Because it so fits that hip meme:
I think I've figure this out:
AIDS = The poor. Therefore, who cares?
Malaria = The poor. Therefore, who cares?
Swine Flu = Could be us. Better get on this one!
One gets tired, really tired, of shallow progressive thinking, especially from those who disdain so vociferously any conservative thought, but this one, from Mike at WorD, one of our Religious Leftist blogroll members, takes the cake.
Let's set the record straight shall we.
Mike and his co-ideologues have historically been quick to jump on and bash our former President Bush, incessantly and without substantiation, yet the record shows that he certainly cared about AIDS and the poor:
It may be the shining moment of George Bush's rule, but he rarely talks about it.
Over the past five years, the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) has saved close to two million lives by providing antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive Africans. It has helped ensure 240,000 babies are born without the virus by giving their mothers drugs to prevent them passing it on at birth.
The programme supports nearly 10 million people affected by Aids, such as children living with HIV-positive parents, with food, housing and education.
Yet the initiative has gone largely unnoticed outside its core focus, sub-Saharan Africa.
And largely unnoticed from a politically bigoted blogger in Vancouver but we know why don't we... being hip (ie. anti-Bush) trumps being truthful and accurate.
Next is the reference to malaria. Let's see who it might be that care little about Africans dying from this easily eradicated disease:
Bakouma was one of approximately one million people who died of malaria last year. Almost all of them were like him: poor, young, and African. And almost all of those deaths could have been prevented through vaccines, insecticide-treated netting, and (gasp) DDT spraying. Empirical research supports the indoor residual spraying (IRS) of DDT as not only safe, but the most economical and effective method for malaria prevention. For example, a 1996 DDT ban in South Africa, pushed by environmental groups, led to a malaria epidemic with over 60,000 cases reported in 2000. After DDT spraying resumed in 2001, infections dropped 80% in one year. Facing a mounting death toll across Africa the World Heath Organization and USAID have recently lent support to IRS using DDT, but its adoption continues to be opposed by environmental extremists relying on shoddy science and fearmongering.
Trust me when I tell you that Mike is a Gorebot and greenie extraordinaire... and he wants to wag his finger at us for not caring about those dying of malaria? What damned hypocrisy.
Finally... the reference to swine flu... who is it that is sounding what is more and more merely a false alarm? Might it be those who share the political preferences of Mike and his WorD koolaid drinkers? People like Joe Biden perhaps:
That bit of fear-mongering despite this news:
The swine flu outbreak that has alarmed the world for a week now appears less ominous, with the virus showing little staying power in the hardest-hit cities and scientists suggesting it lacks the genetic fortitude of past killer bugs.
So there you have it... a Religious Leftist posting something thought to be hard-hitting and point-making that turns out instead to be steeped in typically shallow and much less than critical thinking... but hey, it fits the ideological mold so he runs with it.
Pitiful really.
Comments