Dissenting from Dissent – I am an AIDS Denialist

What is this chatter in the AIDS dissidence community lately about banning the word “denialist”?  When did this become the most compelling matter for us to confront at this time in our history?

Of course the use of derogatory terms by others to define us should be challenged, and AIDS Dissidents have been challenging the label of “AIDS Denialist” since it was first coined. Hyperventilating publicly about our distaste for being labeled with that name, however, is not a good strategy.   It is playing the game by their rules, not ours.  It is reactive, rather than proactive.  It is a defensive posture, not an offensive one.

Are we in retreat?  Who blew the bugle?  I think I missed the call.

What’s in a name?

Drawing comparisons to other derogatory names like Holocaust Denialists, is flawed.  Those groups really don’t exist.  Oh, there may be a couple of websites that would seem to indicate otherwise, but no one takes them seriously.  OK, maybe a handful of truly loose screws take them seriously, but give me a break.  Name a single Nobelist, or tenured professor, or even a rational and articulate and educated person who espouses their view?

Global warming is a much better comparison.  In that field, one can find expert opinions to reasonably support two divergent points of views, as with AIDS.  In both cases, the more established side resorts to dismissing those with opposing views as Denialists.

Global warming Denialism recently had its Waterloo, in the form of leaked emails exposing the corruption and lack of integrity in that established scientific industry.  While the questions about the cause and effect, or even the existence of global warming are far from resolved, those who are questioning the previously unassailable Paradigm of Global Warming now have a firmer, more mainstream, if you will, position from which to pose their challenges.

There have been some similar breakthroughs for AIDS questioners and rethinkers.  The publishing of Robert Gallo’s original edits of his research papers by Janine Roberts comes to mind.  Unlike Global Warming though, backers of AIDS scientism have managed to hold onto their perch as controllers of information to the masses, especially the lamestream media.

Where is our agenda?

We AIDS Dissidents definitely have our work cut out for us:

• There is research to be done that needs funding.
• In the West, gay men especially need support to come together and challenge the assault on our community by the AIDS industry that has so successfully overwhelmed us in such short order.
• Those of us with health problems have our work cut out just trying to recover and stay alive long enough to do some good.  That work is not easy in a community as diverse and divisive as the AIDS Dissident community.
• The mass poisoning of Africans with dangerous drugs funded by otherwise well-meaning celebrities, billionaires and governments needs to be exposed for the genocide it is.

Wield, don’t yield

So what if those who support the prevailing AIDS Paradigm call us Denialists?  I’ve grown kind of fond of that name, myself.  When I see that word used in a news report or comment, I can immediately position the author as having a particular worldview, which helps me consider their message in its proper context.

When neutral observers see the term AIDS Denialist used, I trust that there is some sort of shift—however subtle—that occurs in their subconscious.  A doubt is planted where none existed before.  This is especially true for those who are Affected with a HIV-positive diagnosis and who are already distrustful of the status quo standard of care of  “controlling” the virus with toxic drug cocktails. The more often they read the name AIDS Denialist, the better, I say.

Of course I choose to self-name myself with other terms.  I call myself an AIDS Dissident mostly because it seems to be the term used and accepted by a majority of those I have found myself aligned with.  I actually prefer to call myself an AIDS Questioner, while others consider themselves AIDS Rethinkers.

It is my observation that, outside of some narrowly defined scientific circles, few people come to AIDS Dissidence based on any arguments we make.  Instead, people find reasons to question the AIDS dogma on their own.  That was certainly the case for me when I realized I could not tolerate the ARV cocktail and that drugs were making me sicker than any disease.

That is the case of a long time friend I have recently reconnected with who continues to have no viral load, despite testing HIV-positive a couple of decades ago.  Dissidence doesn’t draw people away from the Paradigm; the Paradigm drives people to Dissidence.

How did I find the AIDS dissidence community?  By searching and reading, of course.  Try googling “AIDS Denialist” for yourself and you will see that the AIDS promoters who control wikipedia have done an admirable job of telling the world that we exist.

Don’t feed the Trolls

I am just asking my AIDS Dissident friends and family to consider that we do ourselves no favor by calling for a ban of a name, a word, even if we do find it derogatory and offensive.  We should not protest it too much.  Instead, let’s reclaim the word and use it for ourselves.  Can we perhaps embrace being “denialists”?  At the very least, can we not lay claim to the right to give ourselves permission to deny AIDS control over our lives?

While publicizing and rallying a cause to ban the term “AIDS denialist” may make us feel better for a click or two, in the end it is nothing more than one of thousands of online parlor games.  We are only telling those who try to use that derogatory term to belittle and discredit us how effective their tactics are*.  We only encourage them to use it more.  I choose to not send that message because the cause is hopeless.  We cannot succeed in banning words and I will not expend my precious energy and time trying.

So, to all of you AIDS believers, promoters, mainstreamers and dogmatists (how’s that for naming one’s opponents?):  Please, call me an AIDS Denialist all you want.  Make my day!

As for you AIDS Dissidents, especially the ones personally Affected, tell me what you think by commenting below.

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* Late note:  I have been very hesitant to publish this post, which was written a few days ago, because I was concerned about how it might be perceived by some of my friends in the AIDS Dissident community.  Then I became aware of yet another post yammering away at AIDS Denialism that went up a couple of days ago on splicetoday.com, by none other than than Baylor backed mouthpiece J Todd DeShong, supporting my point that we only encourage such diatribes when we focus so much on the wrong message.

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