Friday, January 29, 2016
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Demons in Our Midst
River Blindness. Onchocersiasis.
Have you heard of it? I think I had heard of it off and on over the years since the 1980s; like other pestilences that do not directly affect me or my own, I dismissed it as some crazy nightmare that we shuddered at the thought of, like demons and monsters that came to us in movies and comics that we could close our eyes to and they would go away. Like fiction, things that terrorize our thoughts but whatever. Who cares? Doesn't affect me, not in my country.
But does it affect me? Should it?
The sad thing is, River Blindness is real. And it has demonized millions throughout all of our lifetimes.
And what have we done about it? Not a lot. Not enough.
We have let these real life demons exist for too long. We pretend we are good decent people who care, but in the end, that is pretty empty when we have not eradicated this problem from the earth.
We do not care enough. I think it is reason to be ashamed. Me as an American. As a father, husband, human, college graduate, first worlder. I have passed a few days the last few years being very itchy and bothered by mosquito or gnat bites, but this is a small worm that infests under skin by the thousands, and does not go away until treated with ivermectin.
Yes, River Blindness Syndrome does not kill like tuberculosis or AIDs or cholera or malaria.
It only makes millions blind and drives another tenth of Africa and other third worlders nutso. Drives them to itch like crazy. In many cases until they die. Oh yeah, and blind.
Who cares? It's their problem, right?
Wrong.
It's a human problem that we can fix, and we don't because it costs money to pay for those pills. We pay farmers in the US not to grow food. Fine.
We put tariffs on Brazilian tomatoes to help Florida farmers survive. Great, got it. Florida farmers need help more than Brazilians.
We spend millions, as poor and middle-class folks, on movies and lottos, and casinos, and sports. Cool, fantastic.
We spend millions and billions on high-minded politicians and their campaigns.
And hair products. And make-up. And perfumes and colognes. And we spend on watches and gadgets, and video games. And sneakers and clothes, and all types of foods, and even pornographic material. Or drugs and booze and sugar products.
Yet we let a few million people suffer from larvae growing under their skins because they live in far flung forgotten places like Congo and Gabon and Cameroon. Those places don't really count for much, do they? The exotic animals are worth fighting for more than the humans, right?
For shame. It's a pestilence that is now done in Latin America, 21st century, because we (as modern societies) have enough money to provide them the medicine developed in the 1980s.
But Africa lags. Whose fault is it now?
Not just the United States. All of us, including Japan, China, and Brazil. Russia. Germany. The Arab world. All of us.
For shame.
I don't think this will leave me soon. It hasn't left our long-suffering brothers, sisters, neighbors of the forgotten third world. What can we do?
I'll write about it, at least. I'll find out a bit more. But this really bothers me. We are not a very good planet when we let stuff like this happen. Still. Now. Today.
River Blindness proves that we are not good enough in 2016. I'm embarrassed by our apathy, ignorance, and neglect.
Shameful.
EMC.
There are positives going on: One example, there is a new LDS mission in the Congo, and perhaps more people will become aware of the plight of poor millions, despite the antagonism and apparent disregard of buffoons like Matt Parker and Tre Stone. If they have donated towards this cause or brought it to light in any way, I beg their pardon for my ignorance. But I doubt it. For shame, those who mock idealist efforts in places like Africa or anywhere.
Let's fight our apathy and the neglected tropical diseases. There seems to be 16 others. Can we knock out one?
Have you heard of it? I think I had heard of it off and on over the years since the 1980s; like other pestilences that do not directly affect me or my own, I dismissed it as some crazy nightmare that we shuddered at the thought of, like demons and monsters that came to us in movies and comics that we could close our eyes to and they would go away. Like fiction, things that terrorize our thoughts but whatever. Who cares? Doesn't affect me, not in my country.
But does it affect me? Should it?
The sad thing is, River Blindness is real. And it has demonized millions throughout all of our lifetimes.
And what have we done about it? Not a lot. Not enough.
We have let these real life demons exist for too long. We pretend we are good decent people who care, but in the end, that is pretty empty when we have not eradicated this problem from the earth.
We do not care enough. I think it is reason to be ashamed. Me as an American. As a father, husband, human, college graduate, first worlder. I have passed a few days the last few years being very itchy and bothered by mosquito or gnat bites, but this is a small worm that infests under skin by the thousands, and does not go away until treated with ivermectin.
Yes, River Blindness Syndrome does not kill like tuberculosis or AIDs or cholera or malaria.
It only makes millions blind and drives another tenth of Africa and other third worlders nutso. Drives them to itch like crazy. In many cases until they die. Oh yeah, and blind.
Who cares? It's their problem, right?
Wrong.
It's a human problem that we can fix, and we don't because it costs money to pay for those pills. We pay farmers in the US not to grow food. Fine.
We put tariffs on Brazilian tomatoes to help Florida farmers survive. Great, got it. Florida farmers need help more than Brazilians.
We spend millions, as poor and middle-class folks, on movies and lottos, and casinos, and sports. Cool, fantastic.
We spend millions and billions on high-minded politicians and their campaigns.
And hair products. And make-up. And perfumes and colognes. And we spend on watches and gadgets, and video games. And sneakers and clothes, and all types of foods, and even pornographic material. Or drugs and booze and sugar products.
Yet we let a few million people suffer from larvae growing under their skins because they live in far flung forgotten places like Congo and Gabon and Cameroon. Those places don't really count for much, do they? The exotic animals are worth fighting for more than the humans, right?
For shame. It's a pestilence that is now done in Latin America, 21st century, because we (as modern societies) have enough money to provide them the medicine developed in the 1980s.
But Africa lags. Whose fault is it now?
Not just the United States. All of us, including Japan, China, and Brazil. Russia. Germany. The Arab world. All of us.
For shame.
I don't think this will leave me soon. It hasn't left our long-suffering brothers, sisters, neighbors of the forgotten third world. What can we do?
I'll write about it, at least. I'll find out a bit more. But this really bothers me. We are not a very good planet when we let stuff like this happen. Still. Now. Today.
River Blindness proves that we are not good enough in 2016. I'm embarrassed by our apathy, ignorance, and neglect.
Shameful.
EMC.
There are positives going on: One example, there is a new LDS mission in the Congo, and perhaps more people will become aware of the plight of poor millions, despite the antagonism and apparent disregard of buffoons like Matt Parker and Tre Stone. If they have donated towards this cause or brought it to light in any way, I beg their pardon for my ignorance. But I doubt it. For shame, those who mock idealist efforts in places like Africa or anywhere.
Let's fight our apathy and the neglected tropical diseases. There seems to be 16 others. Can we knock out one?
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