                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Ŀ     For every action there is a reaction. For every effect, there is a            cause. We already know that America has failed to stop the AIDS               epidemic. Was it possible to stop? Of course it was possible. When the        number of victims were still in the range of hundreds, even low               thousands, those victims could have been isolated, as so many victims         of so many other infectious diseases. When I suggested isolation in           1984, I was told that I am cruel and heartless. When I tried to point         out that this is a medical issue and shouldn't be an emotional issue,         I was simply ignored. This short introductory article is optional to          read, it is not needed to understand any other part of this disk.             I merely explore one possible "global" reason, why and how the society        went to the wrong direction handling AIDS and why no worthwhile change        in direction took place yet.                                                          Press ENTER if you are interested, or Esc to return to the Menu.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ŀ                               The most esoteric angle of the AIDS epidemics:                              Ŀ   We probably both agree that AIDS is a problem.                                        What we may disagree on is the amount of problem and the methods      of solving it. I could bring up thousands of examples from history, where     one person or a group thought one thing, and another one thought the          exact opposite. Unless one side was able to provide a clear PROOF             (rare), the result was some kind of conflict. However, if one was able to     deliver clear proof, even the medieval dark minds backed off. Even the        most resisted new scientific, medical, political ideas prevailed, if the      evidence was presented (although it took sometimes decades). On the other     hand, certain claims without evidence, were never accepted by mankind         (see astrology), despite that the claims were sometimes many hundreds of      years old.                                                                                                                                                        The 20th century brought many surprises to humanity. Yet, with all      the geniuses, mankind erred enough to produce two world wars, countless       other wars, economic, scientific, political, medical, sociological            blunders. Although Americans had a pretty good track-record, yet there        was a 1929 stock market crash, a Prohibition, a Korea, a Vietnam,             a Watergate, a Challenger, a drug problem, recession, inflation, and          countless smaller and nameless errors. Behind all of these problems,          there were many people, who were ABSOLUTELY convinced that they were          doing the right thing.                                                                                                                                      Mr. McDonald (I think that was the name of famed engineer at Morton           Thiokol) said something like this: "Don't launch that spaceship, because      it has dangerous design flaws.                                                Apparently he didn't have the fame, the rank, the power to make his word      effective. Nobody listened to him.                                                                                                                          They launched the Challenger and 74 seconds later it exploded.                                                                                              Exactly the way the little nameless engineer claimed, it would happen. He     presented sufficient evidence but he ran into a phenomenon which is           typical to advanced societies, previously successful dictators and other      previously successful individuals in key positions and that phenomenon is     the FEELING OF INVINCIBILITY, Proven to be one of the most destructive        force in history.                                                                                                                                           "Why would the space shuttle Explode? It never has." The feeling of           invincibility made otherwise intelligent people psychologically               blind to such possibility. A space shuttle HAD TO perish in order to kick     reality into the minds of those people who felt invincible.                   But at least when it blew up, all those involved sobered up and proper        measures were taken.                                                          There are reversible errors and irreversible errors.                          The leaders of the Roman Empire felt invincible and the Roman Empire          vanished forever.                                                             With all the military success behind their backs, with all the stockpiled     nuclear weapons, the leaders of Soviet Union felt invincible. I don't         think I need comment on that one.                                                                                                                           By the early second half of the 20th century, Americans felt invincible.      "200 glorious years behind Us ......... look what we have produced.... we     have the power, we have the force, we have the....". The feeling of           invincibility began to take its toll. Many known problems can be              accounted as the partial or total result of the invincibility complex.                                                                                      Our loss of (worldwide) economic leadership, Vietnam, Iran-Shah,              Iran-Khomeini, explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, half a million      Americans in Kuwait and Iraq, spending billions of dollars, yet failing       to take care of the the main goal. What else, other than feeling              invincible could have lead to this fiasco. "If he will see the mighty         American forces, he will run, he will retreat (Saddam Hussein).....           Not only he did not run, he is still a major political problem.               All of these and many more, was followed by the most mind-boggling and        potentially the most devastating form of "invincibility feeling". It is       the way America approached the AIDS problem. Let's just see how many          different ways were America SURE about AIDS during the last 12 years.         Some of the official claims during this period of time:                                                                                                     "AIDS is a disease of male homosexuals. The others need not to worry"         "AIDS is a disease of homosexuals and hemophiliacs"                           "AIDS is a disease of male homosexuals and intravenous drug abusers."         "AIDS will not turn into an epidemic."                                        "AIDS will not infect heterosexuals unless a bisexual contact"                "AIDS is a disease of the homosexuals, bisexuals, intravenous drug                  abusers, hemophiliacs, children who got it from their mother while            they were fetuses, certain percentage of heterosexuals."                "AIDS is no longer confined to United States. There are some reports from           other countries but the numbers are too small to worry about it."       "AIDS is a handicap."                                                         "AIDS is a social problem"                                                    "AIDS is a disadvantage"                                                      "AIDS is a racial issue"                                                      "AIDS is a discrimination issue"                                              "AIDS is transmitted by blood only"                                           "AIDS is transmitted by blood and semen"                                      "AIDS is transmitted by blood semen and vaginal fluids"                       "AIDS has been identified in all bodily fluids but we need not to fear.."     "AIDS is a very serious problem. Condom is the solution"                      "AIDS is spread by dentists and other health care workers"                    "AIDS became so serious, that it started to produce folk heroes like                Magic Johnson. He was declared an expert, by the virtue of the fact           that he failed to prevent it."                                          "AIDS is the fault of the heterosexuals, failing to practice safe sex."                                                                                     The country still feels invincible. 12 years, at least 2 million HIV          positive and 200 thousand deaths later, the country cheered for Magic         Johnson when he returned to play and booed his teammates when they            expressed their dislike of the probability (in a contact sport where          injury and bleeding is commonplace), that they may contract AIDS from         Magic Johnson. The "Magic phenomenon" however is only one of the many         symptoms of the invincibility complex.                                                                                                                      AIDS triggered the worst case of "invincibility complex" any society EVER     ran across, resulting in a mass-hypnotic denial of the actual problem.                                                                                      The Japanese leadership denied the possibility of losing the war. Not         even the first atomic bomb shattered THEIR invincibility complex.             But at least the second one did.                                                                                                                            America had its first "bomb" in form of 200,000 people dying from this        disease, and (at least) 1 million is infected by 1989 (CDC, last official     estimate, upgraded from 1.5 million), and will die before the end of the      decade. All that, in a short 10 years.                                                                                                                      AIDS is still declared everything but what it really is:                                                                                                    An communicable disease, caused by a virus, known for only 12 years           It has an over 95% mortality rate (quite possibly 100%)                       It is now an epidemic.                                                        No cure has been invented.                                                    No immunization has been invented.                                                                                                                          Mankind NEVER confronted an infectious disease with this combination of       unfavorable characteristics or mortality rate.                                                                                                              An essential part of the "invincibility complex" is the "ability" to          ignore failure.  Instead of properly accounting for a failure, it is          usually shoved aside or dealt with on such a superficial level that no        correct observation can be made or conclusion drawn and of course no          correct actions can follow. Yet, those who are making the decisions,          are perfectly convinced that they are doing the right things.                                                                                               So far what I wrote should make it clear that I claim that America has a      king size "invincibility complex" in connection to AIDS. I am not the         first one who claims, that unless some very specific steps (not just          "something") will be made, unknown number of millions will catch AIDS and     prematurely die from it, but I may be the first one who will PROVE, at        least part of my claims.                                                                                                    My major goal is to explore and analyze the general mishandling of AIDS       and convince you that a new approach is needed in order to have a             fighting chance, just to slow down the spread.                                I understand that many people made many claims, in fact that is one of        the major source of confusion. To give emphasis to my words, I wrote the      AIDS Simulator computer program which  explores and proves one small but      quite important portion of the AIDS epidemic. I certainly hope that the       immense convincing power of the Simulator will give credibility to my         words about some of the other aspects of the AIDS epidemic.                                             Take your time, don't rush. Plenty of time has been wasted, a couple of       more weeks won't make any difference. Please visit the "Library" before       trying the Simulator.                           Dr. Laufer                    