November 23, 2003
It Must Be Magic
I truly don't intend to come across as cynical or showing no compassion on this topic, but as someone who has lost a couple of friends/associates to HIV/AIDS, I often find myself wondering how Magic Johnson keeps looking better and better years after being diagnosed with the virus? Is there really some "magic" we don't hear about, or are there actual treatments out there that are only effective if you are blessed with the fame and fortune genetic makeup? What is it that millions of others around the globe have no access to, but our most powerful do? Isn't it enough to get away with murder (literally) that they now need to also avoid illness and death? I can imagine that he probably has a better regiment of exercise and diet habits superior to most of us mortals, but as far as treatments available, shouldn't they also be offered to others? I have heard of experimental therapies plus newest meds he's on. Whatever it is, one or more of those must be working as the man looks just as good and healthy, if not better than the day he hung his sneakers. I'm sure I'm missing something and have no doubt somebody within our smart reader group here can shed some light on it for all of us.
Posted by Pedram at November 23, 2003 07:48 PMI personally feeel it would have been better if magic Johnson had died. I said it when the news came out and I ay it again now. Back then they showed urban youth on television parroting "Magic Johnson is a hero."
A Hero, for having un-protected sex with prostitutes and catching aids, he is a hero. If you ever saw his talk show you'd realize how very stupid the man is. But he's rich.
I said it then and I will say it again. It would have been much better for the world if Magic Johnson had suffered a horrifying painful and undignified death. A death where he has TV commercials rasping out a death rattle of "If I had known then what I know now."
Maybe throw in a few trips to Tibet to consult with Llamas for the false hope of a cure. And Eventually a complete death, televised , with announcers struggling to get that last breath as he says "Why didn't I wear a condom? ,,,,, AHHHKKKGGGGGGGGKKKKKKK"
Then maybe the urban youths I spoke of would say, "You know, maybe Magic Johnson wasnt a hero but was just another idiot who had unprotected sex." To which some other urban youth would reply, "Idiot? You ever see his talk show, that guy was below idiot."
End of MJ,
Posted by: A.H. at November 24, 2003 07:45 AMI am sure his treatment is radically better than what's availble to most other people. But the fact he's still alive is not some proof of a magic drug. http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20031017/449_9545.asp
His website http://www.magicandhiv.com/ unfortunatly doesn't seem to have much info. But here's a good link about a talk he gave.
http://www.natap.org/2002/Nov/112502_2.htm
And his regiment:
"He took great care in explaining that he is in many ways just like all of us with HIV. Yes, he is very wealthy, but he explained how he has to be just as adherent as us, has to take the same regimens as us, and no he does not have access to any other HIV drugs than all of us. I think some audience members may have said to themselves their housing and daily living issues are a little more difficult. He talked about his personal daily schedule: workouts of running 3 miles and lifting weights I think he aid 5 days a week and then heading into his office."
I think Magic has a magic, and that is called Money (has names in other languages, but all refer to the same thing).
Posted by: Khodadad at November 24, 2003 09:11 PMI don't believe in magic, with a small "m", but there are definitely differences.
I have had quite a few friends die of AIDS.
At one time, two friends were diagnosed at the same time. One of them was 24, living what looked like a healthy lifestyle, and the other was agout 30, living a very unhealthy lifestyle (drugs, alcohol, parties, you name it).
The 24 year old went on AZT and was dead in less than a year.
The 30 year old did not go on AZT, or DDI, or any of the cocktails. BUT, he stopped all alcohol, all drugs, he split up from his unsupportive lover, he took up macrobiotic eating (as opposed to anything he fancied), studied, studied, studied, and he is still alive, back in his country, Denmark, it's been thirteen plus years.
Then, I have another friend, a member of my Buddhist sect, who takes the cocktails (we have a belief, we call it "turning poison into medecine"), and he has reversed all sorts of things, like Kaposi's sarcoma, and he lives on and on, with a few scary moments, mainly when the doctors botch some sort of diagnostic test and perforate him, or something equally horrible, when he goes through hell for a while, and comes bouncing back to start a new business.
Finally, I have another Buddhist friend, also a member of my sect, who has just decided his practice is all he needs and who takes nothing any more. He holds a fulltime job, he doesn't get any sicker than anyone else who is not even HIV positive. His point of view is: if this practice purifies your life, then the body must follow. If you die first, well everybody dies at some point, at least his next life will be better than this one because he will have improved his karma.
I myself am of the same mind as this last friend. I am not an HIV positive, but I do have cancer... My first primary: 1982. My second primary: 1994. My third primary: 1997. If I am metastatic, it is not evident. In 1995, I was so advanced my surgeon didn't expect me to wake up after surgery. I can't tell anyone offhand how many surgeries I have had, but I have also had radiation and chemotherapy. Now, I take no treatment, except for a minor matter of a stent catheter to one of my kidneys, and I refuse any more surgery, partly because I am such a mess of surgical scars, radiation scars, chemotherapy scars, adhesions, inoperable tumours, etc., that I fancy I have more to lose than to gain from surgery (my surgeon agrees 100%). I stick to my Buddhist practice, the purification of my six sense organs as it is called, and am opinionated and adamant about how I want things handled by any doctor who comes near me: I will not budge about two things -- quality of life, and quality of death.
It seems to be working.
Posted by: nobbog at November 24, 2003 10:58 PM