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UK bug chasers: America’s future?

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A commentor (thanks V) points us to this July 2013 article from the UK, on the practice of deliberate self-infection with HIV:

The reckless practice, known as bug chasing, started in the US as a bizarre means of getting a ­sexual high from risk-taking.

Now, according to one man who willingly caught the virus, hundreds of men in the UK are introducing themselves on online forums, Face­book groups and Twitter.

Many then meet up and try to transmit the potentially life-threatening virus, which attacks the ­immune system weakening the body’s ability to fight disease.

Some bug-chasers actually claim the virus gives them a better quality of life because of the medication they subsequently have to take.

Nick, 30, an admin worker from the Midlands, said: “I feel fit as a fiddle. I feel full of energy and healthier as a result of being on my medication.

“I get my liver function tests every three months, my cholesterol tested regularly and I get loads of general health checks so if there are any underlying conditions I know straight away. Even better, I get it all on the NHS.”

Last year, 73,659 people in the UK were treated for HIV – 43 per cent of them gay or bisexual men – a rise of 58 per cent over the last 10 years.

You can read the rest.

Needless to say, such behavior is deplorable for its nihilism. It embodies contempt for self and society alike. It is anti-life.

But for these men, having their behavior deplored is part of the thrill. In thrall to sex addiction as well as their nihilism, they ‘get off’ on doing and being the worst things that their society will peaceably reward (pay) them to do and to be.

What enables their behavior is the payment: the socialized medicine. These men are partly rational. Not completely; for instance, the one man’s supposition that HIV medications are healthy is not rational. But these men have seen that a socialized (and still somewhat wealthy or ‘First World’) society will give them lots of medical care that they have not earned and do not merit.

These men have gauged, correctly, that their society will give them the best care possible, if they inflict some sort of manageable and tolerable medical condition on themselves. Consciously or not, they are ‘playing’ the socialized medical system. That is partly (not entirely) the fault of the system itself: socialized systems for private goods always warp a society’s incentives in some way, and should not exist to begin with.

Morally speaking, these men have a suicide-like ‘right’ to get HIV if they really want to; but no right to have government forcing the rest of their society to pay their way. Yet their government does force the rest of society to pay their way. And so there are enough of these men around to start making a social phenomenon of it.

(NB: Spelling fixes, phrase/wording edits, etc. after initial publication.)

Comments

  1. A few months ago, the MSM’s favorite “gay conservative,” had this to say:

    My view is that every doctor who treats a sexually active gay man should put him on a daily retroviral in the same way you might prescribe a daily anti-cholesterol drug for someone with high cholesterol. If 92 percent of gay men can avoid infection this way, then we could truly turn the tide.This is the equivalent of Plan B for pregnant women – except it’s taken every day and prevents infection, rather than trying to contain HIV once the virus has gotten inside.

    Using the old tactics of fear and sexual shaming simply will not – does not – work. Men will have sex with other men, period. It’s about as predictable as cold in the winter and warmth in the summer (maybe more predictable these days). The cost is a fraction of what a full anti-retroviral regimen would be after infection.

    So what are we waiting for? Unless to get past the stigma that gay sex is something you should keep as scary as possible? And in my view, these pills should also be over the counter.

    Sigh… it’s not “men having sex with men” that spreads HIV, you ditzy queen. Sexually active gay men who totally avoid orifice penetration and only engage in mutual masturbation frottage are not at risk for HIV at all. Men who also include fellatio on their sexual menu face a greater-than-zero chance of contracting HIV, but the risk is statistically very small. Similarly for men who have anal sex but ALWAYS use condoms — they’re not foolproof, but condom failure is relatively rare, just as oral transmission is relatively rare.

    The sole engine that drives the ongoing spread of HIV among MSMs is bareback anal — always has been, always will be.

    And, IMHO, anyone who bottoms bareback is “objectively” a bug-chaser, even if he doesn’t consciously think of himself as one.

  2. Yes, “bug chasing” has been going on since Reagan was POTUS and Diane Feinstein, who in my opinion is responsible for the death of more gay men than any other hetero on the planet, was Mayor of San Francisco. That this cult of death has been allowed to continue with barely an utterance from homosexuals of all stripes is utterly deplorable and heartbreaking at the same time.

  3. I’ve sat thinking about this post for the last hour trying to get my anger under control. I had the unfortunate experience of being a volunteer for Gay Men’s Health Crisis in NYC when the epidemic first appeared. I ran recreation groups to help socialize men hit with the disease who had become isolated. My referrals ran 26 at a time and within months all 26 would be dead but I’d still have a full case load going forward. I met many young men who would try ANYTHING in desperation to save their own lives. I had my own circle of friends dying from the disease but I never, ever, met a single man who wanted to have it. These “bug chasers” have to be the most morally corrupted people I have ever encountered. To deliberately infect yourself with a potentially fatal disease that makes you contagious to every one else you have contact with is so twisted it defies belief. And then to have the gall and nerve to assume that everyone else is going to pay for your treatment. I hope that among these idiots are a few who don’t respond to treatment (and yes, they do exist) and suddenly have to confront their own limited mortality in a very short time frame. Let them know the horror that thousand went through when there was no effective treatment. Maybe if a few of their “bug chaser” friends see the true nature of this disease they might influence others to change their behavior. They don’t have to remember what it was like to hold the hand of an emaciated stranger as he died, because his family and friends had run away in terror and wouldn’t even witness his death. “Bug chasers” give new meaning to the word selfish. Damn them all.

  5. Pretty much agree with all, so far. Sullivan seems to have forgotten all concept of personal responsibility. When I called the bug chasers anti-life, I meant it as a term of moral judgment.

  7. Yeah, we’ll see what happens once Russian Super-AIDS arrives in the UK.

    Jeff is correct. This is the precise consequence of the “someone else pays” philosophy of health care. Healthy, responsible people are forced to subsidize the behavior of unhealthy, irresponsible people. And people like littlelettermike say, “So what? Subsidizing bad behavior is politically popular.”