AIDS... A Thing to Fear?
Peoples reactions to AIDS in America
Where did it Occur?
When did it occur?
What happened?
Who was involved?
How did it occur?
Why did it occur?
AIDS from a glass?
GO AWAY!
AIDS and blindness?
Lawsuits Cases:
This mans co-worker had a fear of getting aids and earning a bad name for the company for having a man with aids, so he told his boss. His boss must have felt the same way about the man with HIV if he fired him. I felt a connected to The Crucible because, no one wanted to associate with witches. People with AIDS in our society and witches in the book both had a bad name.
~An AIDS organization center was denied a housing center for HIV-positive people. "The Center applied for a license to expand its current facilities to include emergency housing units for 24 clients but was denied the license on May 29" ( Advocate.com).
A landlord refuse to give housing for an aids center. This event really showed how judgmental and rude the landlord was to a helpful AIDS association. In The Crucible people would be prosecuted for being witches without any actual evidence. They would then be the ostracized by Salem.
The Crucible:
confusion many will choose to put others at risk then themselves. Fear
is part of human nature, so it is natural to stay away from things you fear.
"He sentenced her. He must-But not Sarah Good. For Sarah Good confessed, y‘see...That she sometimes made a compact with Lucifer, and wrote her name in his black book—with her blood—and bound herself to torment Christians till God‘s thrown down… and we all must worship Hell forevermore" (Miller, 23). In this quote Mary Warren talks about Sarah's confession. When Sarah confessed, people then was her as the work of the devil. This what happened to gay people during the AIDS epidemic. Both in the book and life, people wrongly accused each other out of fear and confusion.
"In the proper place—where my beasts are
bedded. Eight months now, sir, it is eight months. She used to serve me in my house,
sir. A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything. I know it now. I beg you, sir,
I beg you—see her for what she is. My wife, my dear good wife took this girl soon after,
sir, and put her out on the high road. And being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir….
Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. She thinks to dance with me on my wife‘s grave! And well she might!—for I thought of her softly, God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat! But it is a whore‘s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands, I know you must see it now. My wife is innocent, except she know a whore when she sees one" (Miller, 68) This quote reminded me of people accusing others of having AIDS, The people that where accused of having AIDS had to prove that they didn't. In the quote, Elizabeth was named a witch so Procter was trying to clear her name after the wrong accusations.
"I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand—I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Good Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil" (Miller, 20). In this quote, you see Abigail blaming others so she won't get in trouble. She doesn't care if the others get in trouble for something they did not commit. This parallels to the the AIDS epidemic because, everyone was willing to blame gay people, even if it caused them to become singled out by society.
Looking back at the time of The Crucible and now, it's safe to say that in times of fear we forget who our friends and do almost anything to be safe and way from harm. Whether its shunning the people or blaming others, it has always been the same.
Citations:
Holland, Kimberly. "The History of HIV." Healthline. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
Cantwell, Alan. "The Secret Origins of AIDS: Facts, Fallacies & Conspiracy Theories." New Dawn The Worlds Most Unusual Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
Kim, Susanna. "New York Man Says He Was Fired For Having HIV." ABC News. ABC News Network, 04 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
"New Jersey AIDS Group Files Discrimination Complaint (9674)." Advocate.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
Cantwell, Alan. "'Gay Cancer' & The Man-Made Origin Of AIDS." 'Gay Cancer' & The Man-Made Origin Of AIDS. N.p., 5 June 2006. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Viking, 1953. Print.
Landau, Elizabeth. "HIV in the '80s: 'People Didn't Want to Kiss You on the Cheek'" CNN. Cable News Network, 25 May 2011. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
Hoyle, Brian. "AIDS." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 5th ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. Student Resources in Context. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.