Hope for an AIDS-free Carnival

Being the eternal optimist that I am, how I wished that I could wish the nation “a happy New Year,” and, more importantly, an “AIDS FREE” Carnival! But being also the realist that I aspire to be, I half expect it to be largely “an exercise in futility” appealing to the “partying crowds” to exercise caution, and no matter how much one may be inclined to let one’s hair down or whatever else, for heaven’s sake, do not let your guard down, or anything else for that matter, because “AIDS” is no respecter of person, class, creed, race, religion, time, occasion or status — inebriated or otherwise. Now I’m not sounding an alert but an alarm (I hope), although it may fall on deaf ears and, I fear, that there will always be those who do not “take warning,” either because they are abysmally ignorant, stupendously stupid, galactically reckless or allow themselves to get “pisteratically” drunk.

I don’t wish to be a “Spoil sport” or to rain on anyone’s parade but, unless I’m wrong, with the Christmas feeling being just a little respite before the hectic Carnival carousal, the pervasive mood could well be expressed as, “Fete last night, fete the night before, fete tomorrow night, fete forevermore . . . and we jammin’, jammin’, whole night we jammin’.” It’s in this atmosphere that one’s sense of reasoning tends to slip from the brain down to less rational parts of the anatomy. Besides this, since “familiarity breeds contempt,” as they say, one wonders whether the saturation media coverage given to the little Rambo-type killer virus has not caused some people to become inured to the absolutely frightening import of Medical Science’s most dreaded and even more dreadful Trojan Horse.

The time may come — if it hasn’t reached yet — when most of us would (personally) know someone with AIDS, and people will be shaking their fists, shouting: “Why hadn’t we been told long ago that we had been sitting on a time bomb,” which could explode at any time? Truth is that we’ve been told so ad nauseam. But, you know what? Stick break in our damn ears. We know only too well the consequences for Africa, for instance, where the population is being vacuumed out of existence. The situation in Asia — though not as much highlighted is no less potentially explosive. The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, better known by its acronym AIDS has not escaped the attention of our calypsonians.

I suppose that there’re a number of calypsos on the AIDS topic, but it’s Kenny J’s own that caught my attention. Perhaps influenced by the reports that the AIDS epidemic — now pandemic — first appeared in the US among homosexuals (gays) and intra venous (IV) drug users, the calypsonian conveyed the impression that the fatal affliction was akin to the “vengeance of Moko” being visited on an erring, if not reprobate, element. He does not appear to have factored in the role of bisexuals. According to his calypso, “AIDS is a killer, sent by the Master to put man and woman back in order.” Kenny J’s perspective might seem facetious, far-fetched or even bigoted. However, an Assistant Professor of the history of Medicine and Science of Harvard Medical School referred to a very similar hysteria regarding syphilis and gonorrhoea (sexually transmitted diseases) at the turn of the 20th century. Assistant Professor Alan M Branut suggested that at the time a redefinition of the social meaning of venereal disease took place. It went from being what physicians and lay people called the “carnal scourge,” to punishment for moral misbehaviour, to being referred to as “a family poison.”

There is also the suggestion that victims of a disease who can make no behavioural decisions to minimise the risks are somehow seen as more deserving of sympathy and consideration than those who can make those behavioural decisions, fully cognisant of the risks involved and the probable outcomes. In other words, someone who has contracted the disease through the transfusion of tainted blood or an infant who has been infected in the womb of an infected mother or a rape victim for that matter is much more likely to have legitimate claim to public sympathy than some foolish “macho man” playing “village ram” and finds out only too late the cost of indulging in “sexual Russian roulette.” The professor lamented the implication that the plight of the AIDS victims who were homosexuals and/or IV drug users was somehow seen to be less poignant and significant than that of “innocent bystanders” caught in the crossfire, so to speak, such as babies who can’t choose their mothers, haemophiliacs infected by tainted blood transfusions or people who may have little or no control over a spouse’s drug or other equally hazardous habits.

To quote the calypsonian again, “It’s time that everybody here become conscious. Right, right now we all have to get very serious.” Given our penchant for risk-taking (Yuh ain’t know dat God is ah Trini?) the calypsonian cautions: “If you tell yourself that you smart and continue to run around, remember friend I telling you, AIDS go throw you down, down, down. So you better slow down, slow down, slow down.” Kenny J continued, “It have some carriers walking around. Man, they looking healthy and strong/ Some take five years to show a sign.” Remember Rock Hudson? Young ladies, they don’t come more handsome than this. But we don’t want to go down that way, do we? On the other hand, AIDS does not only mask itself behind some Adonis-type facade but also “the most gorgeous bodies, bronze, luscious thighs and irresistible bubbling breasts,” may lead to temptation and ultimately more than what one bargained for.

Although no one asked my unsolicited advice and strictly speaking, I should mind my own business, to the young brothers and sisters, if you would only hearken to that little voice in the wilderness, “Please remember that while you dance and prance, Mr AIDS (in whatever guise) is lurking in the shadows, with an open invitation from Mr Death in his back pocket — which invitation ominously reads: “Leave the last dance for me.” Nuff said!