anonymous. When a death occurs among Young or Middle aged men. And aids is Given As the cause of death inc Public presumption has been thai the deceased was an Active Homo sexual or else a drug user. Although Cul Tural vectors lighten progressively the invidious overhead of homosexual activity still it would soothe Many who live under tension to accept an aids death As saying nothing Aboul the life of the deceased. 3. Slut there is recent evidence that the disease continues to be highly discriminatory. Robert sch prof the los Angeles times a supercharged reporter normally associated Wilh left causes has written a widely unnoticed series accumulating evidence the Burden of which is thai heterosexual transmission of aids is very very rare in the United states. Other no widely noticed scientific groups have come to the same conclusions. They Don t Tell heterosexual couples to take no precautions hut attempt to assure them the chances of heir contracting the Dis ease Are slight. The Hurdon of which is to ease a Little of the pressure on the panic Button inc highest pitch of which was reached by professor Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard when he wrote a few months ago that the Way things were looking it was possible that before a cure or a vac Cine was developed 25 percent of the human race might have died from aids. 4. But whatever or. Scherr s finding there is no gainsaying the fact of diseased children being born and destined to live Only five Sis seven years. These Are the congenital aids victims. And since there is no retroactive Way to relieve the child s parents of inc disease necessarily one depends on research of a kind that can actually treat inc disease since prophylactics Are hardly usable on diseased fetuses. Research then will continue. But apparently evidence mounts thai the Vic Tim groups of yesterday arc the Likely Vic Tim groups of tomorrow. C Ifni real p Asa Svihl Ped Mercedes a just Reward for being faithful to Ford so now i own a Mercede Benz. You want to make something of it of course you do. Everybody does. T was prepared for a certain amount of guilt on my own part but not t have to say for quite so much Lack from my immediate Circle. Sure i flinch when i watch Bob Hope in those made in the Usa it matters to me ads and i reply defensively it matters to me i had every intention of buying an american car. I drove one for seven years if they still made Fairmont i d be at the controls today honest. In 1980, during the Republican convention in de troit t met some Nice unemployed autoworkers who Hale the japanese. I promised them i would buy a Ford and 1 did. My Fairmont was not flashy but it was faithful. It seemed to want Only to serve like some Good hearted old maid whose name was probably Agnes. Once a year the mechanics who looked her Over before inspection managed to find expensive and exotic Disord ers of which she had never complained Over the Yean Agnes began to Embarrass some of my passengers. Her plastic leather Interior her sagging scats the Dent on the front door caused consternation among people who regard a car As a declaration. I never think of them that Way. To me there was Agnes and then there was a Mercedes nothing in Between in the wasteland of my automotive consciousness. Gelling pretty old in t she said a colleague who had asked for a lift on a Stormy night. Yes 1 said and so am i. Perhaps you prefer the this general malaise about the Inadequacy of Agnes peaked during recent visit of Young relatives. You thinking of gelling a new car soon asked one of my mortified Kin on the Way to the Airport. Agnes last encounter with the garage Mechanic resulted in an unintelligible Bill for Jisoo. Soon after the Windshield wiper paused in mid stroke and the left turn signal developed a tic. It was Lime i said. I went dutifully to inspect the latest and Best in Domestic manufacture. I was doing Fine with the recommended Model until inc Salesman said look a special option the till wheel and lifted it up. Was Absolu icly horrified. I could see myself in traffic having inadvertently released the mechanism that made it move clutching an uprooted steering wheel and screaming for help. It is not my fault 1 say thai the dealer also carried Mercedes 1 said i was just looking and that was the Case when i saw the elegant Little convertible with a Price lag of j61,000. On inc Way Back to the Domestic showroom we passed the previously owned lot. Even i knew there is no such thing As a used Mercedes. Well i saw this link Beauty a Blue Gray i90e, and i work regime a Hahn the 3unk we we thought there was no harm in trying it. The Salesman a pleasant Man called or. Azimi winced when i started the motor. Don i press Down so hard he said As i put a heavy fool on the Gas in the manner to which i had become accustomed Over the Yean. I Rode around the Block. You know the rest. The trouble i had adjusting u my new property was nothing compared to thai of my pals. You a Mercedes said one fellow worker it s not one editor could t believe it. You a woman of the people a limousine Liberal another jeered with technical inaccuracy women friends said after the first Shock Well. I thin k that s wonderful in a tone that suggested i had finally decided to run off with a 30-year-old Rock Singer. My most persistent Tormentor told me it Means you be joined the psychiatrists and the land a kindly soul said no it Means she appreciates Fine this was so wide of he Mark i fell i had to disavow in. 1 can t divine the mystery of inc child proof top on inc aspirin bottle. An old buddy explained his problem it s wasted on he is quite right. Every morning when i turn the key in the door inc Laidi Springs up and the other three Dunk authoritatively in sequence. When i Start the motor i gel inc feeling that i have activated a company of teutonic knights Wilt Spears a a rambling and Shields at the ready. I say my Guys Cool it. We re pm going Down to inc 1 feel the Way Elizabeth Barrett Browning did Aboul her Cocker Spaniel. Mush who Gaic up Hunting rabbits to keep her company. This pour Raul splendor should be on inc Highway laughing at inc uglier cars. Sometimes i wonder if its i hearing of the thumbs it has fallen into. Will us ii ind i return it. They would t have to have a Pohr. defective can but they might have one a Hiil Ili ii lne owners. Its something i worry Aboul when i m not trying to figure out if i could h Ive i in on one door saying. I paid my dues to Cir to irid on the other it s Only new to a uru Eual pm a inv _., a
