dia de SIDA

today is world AIDs day.

and i have a number of disjointed thoughts on the matter.

1. i have never been tested for HIV. i always think i should do this. my excuse is that everytime i go for a checkup, most of the other tests are free. things like chlamydia, herpes, syphilis, etc? all covered. hiv, not so much. this just seems ridiculous now that i think about it. not ridiculous enough to be an appropriate excuse, i admit, but still. bizarre and counter-intuitive.

2. facebook tells me i should buy a cup of starbucks coffee today and they will donate a portion of profits to the global fund. and as lovely as this might seem, i have a real problem with the notion that the way to fix the world is to buy more. perhaps that $2 spent on overpriced coffee (even if it is free trade) should be directly donated to the global fund. its all so very sickeningly neoliberal. why is the technical solution to the problem always consumerism? why isn't the emphasis on education? or volunteering? because that would cause rethinking of cliches, and that's risking too much (to paraphrase tom robbins). instead we'd rather go about our daily lives changing very little, merely giving the appearance of caring through our commodified lifestyles. we've now fetishized caring about the world. i'm certainly guilty of it too, but i'm trying to be more conscious of it.

3. sure, i think world AIDs day is a great idea, but what about local AIDs day? I live in a city where 5% of residents are thought to have HIV. Not that we should not be concerned about "Africa" (as long as we can do it in a way that doesn't reek of paternalism), but maybe at some point we need to focus closer to home. Start questioning the ways in which HIV is closely connected to systemic inequalities here in our own neighborhoods. Start looking at the ways we reproduce the conditions that foster such high rates of HIV daily. Once we get that figured out, then its time to move on to the rest of the world.

So, in essence, my feelings on world AIDs day are crazy-isolationist, anti-capitalist, and hypocritical. what's new?