Essential Snobbery 101: Judicial ire for communal warmth

No sense of consequence

The motivations behind certain actions just escape me, whether it is for clicks on social media or personal thrills, a communal and societal pact seems to have been broken.

That awareness of action and consequence is lost in a reckless belief that there is no one to hold you accountable and no time for anyone to investigate the situation.

Two incidents have brought the law into the lives of some thrill-seekers with far-reaching implications.

Even with the advent of TikTok, which can produce useful content with a bit of imagination, malevolence for laughs and shockability appear to be more attractive. The lure of going viral is irresistible.

No concern at all

For example, two teenagers are facing the law at Stratford Magistrate Court because they threw a large seat off the top floor of a crowded shopping mall as an internet prank, which did go viral.

When confronted and questioned by the police, the boy who threw the seat said, "It's not that deep, it did not hit no-one.” [BBC News: Boy admits throwing seat off Westfield's top floor]

While there is a real chance that if the seat had hit someone, it could have caused serious injury or death, we might be getting ahead of ourselves. The key question is why the boys believed they could achieve anything by hurling a large seat off the top floor of a shopping centre, whether it was crowded or not.

What kind of pastime could have occupied their minds enough to dissuade them from such an act? We may never get the answer, but there is no reason why they should escape punishment for this egregious act, which showed a complete lack of understanding of the harm it could cause innocent people in a public space.

A chop for gaol

Additionally, as for escaping punishment, two men have just received four years and three months each for cutting down a tree.

Just a tree, but that tree—the Sycamore Gap tree—is a renowned sight, over a century old and near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. [The Guardian: Two men behind ‘senseless’ felling of Sycamore Gap tree jailed for more than four years]

Their quest for notoriety, recorded on a mobile phone as one used a chainsaw to fell the tree in minutes, shows they travelled 40 minutes at night, then walked through a storm for another 20 minutes from a car park to conduct this pointless act.

What kind of thrill could they have been seeking in their apparently restless lives that this tree became their target for reckless vandalism? Though in court, before turning against each other, they acknowledged that what they had done was being covered in the news.

The importance of community

Despite any mitigation that might temper justice with mercy, many seem unable to foresee the consequences of impulsive actions, showing a lack of deep thought about our deeds.

Furthermore, there is little consideration of how our actions might impact, offend, upset, or harm others. This reflects a selfish society.

If only there were a sense of community in these individuals’ minds, perhaps they would have realised their actions were wrong and chosen to find another way to contribute positively rather than to harm.

The point is recognising others, like not littering, keeping noise down in residential areas at night, wearing headphones on public transport, or avoiding reckless stunts on the main road—are fundamental signs of respect.

Surely, there is an unwritten code of conduct, learned at home and reinforced at school, based on the simple principle of treating others as you wish to be treated.

Maybe it is asking too much of that African proverb, “A child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” What price some pay for that need for warmth, which can often lead to the unnecessary heat of judicial retribution.

Editorial: Twelfth of May 2011

Concerning another monkey vaccine

Two news stories appear to coincide with managing the scourge of HIV/AIDS, on the one hand is the study of eradicating the primate variant of HIV known as the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) in rhesus macaques making use of a genetically modified version of the rhesus cytomegalovirus (CMV).

The good news here is that this vaccine appears to strengthen the immune system to the point of controlling SIV and eventually reducing its progressive infective rate until the disease is abated.

However, there are many concerns with this study from the controversial view that patient zero contracted HIV from a chimpanzee to the concerns of introducing a strain of human CMV as part of a treatment regime.

Africans may not benefit

CMV belongs to the herpes family of viruses that is usually benign or dormant but can break out as chicken-pox, shingles, fever blisters (herpes I) or genital herpes (herpes II) amongst others, it is more prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else making that line of research rather risky and ethically questionable in terms of safety and assurances for effectiveness.

This study might well be of greater value to those outside sub-Saharan Africa but after the failures of a number of vaccine trials, many of which were aborted too, it is important to remain vigilant that all checks, procedures and monitoring are in place so as not to raise false hopes at first and then cajole subjects into trials that might be of greater detriment to their already weak health status.

Helping sero-discodant couples thrive

Accepting the fact of the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has been hard enough for some societies and beyond that the measures needed to prevent infection are fraught with cultural, religious, political, social and economic issues.

UNAIDS have released a study that heralds the reduction of infection between partners where one is HIV infected or in the jargon, sero-discordant couples. The study began with about 1,750 couples from 8 countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

Entry into the study required the infected party have a CD4 count of between 350 & 550 which represents a level at which the WHO does not require the patient to have commenced Anti-RetroViral (ARV) treatment.

Between news and scientific fact

One arm of the study was immediately entered into ARV treatment on commencement of the study and the other arm only commence treatment after two consecutive tests measured a CD4 count regression to between 200 & 250 or had developed an AIDS-defining illness.

The results show a reduction in transmission of HIV infection in 96% of the cases as reported by UNAIDS but the news story does not appear to comment on the significance of viral loads which is the amount of virus in the blood that could determine how infectious a person can be.

It is however known that ARV does reduce the viral load significantly to somewhat undetectable levels it does not however mean the complete absence of contagion.

Subtle observations with this study

The study that took in couples from the United States was aborted and though it was supposed to run for 78 months seems to have ended 3-4 years early because of the positive results though one should be concerned about the fact that low viral loads and higher CD4 counts for the time of that study does not confer immunity by any stretch of the imagination.

The lack of Western subjects is also instructive because medication in the study did not include multi-class combination drugs like Atripla though combinations of other discrete drugs would have been effective all the same.

At the same time, it is possible that Eastern Europe might have benefitted from this study though on balance the cases of heterosexual HIV infection would have been more prevalent in the areas that had the study.

HIV is more than a medical condition

It is important that the kind of complacency that appears to attend to HIV infection in the West because of more effective treatments does not cascade to these other study areas that included India, Brazil, Thailand, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the absence of Nigeria from that study group should be investigated too.

On the whole, the progress in trying to control, manage or cure HIV is welcome but the news stories appear to herald situations which on closer scrutiny of the facts belies less of the optimism being communicated.

Most importantly, there are significant anthropological consequences of these studies between countries, cultures, traditions and laws coming north of the equator in Africa would have given this study much more empirical import just as allowing it to include the West, China, Russia and Eastern Europe. HIV in different societies is a lot more than a medical condition even in the broadest terms.

Acknowledgements

The following sources form the basis of this editorial; the news about the CMV vaccine against SIV was published by the BBC then related to drug regimes reducing HIV transmission as published by UNAIDS but 6 months earlier, the BBC had run a similar story.

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) Study is fully documented at the HPTN 052 website. Meanwhile the list of available drugs for the treatment of HIV as at February 2011 is hosted at the AIDSMeds website. Regarding CMV the New York Department of Health offers some information about the Cytomegalovirus.

I'm alive after my autopsy

The viral touch of an autopsy

The confusion of languages or is it the absence in near-term memory of the right word for describing something came up again. Hardly two months ago, my dad confused venereal with viral, what I had was viral but in conversation with a doctor he thought he heard venereal and here I was left to ponder what a father might think of the proclivities of his son.

Today, my ex-boss visited with a trusted ex-colleague. He had been in conversation with someone else about me and once suggested I had an autopsy rather than a biopsy.

Fine by me, because my feeling about the biopsy was like I had died and gone to heaven, so with him visiting me today, you can clearly suggest this Lazarus has come forth and is alive again ready to face new challenges with a radically new meaning to life.

Stirring the pool of the toilet

Continuing on the slightly Scriptural line, I finally decided I should go to the toilet after a few days of no bowel movement, in fact, I have to take drugs to force the activity and they done half work in my opinion, my body has conditioned itself to balance the need for that and the pain I suffer that this has levelled out to just about every 3 days.

But as I prepared I got the shoe on the right foot and balanced on my crutches just someone with their intravenous drip moveable stand got to the door, so I had to wait as I pined in pain from having my feet close to the ground and lower than my body.

When she finished, I scuttled towards the toilet only to find my ex-ward mate the 91-year old with his mobile Zimmer frame at the door, so I gave way again and pined.

The Scriptural theme relates to the cripple at the Pool of Bethesda where he had been for 38 years could not get in the pool first after the water was stirred by an angel. Jesus had compassion on him and healed him but he moaned about his inabilities he almost missed out on the real deal.

I in trying to get to the toilet did feel I might not get my turn so suddenly and then you realise how important it is to be able to do what you will with health, strength, wealth and a sense of entitlement of sorts.

Clinical spice in food

I have now concluded there is a spice in the hospital canteen called clinical spice and it is put in everything to make bread, butter, rice, potatoes, vegetables and drinks taste the same. How can anyone get well eating this stuff? It is probably the incentive to leave hospital, believe me; I’ll leave in an instant.

I have had enough of this fare, I called my friend in vain to help, I need help, the chemotherapy does affect your appetite but this fare is just plain bad, you might lose the will to chomp on anything after a while.

To add insult to injury, they forgot to give me the menu this morning, I chased after it to no avail that I ended up with no supper. When it finally came it was brown (minced beef and onions) Yuk! purple (red cabbage and apples, a Dutch delicacy) Yuk! and white (boiled potatoes); the minced beef was cold, the meal had been microwaved to heat the plate but not the food – I had the sick bag to my chest.

I hardly touched it; the dessert was bitter cookies in custard – who thinks up this revolting stuff on the day the Lord has made?

If for anything, I desperately needed home cooking else, I might well be fed through the nose. This is a hospital, they must know that smell and taste are critical to edibility and if they cannot achieve that basic task feed us all taste and olfactory repressive drugs and give us 3D goggles.

I will NOT abide this food any longer, no not any longer.

My parents are worried

Off the hinge with shingles

Just about 4 weeks ago I saw blisters appear on my upper left arm and over a day of so, it spread up my arm over the left side of my chest, it amazingly travelled across the entire upper back to parts of the upper right arm.

Now shingles, theoretically should not cross the mid-section of the body, I probably carelessly spread it to the right side not seeing that rubbing my back was bursting the blisters and spreading the virus.

The worst of that phase is over but we are now in what is called the post-herpetic neuralgia stage where the pain radiates just behind the skin where the blisters and then the rashes appeared and dried up – all those places temporarily discoloured and bearable to sight.

The business with mum

As I gained my strength, I phoned mother, I call her Iya, which is mum in Yoruba; to see if she had some home-grown remedy which she seems to always have for any malady.

The conversation we had was too business-like for my liking I was really taken aback, but on reflection, I felt she must have been busy on some important thing that required minimal disturbance.

Me: Hello Iya, it’s Akin

Iya: Hello, How are you? What do you need to tell me.

Me: I’ve been very ill with shingles.

Iya: Is that all I need to know, now?

Me: Yes, that is all.

Iya: You will be well in Jesus Name, bye.

Me: Amen.

Dad, I had it as a kid

So, there I was wondering and considering my mother already had a premonition I was unwell and already had an expectation I would call – later that day, she tried to contact me and even the next morning, we finally chatted again where I explained exactly what shingles was, how I was feeling and got a few ideas for remedy.

Meanwhile, having not chatted to daddy for a while, I called him too and told him I had been ill, he had never heard of shingles and did not think I had chicken-pox as a kid – well, I am glad I had chicken-pox as a kid because the pox on adults is just not good.

So, I explained to him that one usually has chicken pox as a child and its reappearance in adults is indicated by shingles.

They are worried

However, these benign pieces of information shared with my parents had gotten them extremely worried even though their approaches to the same problem were diametrically opposed with me caught in the middle as usual.

My father also used the situation to advance once again the need for companionship, well, my neighbours have been extremely neighbourly and helpful during the more difficult times, single people find ways to adapt and survive – companionship is not a compulsory essence of life even though it can be useful.

Iya’s view had a spiritual dimension to it which one should not discount out of hand, I listened again as she offered more useful advice and remedies.

When I spoke to my father again, he was concerned about the differences between home remedies and Western medicine and wondered if I could get West African remedies consisting of herbs and the possible ritual – well, I don’t think the ritual part would have been to my liking, but London offers an interesting eclectic mix of the Nigerian ghetto in Europe with the possibility of rat tails, cat heads and every scary concoction out of this world.

Viral becomes venereal

Meanwhile, I was being driven to complete distraction at night with severe itching on my back and sometimes down my arms; I had cut my nails and tried to ease the itch with rubbing gently or passing a towel over the affected areas latitudinally back and forth.

Another call from my father included the advice to call a doctor relation of ours who I had chatted to a few weeks ago. The doctor had explained to my dad what shingles was, saying it was a viral infection and what it entails.

By the time my father was on the phone to me, viral had become venereal, I was not going to correct him or explore the ideas between viral infections and venereal infections.

You suddenly realise that of all you will like to discuss with your parents, your sexual proclivities do not rank anywhere in the exchanges, I was glad the conversation was over though worried about what he might have thought I was up to when I really had not been up to anything untoward.

In all, one takes from the situation a sense of how worried the man and lady were, and the link between us so happens to be their parenthood – the healing effect of realising that people so dearly care for you is without peer and I am glad for that.