>Original site: http://www.swansongs.net/drowned/illusion/aids.html
July 4, 1999. Today I received this letter, in response to a note I signed in the author's guestbook:
Sarah,
As I have admitted before, my one year old rant about AIDS is full of errors and misleading words(not to mention stupid unrealistic and new-age comments that were inappropriate). I apologize for that, and I thank you for signing my guestbook a while ago so that I actually looked over it and realized how flaky it was.
So I took it down and replaced it with an article by Duesberg(who I suppose you rather dislike), and added links to more information. You signed my guestbook again, and I went to your site and found my article.
I don't know if the copyright standards on the Net will provide me any legal backing but I'm asking you to take it down. If you wish to rebut, rebut, but not that. That's a piece of crap that I wrote and I am sorry that I wrote it, but I am not apologizing for having the information and the links to dissident theories about AIDS.
First of all, I am not homophobic, but then again if you want to believe that I have no way of stopping you. My article makes me cringe. If you want to give real information, then don't rebut some stupid teenager's mindless non-essay on something she didn't know enough about and was too obsessed with 'the new age' at that time to focus on reality, rebut duesberg's articles, or the virusmyth.com website. It's pointless to post up my copyrighted(?) article up there, and I do not of course make a good representation of the dissident community, so I'm asking you, please, put real information on HIV/AIDS there(I'm not asking you to put dissident stuff, but the mainstream AIDS research from the CDC, Dr. Gallo, etc) and if you want to make us all look stupid then fine, just don't use me as representing them. It's not fair to them.
You're right, I had a lot of growing up to do, I still do. But don't think all this is because of my age, or that I think I know everything, because I'm aware that I don't, and my school's science classes are sadly lacking. Forgive me for my stupid article, but please take it down, and put something more concrete up. I don't mind if you want to ridicule me or my site, go right ahead...
Thanks.
Syl
Because Syl says that her earlier words were badly chosen and her ideas poorly articulated, I have removed them. Also my own rebuttal, which ripped her a new asshole and was rude in the extreme. I have kept the link to her site because I am of the opinion that Peter Duesberg spreads dangerous misinformation. This is a support page for vampires, including blood-drinking people. Sanguinarians are at risk for contracting HIV and a number of other scary diseases. That's a fact. We don't have to like it, we just have to live with it. A scientist who spreads the word that HIV is not fatal, and is entirely unrelated to AIDS, is poisonous to our community. We are so close to actually having the cure for AIDS - the cure! In another year or two we will have a vaccine, and we would not have been able to research it if we did not acknowledge a basic link between HIV and AIDS. Meanwhile, anybody who goes around thinking that HIV is nothing to worry about is walking blind, and may well walk right into the path of an oncoming bus (metaphorically speaking.)
If one person chooses to walk blind and into the path of a bus, that's one thing. Trying to get people to follow is quite another.
I would not be able to rest at night if I knew that my advice caused somebody to develop AIDS. I have an article on this website devoted to safer feeding techniques - drinking blood only puts one at risk if that blood comes into contact with your bloodstream via an open cut, abrasion, or sore; the reason oral sex is risky is that many people have bleeding gums, chancre sores, or other similar things in the mouth/throat area, it's not because semen or vaginal fluid is inherently tainted. Even they do not make feeding completely safe, but at least I have attempted to reduce the risk, and ease some fears. There is way too much misinformation out there about HIV. When I see someone advocating an approach which basically says "HIV is nothing to worry about," my blood boils. HIV is not "nothing." I worry.