Out in the Mountains

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Randy Shilts, author of the best-selling
book “And the Band Played On: Politics,
People and the AIDS Epidemic” spoke in
Burlington on January 26. More than 800
peoplepacked Ira Allen Chapel UVM to
hear Shilts recount the history of the AIDS
epidemic in this country.

Recounting the ineptitude, indiffer-
ence and inexcusable delays by govem-
ment, scientists, and institutions, Shilts
maintained that the problems were best
summed up as “insane.” The failure to
begin basic research early, the American]
French battles over discovery of the virus,
delays in clinical trials of new drugs, the
lack of direct education, and scientific labs
scrambling for research money were
among his examples.

“The government and the scientific
community seem to feel no great need to

 

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#60.

Shilts Blasts Government Dela s

rush on research and treatment, or them it
is business as usual. But in the face of an
epidemic of these proportions, we cannot
afford to carry on business as usual. Time
lost can be measured in lives lost.”

Shilts’ harshest words were saved for
the Reagan administration. “First the Re-
agan adminisuation did as little as they
possibly could do to fight AIDS, and then
they lied about it,” he told the crowd. He
was amazed, he said, that in the President’s
State of the Union address, not once did
Ronald Reagan mention AIDS.

The press, said Shilts, ignored AIDS
for a long time, “going through fits of minor
interest and then forgetting it, returning to
the topic only when it appeared white, non-
drug using heterosexuals were vulnerable.”
The media coverage of AIDS changed
dramatically in 1985, when it became

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known that Rock Hudson was diagnosel
with AIDS. “In AIDS coverage, Rocl
Hudson was the equivalent of the Christiar
calendar’s BC and AD, the period befor
and after the birth of Jesus.”

“Today, we see more media coveragt
of AIDS than before,” Shilts told the and
ence, “but much of it is shallow and super
ficial, ignoring the real issues of federt
politics and funding, instead giving undue
attention to insignificant developments art‘
scare stories.”

He was outspoken about the medial

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