# Nobel prize winner: AIDS is a bioweapon **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477 "2004-10-10T16:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/1 "2004-10-10T16:34:00Z")
Wangari Maathai, this year’s Nobel peace prize winner, stated a couple of months ago that HIV/AIDS was created in a Western laboratory to control the African population. > [@](#): > > Do not be naive. AIDS is not a curse from God to Africans or the black people. It is a tool to control them designed by some evil-minded scientists, but we may not know who particularly did (it). Clever girl. Will you join me in a huzzah for this great choice for recipient of a Nobel prize? [Link](http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=599969§ion=news). ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/2 "2004-10-10T17:20:25Z")
Further proof that people can be both smart (or any other good quality) and crazy. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/3 "2004-10-10T17:29:32Z")
I stopped paying attention to the Nobel Prize when they gave one to Toni Morrison. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/4 "2004-10-10T17:33:10Z")
I would like to see some evidence of this secret evil conspiracy too. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/5 "2004-10-10T17:41:49Z")
I was wondering what being an environmentalist has to do with “peace” in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/6 "2004-10-10T18:28:22Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Clever girl. Will you join me in a huzzah for this great choice for recipient of a Nobel prize? Yeah, they should have never gave her that Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Oh wait, her prize was for Peace. What does what she thinks about AIDS (or colonizing Mars or Linux vs Windows) have to do with her getting a prize on an completely unrelated subject? But I agree with **milroyj** that giving a Peace prize to someone for aiding the poor and planting trees seems a bit of a stretch. Didn’t anybody resolve any conflicts this year? Maybe not, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/7 "2004-10-10T18:35:26Z")
Please don’t forget that it was terribly PC of the commitee, okay? ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/8 "2004-10-10T18:52:00Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Clever girl. Will you join me in a huzzah for this great choice for recipient of a Nobel prize? I imagine that choosing the recipient of the Peace Prize is an unenviable job. No matter who you choose somebody is going to be whinging. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/9 "2004-10-10T19:17:06Z")
> [@milroyj](#): > > I was wondering what being an environmentalist has to do with “peace” in the first place? Sometimes the cause of peace is best furthered by seeing that people’s basic needs are met, rather than through strength of arms or even diplomacy. If people are desperate, it’s hard to negotiate them into passivity. [For example…](http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20545) > [@](#): > > “States must first look at where the problem is emanating from and decide what action to take,” Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, coordinator of Tana River Peace, Reconciliation and Development group told IPS. > > Based in northern Kenya, Mohamed’s organisation sensitises pastoralist communities in the region about the danger of dealing with small arms. > > “Above all, the neglect and continued marginalisation of the pastoral communities by the state is a recipe for conflicts and arms proliferation,” said Mohamed. > > “If security were guaranteed, people would see no point in acquiring guns and would be willing to negotiate to surrender such guns to the state. The government must be seen to be more committed to facilitate adequate civil education, allocate more resources to these pastoral regions,” he suggested. People are more inclined to beat their swords into ploughshares if their land can, you know, actually support crops. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/10 "2004-10-10T19:52:37Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Sometimes the cause of peace is best furthered by seeing that people’s basic needs are met, rather than through strength of arms or even diplomacy. If people are desperate, it’s hard to negotiate them into passivity. > > [For example…](http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20545)People are more inclined to beat their swords into ploughshares if their land can, you know, actually support crops. So planting trees as a method of arms control? Quite the stretch, don’t ya think? ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/11 "2004-10-10T21:03:41Z")
My goodness, I freaked when I read this thread title. This year’s Nobel winner for phisiology or medicine works in the same building as I do, as do a number of AIDS researchers, and I was thinking I had missed some _serious_ weirdness… However, the fact that the Peace prize winner doesn’t have a firm grasp on medical realities doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve recognition in her own domain. mischievous ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/12 "2004-10-10T21:06:32Z")
> [@milroyj](#): > > So planting trees as a method of arms control? Quite the stretch, don’t ya think? Hardly. The best way to eliminate war is to address the conditions that lead to war – and when you look at the major contributors to unrest in Kenya and surrounding countries, government failure to meet the basic needs of the populace are right at the top. Look at the last few violent confrontations in the news and you will see that control of limited fertile ground is often at the heart of it. Maathai’s approach was revolutionary because rather than convincing people to take up arms to overthrow a corrupt and neglectful government, which is the usual method, instead she encouraged them to take direct action to meet their own needs. Not just planting trees, but creating fertile ground through composting, developing solar and wind-powered electricity for remote areas, creating agricultural jobs for men and women, etc. These are all things which help to obviate the need (and there is a need, otherwise) for bloody conflict. Stupid (although widespread) myths about the origin of HIV aside, she’s up there with Gandhi for countering brutal oppression with peaceful strategems. She deserved the Peace Prize – and you know she’s not going to be buying any gold bathtubs with it. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/13 "2004-10-11T01:12:10Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Hardly. The best way to eliminate war is to address the conditions that lead to war – and when you look at the major contributors to unrest in Kenya and surrounding countries, government failure to meet the basic needs of the populace are right at the top. Look at the last few violent confrontations in the news and you will see that control of limited fertile ground is often at the heart of it. > > Maathai’s approach was revolutionary because rather than convincing people to take up arms to overthrow a corrupt and neglectful government, which is the usual method, instead she encouraged them to take direct action to meet their own needs. Not just planting trees, but creating fertile ground through composting, developing solar and wind-powered electricity for remote areas, creating agricultural jobs for men and women, etc. > > These are all things which help to obviate the need (and there is a need, otherwise) for bloody conflict. > > Stupid (although widespread) myths about the origin of HIV aside, she’s up there with Gandhi for countering brutal oppression with peaceful strategems. She deserved the Peace Prize – and you know she’s not going to be buying any gold bathtubs with it. Exactly. I was listening to the radio to hear this announcement and my reaction was just like Mil’s. But, NPR had some great commentary and they explained how this prize was very symbolic because it represented many scholarly opinions about what you just posted. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/14 "2004-10-11T01:37:19Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Wangari Maathai, this year’s Nobel peace prize winner . . . Anybody else read this and go, “Jesus–they gave Walter Matthau the Nobel Peace Prize?!” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/15 "2004-10-11T01:57:36Z")
“AIDS” used to be the name of a diet candy. Man, that marketing guy is SO unemployeed right now. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/16 "2004-10-11T02:37:42Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > “AIDS” used to be the name of a diet candy. Man, that marketing guy is SO unemployeed right now. It was “Ayds”, and I doubt there was any reason to fire anybody, since it was called “Ayds” before the disease was named. My Mom used the stuff in the 1970’s. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/17 "2004-10-11T03:08:05Z")
So [William Shockley](http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1956/) should have never gotten his Nobel prize? [IIRC he had some pretty unpopular ideas about eugenics, race and intelligence.](http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/shockley.html) ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/18 "2004-10-11T09:41:28Z")
Kudos to her for fostering a spirit of independence and “can-do attitude” via a promotion of disciplined organic farming methods. As for her AIDS-related aluminium haberdashery, while it is clearly a few aquifers short of an effective irrigation infrastructure, at least she is convinging Africans that AIDS is a **physical** disease, which can be prevented by physical measures such as condoms. If what it takes to get Africans to beat the disease is an imagined human enemy rather than an imagined supernatural one, so be it. ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/19 "2004-10-11T10:33:45Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > As for her AIDS-related aluminium haberdashery, while it is clearly a few aquifers short of an effective irrigation infrastructure… A tour de force of rhetoric. ::looks up in awe:: ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477/20 "2004-10-11T11:47:47Z")
I don’t see what could possibly go wrong with convincing Arfica that the West is to blame for AIDS. Nope, fool-proof, that plan. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-winner-aids-is-a-bioweapon/268477.md?page=2)