[afro-nets] No ARV roll-out is better than a bad ARV roll-out (8)

[J Mark Adams <j.mark.adams@iafrica.com>]

No ARV roll-out is better than a bad ARV roll-out (8)
-----------------------------------------------------

 > [From the Moderator: To understand why emotions go so high in
 > South Africa that subscribers call each other names ("fool" etc.)
 > you should read the "Special report on a decade of democracy -
 > HIV/AIDS" from Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
 > reproduced below...]


Yes a strong response to the wilful allowing of 600 unnecessary
deaths per day is to be expected, is it not? What is the mecha-
nism that allows humans to *switch off* their compassion and
their outrage? And then these same people become unsettled and
irritated when someone comes along and kicks up dust.

I see that we have found a new way to handle/manage these
*difficult* situations. Like in the case of Rwanda you just do
nothing. Afterwards we all clutch our throats in theatrical hor-
ror and mouth off about never letting it happen again, then roll
over and go back to sleep. Works every time.

Perhaps people are becoming numb to the constant exposure to
crisis after crisis which saps them emotionally and just plain
wears them out.

But there is no excuse for those who work at the coal face of
the problem (in this case the AIDS catastrophe in South Africa)
for failing to speak out against a system and a policy which
sentences 600 people to death per day because of the ego of one
man. This is a clear case of criminal neglect.

But what of those who work for the government or who depend on a
"good working relationship" with the government for their jobs?
As they are mostly fairly intelligent people they find a way to
rationalise why they should accept the governments "population
control" strategy and save their jobs at the same time.

This approach is much neater and less stressful I agree but how
does one justify the indifference to the largely preventable
deaths of 200,000 people per year? Where is the human compas-
sion?

We learn this from the holocaust experience:

"Indifference is not so much a gesture of looking away -- of
choosing to be passive -- as it is an active disinclination to
feel. Indifference shuts down the humane, and does it deliber-
ately, with all the strength deliberateness demands. Indiffer-
ence is as determined -- and as forcefully muscular -- as any
blow." -- Cynthia Ozick

If the cap fits wear it.

--
J Mark Adams
mailto:j.mark.adams@iafrica.com