Urging the BBC to Censor Themselves
Dean
I am often critical of the BBC. But it's usually over very specific points and very specific practices. I don't think they're a terrible organization by any means. Indeed, I think they are something the British should generally be very proud of. The BBC World Service is a gift to the world that every Brit should be proud of.
Recently there was a stingingly critical piece put out by the BBC called "Guinea Pig Kids," which looked at some truly horrible practices in HIV/AIDS research on children. Mostly poor children with no parents or individual guardians to protect them. Wherever you come down on the HIV debate, I think most people would be appalled at some of what's been going on in the name of this research.
Recently some in the HIV/AIDS establishment--and there is such an establishment, by the way, paid by both corporate and government sources--has been trying to censor the "Guinea Pig Kids" story. It is literal censorship that they're advocating: they want the video pulled from general distribution, and for the BBC to pull everything off the Internet that they have on this story.
Dr. Andrew Maniotis of the Department of Pathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago has a lot to say on the matter that you should read.
The endless quest to shut these people up should tell you something. More on the Guinea Pig Kids right here from the BBC.
"This... is London." followed by the Lillibullero Just imagining it brings me back to my Tanzania, sitting on the porch of our house in the foothills of Nkungwe on Lake Tanganyika, the air alive with the sounds of red-tailed monkeys leaping in the trees above.
I wish the Beeb would return to its roots of spreading freedom and democracy around the world. Instead it has become a reactionary anti-American and anti-Semitic outlet - that no longer plays the beloved Lillibullero.
All that was appalling enough. Worse was the discussion on doctors. Seems they want to switch it from offering testing as a matter of course to testing unless you specifically opt-out. They didn't even want to the opt-out option. I pointed out that one has a right to refuse medical treatment of any kind but no one paid any attention....
is there really anything to get upset about re: mandatory testing? mandatory TREATMENT, i can understand. but regardless of where you fall on the "HIV is bad" acceptance/rejection continuum, surely there's no harm in knowing if you have or don't have the virus?
See this video for a start on the problem.
Now add in the fact that you could have your kids forced into chemotherapy, and be denied medical insurance, because of "knowing" you have the virus, and you realize how insidious this can be.
I would never knowingly submit to one of these tests. Under any circumstances. Nor would I allow my children to be.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.