Why has AIDS become a laughing matter these days? There are tons of AIDS jokes and people who joke about AIDS. I even hear a giggle when the word “AIDS” is mentioned, every now and then.
When I was a teen and pre-teen in the 90’s, it was no laughing matter at all.
Among certain segments of the population AIDS has always been a laughing matter. You weren’t around in the early 80s; I was.
Hold on, lemme finish raping all these people in Modern Warfare then I’ll address you Mr. Serious.
For a great many people, humor is a coping mechanism.
For most people, I’d suspect AIDS = gay, and to them the idea of AIDS conjures up the idea of gay buttsecks lolz
Those people are obviously six.
It’s really a problem in the gay community. The younger people have no memeory of what AIDS was like. So if you memory doesn’t go before 1996, you will think it’s no big deal to have HIV.
When’s the last time you heard of anyone dying of AIDS? I know people with HIV that pop a pill or two a day and do just fine. I also know HIV+ people that have a horrible time with the AIDS meds (anti-retrovirals). So it depends on who you know.
If you only saw the HIV+ people what do fine with their meds, you would think it was no big deal. Think of it like the old days before antibiotics, when syphillis was a real concern, now it’s no big deal
Really? Has medical science come that far that AIDS is no longer a death sentence? If so, that’s fantastic news.
Probably not a joke amongst passive aggressive upper class.
It’s considered a chronic illness today, IIRC.
I’ll echo what Czarcasm said.
Also like racial jokes it’s mean and therefore “naughty” and people enjoy doing “naughty” things if they think they will not get caught. Like telling these types of jokes amongst friends.
The comic Covered_in_Bees linked to is hilarious.
For people who live in developed countries and have access to anti-retroviral drugs, at least.
I was as well. A joke I still remember from those days -
Q: What is the hardest thing about having AIDS?
A: Trying to persuade your mother that you are Haitian!
Does laughing out loud at this make me a bad person?
Yes, I remember that one. For those of you too young, one of the first groups of people who had AIDS were Haitians. Along with Homosexuals, Hemophiliacs and Heroin users, they comprised the “4-H club.”
Uh… constantly? In Africa… about 1 in 3 people are HIV+ and they don’t have the money for fancy antiretrovirals so people are still dying of AIDS all the time there.
Even in the U.S., there are plenty of people who can’t afford ARV drugs, aren’t compliant with them, or occasionally are just dealt a bad hand in life and die of AIDS-related secondary infections like fungal pneumonia.
You’ve kinda answered your own question there.
When AIDS first came to public attention it was very scary, and even the most optimistic scenarios put it somewhere between Black Death II and Armageddon.
Now, in the developed world at least, it’s lost some of its sting: it’s not spreading as fast as we expected, ARVs mean the symptoms may be controlled somewhat and practices have changed such that you can’t get the virus in some way that isn’t (partially) your fault, like transfusions.
Humour is often a response people have when something turns out to be less threatening than expected. Of course, I mean no offence to those with the disease: it’s still very serious, and people do realise that.
N.B. South park did an episode where AIDS was officially declared fair game for jokes. S06:E01.
I used to have an old ad from a magazine (pre-HIV “discovery”), like the 40’s or 50’s) with the headline, “Lose weight the way the movie stars do, with AYDS!” Yes, I found it terribly funny in a horrific, ironic way. 
D (same way I did a Bordon milk ad from the same era with an illustration of a fat little boy in shorts reaching into a cabinet, rearing his ass at the viewer, with the caption, “He’s my homo boy!” :eek::p)
I think it depends on who is making the jokes…always will be those who make fun to relieve their own anxiety. But HIV has become more of a chronic condition since it was first identified and was a death sentence, so I think that factors in. (“Comedy is tragedy plus distance.” some woody allen movie I cannot currently recall the name of, damn it!)
The tone of the “quote” you offer strikes me as coming from a pre-teen to teen ager…um, they tend to make all sorts of inapproriate jokes and comments that should not be taken seriously.