Charlie Sheen

Before we all delve into things, I feel that there is something that needs to be said. Some diseases come with a social stigma. If you get a cold, or the flu, it's no big deal. Everyone knows that at some point, they will contract them, and there's no stigma attached. If someone gets most types of cancer, same deal. If someone gets lung cancer, suddenly people start asking, "well, was he/she a smoker?" as if you must have done something to "deserve" getting lung cancer. That is social stigma. The disease that currently has the highest social stigma is HIV. That stigma attaches a societal blame to anyone who is diagnosed with HIV, which greatly impedes its diagnosis and treatment due to the shame involved with a diagnosis, and the blame from society that you must have done something to "deserve" getting HIV. No one deserves to get HIV, and the sooner that social stigma is removed, the more people will get tested and treated, and the faster the disease will become eradicated.

This morning, Charlie Sheen is appearing on the Today Show to reveal that he is HIV positive. See the Today Show's coverage here. Regardless of all of the bad things he's done in his past (I'm not forgetting his extensive domestic violence record), I am hopeful that Sheen will use his fame and his publicly disclosed status to raise both awareness and funds to help in the fight against HIV and AIDS.