HealthCarelessness - Poster of the Week
The most important election in memory is taking place in the midst of an out-of-control epidemic and a Supreme Court with a solid conservative majority that will decide the future of Obama Care and Roe v Wade. Even with the Affordable Care Act, over 27 million US citizens are uninsured. Millions more could lose their health care and their lives if the ACA and access to safe and legal abortions are destroyed. These posters show how presidents have not dealt well when facing epidemics. Vote as if your life depends upon it. It does.
AIDSGATE ACT UP/New York Offset, 1987 New York, New York 12056
“AIDSGATE” compares President Ronald Reagan’s glacial response to the developing AIDS epidemic to the scandal of Watergate. In the 1980s, many people mistakenly believed that AIDS afflicted only gay men and was even referred to as the “gay cancer.” Reagan’s ultra-conservative platform shaped an economic agenda that involved the reduction or elimination of many health care and social programs. As a result, he did begin to address the AIDS crisis until 1987, over six years after the first reports of the disease.
AIDS? No Comment Riots Offset, CA 1987 Valencia, California 5041
AIDS Crisis ACT UP/NY Offset, 1990 New York, New York 6484
Based on the popular Marlborough Man cigarette ads (1954-1999), this poster was sponsored by ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). A highly vocal organization that has produced numerous posters protesting the federal government’s mishandling of the AIDS epidemic, ACT UP described itself as "a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis".
Is This Your Hospital's TB Policy? Jos Sances Silkscreen, Circa 1992 San Francisco, CA 6341
Tuberculosis—or TB—is a highly contagious disease and, until modern times, those infested were typically isolated until cured. The poster references President Bill Clinton’s response to an interviewer who asked if he had ever smoked marijuana: "[W]hen I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn't like it. I didn't inhale." Presumably, this poster addresses the Clinton administration’s reduced health care spending that caused hospitals to place those infected with TB in multiple-patient rooms.
Under Control Brian Stauffer New Yorker Cover March 9, 2020 Offset, 2020 New York, NY
It continues to boggle the mind that wearing a mask to protect each other from spreading or contracting Covid-19, continues to be a highly partisan statement.