General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Stupidity of Ronald Reagan [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)He was asked what he was going to do about the AIDS crisis and his response was "nothing."
As I've noted before - the activist movement for medical marijuana gained real traction because Reagan and the Republicans didn't give a shit about the people in this nation and around the world suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Community volunteers in San Francisco baked cannabis brownies and took them to people dealing with cancer and wasting from both cancer and AIDS - and this is how the medical marijuana movement gained strength - it was from GRANDMOTHERS who had more compassion for real people rather than the cultural warrior assholes on the right who spent this time demonizing those suffering.
This was when I grew to despise the religious right - their actions demonstrated to me they were nothing but suck ups to money and power and their entire reason for being was to hate others. They're get back what they give.
Another irony is that Reagan's WoD targeted people who went on to develop the next new economy. The creation of the tech industry in CA grew up in the counter culture of CA. The military started the intranet, but the counter culture made it into a personal computing revolution.
This is also why the right wing and their economic and social darwinism are so full of shit. Innovations come in educational environments that focus on the work, not the money to be made from it. Sharing work in the sciences via bbs, etc. was the spur for sites like DU today.