AIDS in the 1980s

December 1, 2005 7:18 AM

First World AIDS Day: CBC archive A short clip from December 1st, 1988, the first World AIDS Day (with a Canadian focus). Also of interest from the CBC archives are two pages of radio and video clips (21 in all) on the early years of the disease.
posted by livii (18 comments total)

I see it is not a dupe, but even so, shouldn't it go under the World Aids Day FPP just below?
posted by nkyad at 7:29 AM on December 1, 2005

Looks like the other post was up for a half hour or so. This should have gone there.
posted by fixedgear at 8:54 AM on December 1, 2005

Look at past World AIDS Day archives; usually several posts, and often Matt would have a banner. When I got to MeFi this morning, there were none; as I watched the clips the other one went up, and I decided to make this its own post to follow the tradition. Flag it if you don't like it, but leave the arguing out of the post, huh?
posted by livii at 9:05 AM on December 1, 2005

Yeah, more Aids day posts, not less.
posted by londonmark at 9:07 AM on December 1, 2005

I don't see the value in multiple AIDS posts unless they are bringing forth new, and little known, information. Posts about new potential areas for cure and treatment would be helpful and increase awareness. But posts that say "It's AIDS day" or "This diseases exists and is bad" or "Here is the history of the disease" seem to have little value and shouldn't be posted on the front page. The users of this site are savvy enough to know of the existence of the disease and, most likely, the history of it. Nothing is accomplished in posting such posts.
posted by dios at 9:27 AM on December 1, 2005

I don't see the value of dios' formulaic put down.
posted by 31d1 at 9:49 AM on December 1, 2005

Should be a comment in the previous post.
posted by knave at 9:51 AM on December 1, 2005

GYOFCB.
posted by bardic at 9:52 AM on December 1, 2005

But posts that say "It's AIDS day" or "This diseases exists and is bad" or "Here is the history of the disease" seem to have little value and shouldn't be posted on the front page.

2.7 million people died of Aids last year.

Say that again:

2.7 million people died of Aids last year.

I think we can likely squeeze in some multiple posts about that in between news of boingboing's latest jihad and Apple's latest plastic offering, no?
posted by docgonzo at 9:54 AM on December 1, 2005

docgonzo writes "I think we can likely squeeze in some multiple posts about that in between news of boingboing's latest jihad and Apple's latest plastic offering, no?"

I never thought it was about the relative importance of the topic but about concentrating most information in one place. What would be a "fantastic post" in the first FPP is just a regular FPP (and on the top of that, one we waste time discussing if it is "proper").
posted by nkyad at 9:59 AM on December 1, 2005

2.7 million people died of Aids last year.

So we need to make posts out of catharsis? How many people died of heart disease last year? Or Car wrecks? Do they need their own day for us to show the necessary respect? Or in the case of heart disease, by proportion should it get its own week?

I completely understand and agree about the tragedy of AIDS. I don't mean to diminish the importance of a day of recognition or show a lack of respect for those suffering from the disease or seem flippant about this.

What my point was is that there is little value in telling us the history of it or how many people died this year; we all already know its a very bad thing, and one post reminding us that today is AIDS day ought to be sufficient. If the point is to "increase awareness," telling us it exists or that lots of people died from it doesn't increase awareness. We already know that. So redundant posts showing it is a Bad Thing seem unnecessary. As I said, awareness is increaseed by posts about new developments in the area (something that we didn't know from last AIDS day). Increase awareness about potential new treatments and the like. But lots of posts about how tragic it is don't seem to do much beyond showing the compassion of the poster.
posted by dios at 10:07 AM on December 1, 2005

Goddamnit. Either flag it, or take it to MeTa, folks. I don't care if you do.

For the record though, I thought this post was different from "increasing awareness" or anything being ascribed to it; I personally thought the archives were very interesting, and that it was neat that the CBC had collected all of these items and keeps them posted online. I posted it on World AIDS Day because it's apropos, but it could have gone up a different day too, because I thought it qualified as "something interesting I found on the Web". I didn't realize my posts were supposed to only be informative or whizz-bang-golly new. (And if anyone has an interesting archive of clips on heart disease or car wrecks, I'd like to see them, thanks!)

Even though it's about the same subject (AIDS) as the (good!) post below, I don't see them as being similar enough to require concentration; should every post about Google be classed together, even if one's about the search engine and one's about maps?
posted by livii at 10:22 AM on December 1, 2005

What my point was is that there is little value in telling us the post is bad; we all already know its a very bad thing, and one flag reminding us of Mefi's rules ought to be sufficient. If the point is to "increase awareness," telling us the rules or exactly how it breaks them doesn't increase awareness. We already know that. So redundant posts showing it is a Bad Thing seem unnecessary. As I said, awareness is increaseed by posts that actually say something new in the area (something that we didn't know from your last petulant snark). Increase awareness about potential other links and the like. But lots of posts about how tragic it is don't seem to do much beyond showing the sad mental state of the poster.
posted by 31d1 at 11:04 AM on December 1, 2005

Three years ago there were 32 AIDS-related front page posts. Two years ago there were ten. Last year there were only two.
It's unfortunate that livii's post took such valuable front page space away from the announcement of Kanye West's latest video.
posted by rocket88 at 12:55 PM on December 1, 2005

A second post is totally appropriate. I think the late US Thanksgiving this year meant that neither Matt nor I prepared for World AIDS Day on the site the way Matt has in the past.
posted by jessamyn at 1:06 PM on December 1, 2005

This isn't a duplicate post, it's about First World AIDS day, we can continue to ignore AIDS in the third world.
posted by dipolemoment at 1:45 PM on December 1, 2005

A second post is totally appropriate.

Two posts on the same subject, back to back? Not good. One should go inside the other. The front page is already too crowded.
posted by caddis at 5:41 PM on December 1, 2005

I just went back and looked at previous AIDS days, based on rocket88's comment. Please ignore my previous comment.
posted by caddis at 6:52 PM on December 1, 2005