AIDS sufferers and those at high risk of contracting the disease should be interned

============================================================ It is true that the majority of AIDS sufferers are located in sub-Saharan Africa but rather than resort to nuclear bombs, which would be akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, surely international aid could be made conditional upon African governments addressing the problem of AIDS by interning all HIV infected people, together with heroin addicts and gay men in secure camps? ============================================================ He continued: "My opposing point is - such encampments will cost a lot. .. Even if these won`t be high security compounds there is still need for acceptable hygiene standards and some perimeter security as well as food, clothing etc. . Also to stop disease there must be 3 different types of compounds - for heterosexual males, homosexual males and women. " ============================================================ Of course, there will be a cost associated with internment but it need not be prohibitively high. Yes, the inmates will have to be provided with food and water and coffins and spades but I don't recall mentioning any provision for hygiene or clothing or segregation. The inmates will be free to live together as a homogenous community and they can use their spades to construct cesspits. As far as replacement clothing is concerned, they can obtain them from deceased inmates before they are buried. No matter what the cost, though, internment will save innocent children's lives and you can't put a price on that. ============================================================ Then he wrote: "Also - not all of HIV infected are so called 'low lifes' - many are well educated and living normal everyday life. So you plan to take every HIV infected person away from its home,friends, family and just imprison them? This cannot be good for economy because it doesn`t deal with the problem - if you are not killing these people they still need to be taken care of. If HIV infected person is working and earning money it means that he is self sufficient + paying taxes. " ============================================================ I wouldn't suggest for a moment that all HIV sufferers are low life but my opponent is correct that my scheme will take them away from their friends and family. Indeed, that is the whole point – by isolating them from society, they will be unable to infect other people with HIV. It may be the case that this will result in a loss of revenue for the taxman, but it will only be a matter of time before the AIDS sufferer becomes too ill to work anyway and by preventing them from spreading the disease to other taxpayers there will be an overall net gain to the government's coffers. ============================================================ My opponent went on to write: "Have you thought about moral aspects of your idea? You presume that being infected with HIV is equal to crime? .. .My point is that this will be very similar to Nazi Germany - Euthanasia, killings of asylum inhabitants and drug users. Didn`t we accuse Nazis for their atrocities against weak and different because it was morally wrong, though acceptable by their laws? " ============================================================ My opponent is wrong to suggest that internment is a punishment for contracting HIV or for being a member of a group at high risk of doing so. Instead, it is merely a preventative measure designed to protect society as a whole. Of course, we cannot be certain that someone with HIV will infect other people but by interning them we can be certain that they will not! To address the comparison with Nazi Germany I should point out that not everything associated with that regime was bad. For example, when a German motorist is sat in safety and comfort behind the wheel of his Porsche 911 travelling at 150mph (240kmh) along one of Germany's many excellent Autobahns, he might remember that it was the Nazis that first developed that fine motorway network and that the car he's driving is a direct descendent of the VW Beetle which first saw service as a Nazi staff car. Nevertheless, internment is not designed to weed out societies weakest members, rather it is designed to protect them from contracting AIDS from drug addicts or homosexual men. ============================================================ Then, my opponent wrote: "And even if we consider becoming HIV infected to be crime , what about those who were infected without knowing it? How can we blame new born babies for being in wrong time, wrong place, wrong situation? " ============================================================ My opponent raises a very good point here – what to do about all the poor little kiddies who have caught AIDS through their drug-addicted mothers or by being raped by gay, HIV-infected paedophiles? Clearly, they cannot be interned with the adults but must be cared for in secure children's homes until they are adults. Then they can be transferred to the internment camps. ============================================================ My opponent continued: "We cannot pretend to be blind and ignore fact that there are millions of dollars spent each year for HIV/AIDS research. Experiments has gone so far that even if person is infected with HIV, by taking appropriate medications it is possible to delay AIDS phase. There are experiments confirming that there is real possibility that there won`t be any more babies born with HIV by 2015. " ============================================================ I very much hope that a cure for AIDS can be found, but until one is, we must protect ourselves from the carriers of HIV. ============================================================ Lastly, my opponent wrote: "In the end I wanted to ask a question - what are the origins of AIDS? Couldn`t it be that it is just a side effect of our society (at least in the Western world) - if imprisoning and isolating AIDS infected persons for life is acceptable when they haven`t committed any crime, how can it be that killers and maniacs with numerous crimes get out of prison after some time, but AIDS infected have to spent rest of their lifes somewhere in the middle of nowhere. " ============================================================ Again, my opponent is confusing prisons with internment camps – confusing punishment with a public health measure. However, one of the fringe benefits of internment will be to reduce crime, and by extension, the prisoner population. That's because much of crime is associated with the trade in drugs and with no customers there can be no drug barons or drug pushers and there will be no junkies to rob people in order to feed their habits. ============================================================ In conclusion, internment is not a measure any government would want to introduce without good cause and it will cost money but if it secures the long term health of nation and saves children's lives then it has to be not only a worthwhile measure, but an essential one. Thank you.