I was really upset recently to read that one of my favorite metaphors was no longer true. That the old boiled frog story was basically an old wives’ tale. It persisted so long though because it’s such a useful one. The notion that if you throw someone in metaphorical hot water, they’ll jump and scream and naturally jump out; whereas, if you slowly bring the heat up, people will pretty much get used to anything.

Such is the case with AIDS. Coming now into the end of our third decade of the epidemic, let’s take stock of just what it is we’ve gotten alarmingly accustomed to. Currently more than 33.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, that’s about as many people as you have in Canada. About 3 million more are infected every year, that would be about as many people as live in Chicago. Imagine the uproar if some terrorist group dropped a biological weapon on Chicago and infected every citizen with a deadly virus – wouldn’t we be screaming and hopping then? Wouldn’t we be demanding action, the world be an uproar? There would be special sessions of congress, emergency meetings at the U.N., banner headlines and endless pundit chatter. But basically every year now a population the size of the third most populated city in the U.S. is infected with HIV and there’s no headlines, no uproar. We’ve moved on to other things and it’s somehow become acceptable.

So what’s the deal with AIDS? – not such a big deal anymore now right? There’s all those new miracle drugs and that whole “no longer a death sentence” thing. Well yes, that’s true, but that’s where it also gets to be like a bad Sci-Fi movie. The new drugs have helped, and helped a lot. However, they’re expensive (very expensive) and most regimens are only good for a limited time before people build a resistance. Thus the system is dependent on a never ending (fingers crossed) stream of costly experimental drugs. Plus we have little understanding of the long-term impact of these powerful drugs, which are understandably rushed through approvals to those in need. Drug companies have little impetus to develop a vaccine much less a cure, when they have this vast captive world market that’s dependent on one costly drug after another for their very survival. What we need is a big “Manhattan Project” to develop a vaccine and a cure. It’s interesting that in our other wars like Iraq and now Afghanistan, when the status quo is no longer acceptable and slow bleed isn’t tenable – we have these surges, big pushes of personnel and resources to end the suffering and take care of the problem. Where is our surge in the war on HIV/AIDS?

Even in the LGBT community, the spotlight has moved on to other battles like marriage equality, DADT, and DOMA. Charity fatigue? Crisis burnout? All those red ribbon lapel pins lost somewhere in the bottom of our jewelry boxes, with the pink, lavender, green and yellow ones. (I checked and there are now some 70 colored ribbons to denote various causes.) Celebrities (save a few) have moved on to greener PR pastures. News organizations have moved on. Even TV and Movies have moved on to the next disease of the week.

HIV/AIDS has been committee-ed, commissioned, globalized, paneled, studied and institutionalized right into the doldrums and dead water of the mainstream. How did we allow this to happen? (This is where I’d usually throw in the boiled frog story.) Do we as a people though have that little compassion, that limited a field of focus, that little an attention span? We as a people live in an instant gratification society and we expect our diseases to be cured with a shot, a pill, or a procedure. We expect diagnosis, treatment, cure all wrapped up in a nice neat box. One would think that if this wasn’t the case, we’d redouble our efforts, demand more resources – though instead we’ve just moved on after too many uncomfortable silences.

Let’s not kid ourselves too that part of the problem is who it infects. Homosexuals, never a popular group have been a punching bag for years and seen not so much as a constituent group by some, but as a punching bag and reliable political fund-raising tool by many. As much as the facts indicate it’s not just a gay disease, perception is everything. Then to top it off increasingly it is a disease of poverty and racial minorities, a double whammy to those to those with the least resources to fight the disease, as well as a diminished voice to be heard. I hate to be such a cynic, but if you want to understand the story of AIDS, follow the money and the political power.

The title of this column is a version of the old Act-Up motto “Silence Equals Death” and that spirit once jumpstarted many huge changes in this country in the way drugs are delivered, research is done, and patients take responsibility for their own health and well-being. Act-Up was a grass roots group that staged raucous protests, sit-ins and loudly demanded (and often got) action on AIDS issues. This during a time President Reagan could not bring himself to even use the word, much less address the problem. Where is that fire today? We have a younger generation who have actually grown up only knowing nothing but life with HIV/AIDS. Some may even think that HIV/AIDS is a handy scare tactic to enforce abstinence and decry lifestyles – but at what cost of life?

So today “Silence STILL Equals Death” and it’s time to speak out, remind yourself, your loved ones, your political leaders, YES there’s still a crisis, and that it’s time for a surge in the war on AIDS. Let’s shake the crisis fatigue and get our second wind in this race. Let’s take stock and realize that this is no longer acceptable by any measure. We can no longer lose a Chicago a year to this biological threat, and allow tens of millions to live as a sub-class in society, impoverished and neglected. Though no longer a death sentence it is a grueling life-sentence for too many, those who fight the unacceptable social stigma, unending healthcare nightmares and expenses. It is a weight that individuals, society, the world can no longer bear, though we’ve gotten all too use to this burden weighing us down. Let’s free ourselves once and for all from this disease. Silence STILL Equals Death and only your voice can make the difference.