Each Monday, this blog will feature a song, video, piece of art, or other type of media that tells part of a story. Sometimes the message will be light and funny, other times it will be deeper and more somber. I may not even fully agree with what is posted. My aim is to present narratives that are worth experiencing, knowing, and discussing.
For today, our media is an informative and encouraging look at the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as told by one of my favorite people at TED.com. Check it out below.
Hans Rosling illuminates how the HIV/AIDS narrative is changing.
First of all, I'm a big fan of TED Talks. Brilliant presenters speaking on what they're most knowledgable and most passionate. It's a remarkable website.
You may have already figured out that I'm an optimist by now, which explains why I'm so thrilled by this video. Rosling breaks down an astonishing amount of data, and makes it digestible for regular folks. I love that he's not just optimistic, but has data that substantiates his hopefulness.
I never really knew much about HIV/AIDS before watching this video, although I have read several articles and watched other videos after this TED Talk sparked my interest. Despite some sketchy scenes and a lot of coarse language, Rent did a good job of unveiling the life of people living with the virus. Rosling helped me expand my knowledge beyond the misconceptions that I had grown up hearing. Basically, my Sex Ed. class mentioned the disease, mainly saying that if you had premarital sex, you could get HIV/AIDS and die. Apparently, that was all we needed to know.
One of the things that struck me was that the bubbles that Rosling shows us represent so many people. If Rent helped remind me that people living with HIV/AIDS were more than statistics, this video reminds me that there are millions of individuals struggling to live their lives despite their condition.
A point that I love from Rosling's talk is that "...people say HIV is very high in Africa. I would say, 'HIV is very different in Africa!'" (Interesting note that may only interest me: This teaching technique is very old. Jesus is recorded as using the same "You have heard it said... but I say to you..." in the Gospels.) My friends who hail from Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa have passionately argued the same point that Rosling argues: we do African citizens and ourselves a disservice when we attempt to simplify an entire continent into one characterization. As Rosling puts it, "It's not very respectful, and it's not very clever."
It was also fascinating to see the differences between income groups in Tanzania, with those with larger incomes having a higher rate of HIV/AIDS. The same goes for Kenya's different provinces. It's baffling to see such stark contrasts in the amount of infected persons based on where they live. This data certainly makes treating the whole of Kenya for the disease in the same seem silly.
Rosling ends his talk with a hopeful sentiment. He encourages us to continue fighting AIDS with our heart, to continue fighting AIDS with our money, but to find ways to combine those with fighting AIDS with our minds. For me, this video was a great start in that direction.
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