Magazine uses HIV+ blood for ink

[+ WmClarke]

Again, I'm speechless.

 

http://www.towleroad.com/2015/05/austrian-magazine-runs-limited-edition-printed-with-hiv-infused-blood.html

[instudiocity]

Why are you speechless?

Do you think the virus survives when it's dried onto paper?

Do you think it's dishonoring to those with HIV?

Do you believe the political statement of printing with blood is objectionable?

Are you aware the printing presses have an alcohol wash for the plates, that cleans them every rotation?

[+ sync]

Again, I'm speechless.

 

http://www.towleroad.com/2015/05/au...d-edition-printed-with-hiv-infused-blood.html

 

I'm with you, WmClarke. The only positive I can assign to this undertaking is freedom of expression.

[+ WmClarke]

Why are you speechless?

Do you think the virus survives when it's dried onto paper?

Do you think it's dishonoring to those with HIV?

Do you believe the political statement of printing with blood is objectionable?

Are you aware the printing presses have an alcohol wash for the plates, that cleans them every rotation?

 

No.

Not sure. Maybe it cheapens them a little but maybe it empowers some of them.

Yes.

No, but I assumed appropriate safety measures would be used for workers printing the issue.

 

I think it's just attention-whoring that will backfire in the long term. I hope the magazine enjoys their 15 minutes of fame.

And I hope I'm wrong and it makes a positive impact.

[+ WmClarke]

I'm with you, WmClarke. The only positive I can assign to this undertaking is freedom of expression.

 

That's a big one (especially for me). But any freedom exercised may create consequences harmful to the cause you champion.

 

Again, I hope I'm wrong but I fear I'm

not.

[AdamSmith]

The Towleroad piece explicitly says:

 

The ink to be used in this May’s edition of the usually digital magazine will be infused with blood in which the virus has been rendered inert and is safe to touch.

 

The stated rationale for the project seems to me reasonable, thoughtful and worthwhile:

 

The special edition run of the magazines are a part of a campaign to better explain just how the HIV virus works and to combat the stigma that still plagues positive people today.

[ZhenXBear]

Being a healthcare professional, I must say it did raise my eyebrow when I read the link (Fascinating, Captain). To the best of my recollection it's never been done before and hopefully the public awareness they seek doesn't garner attention from wrong groups. With their statement that there were 80% more confirmed cases HIV in 2013 than the same year a decade ago, I hope the editorial gives equal attention to prevention as well as the social stigma surrounding those people living with HIV.

[Rudynate]

No.

Not sure. Maybe it cheapens them a little but maybe it empowers some of them.

Yes.

No, but I assumed appropriate safety measures would be used for workers printing the issue.

 

I think it's just attention-whoring that will backfire in the long term. I hope the magazine enjoys their 15 minutes of fame.

And I hope I'm wrong and it makes a positive impact.

 

There is a long history of using human blood as an attention-getting symbol. The event that immediately came to mind was, when Fr. Phillip Berrigan, during the Viet Nam war, walked into a draft office and ruined a bunch of selective service records by pouring a vial of his own blood all over them.

[marylander1940]

Why are you speechless?

Do you think the virus survives when it's dried onto paper?

Do you think it's dishonoring to those with HIV?

Do you believe the political statement of printing with blood is objectionable?

Are you aware the printing presses have an alcohol wash for the plates, that cleans them every rotation?

 

Good points, interesting questions.

 

I guess he's speechless because it's unusual and gross, I'm speechless too, but I just think it's a publicity stunt, and a great way to call attention to the subject and get free publicity.

 

I just hope it saves one person's life making us talk about it and brings some money for research.

[marylander1940]

There is a long history of using human blood as an attention-getting symbol. The event that immediately came to mind was, when Fr. Phillip Berrigan, during the Viet Nam war, walked into a draft office and ruined a bunch of selective service records by pouring a vial of his own blood all over them.

 

That was also a publicity stunt, cheaper than the ones I'm posting but very effective in order to get free publicity.

 

http://www.showbizcocaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/pampeta-cp-9048233.jpghttp://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/publicity-stunt-trends.jpeg http://www.taylorherring.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/jack-black-cannes-film-festival-publicity-stunt.jpg http://www.taylorherring.com/blog_content/uploads/2009/02/polar-bear-on-thames-52.jpg

[+ WmClarke]

There is a long history of using human blood as an attention-getting symbol. The event that immediately came to mind was, when Fr. Phillip Berrigan, during the Viet Nam war, walked into a draft office and ruined a bunch of selective service records by pouring a vial of his own blood all over them.

Wow--what an interesting story. I had never heard of that.

[gallahadesquire]

Somehow, this reminds me of the book in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

[marylander1940]

Somehow, this reminds me of the book in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

 

Yes, the ink of the book had poison.

 

Great movie too!

 

[marylander1940]

Wow--what an interesting story. I had never heard of that.

 

I remember the "bring your ashes (ashes of your friends who died of AIDS) to the White House lawn movement" but I'm sure blood sounds even more gross.

 

http://www.actupny.org/diva/synAshes.html

 

[AdamSmith]

Yes, the ink of the book had poison.

 

In 1979 I took a class on semiotics taught by Eco. In lecture he was continually illustrating his points with stories about "peegs" (pigs) and the "wind rose" (a precursor of the compass face found on maps) and other esoteric, vaguely medieval examples. He would get so wrapped up in these entertaining but obscure anecdotes that whatever conceptual point he was trying to make would get completely lost. After class any of us who cared would have to dig furiously through his book A Theory of Semiotics to try and figure out what the hell he may have been talking about.

 

When The Name of the Rose was published the next year, we saw that he had been narrating us his novel as he was writing it. It all made sense then.

 

(That derivation of the title seems not to have been remarked on by commentators even yet. I should write a book. )

[AresEscortNYC]

Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't think this is a mere publicity stunt. A while back I spent part of each summer in Provincetown. I became good friends with one of the local art curators. He showed me these simple, stark, lovely etchings in thin scarlet strokes. The artist was positive and had used his own blood as his medium. My first reaction was fear and disgust, but once the curator explained the social commentary the artist was making I found it incredibly brave, tho the unfounded fear lingered. Forum members may be more enlightned, but beneath all the PC rhetoric there's still a lot of phobia out there, even among gays. Maybe not politically or intellectually, but in real-time, when someone positive is right before you, when a poz friend wants to take your hand, or share a soda, or... I've had to work on myself to get over that phobia and base my response on humanity and science, rather than fear. To quote the magazine: "The special edition run... (is) part of a campaign to better understand just how the HIV virus works and to combat the stigma that still plagues positive people today." Whether we want to admit it or not, this phobia still exists, if only in an unconscious, primordial form.