Hero Scientists, Cultropreneurs, Living Icons, and Praise-Singers
Hero Scientists, Cultropreneurs, Living Icons, and Praise-Singers
AIDS Denialism as Community
This chapter explores the different aspects of AIDS denialism—the idea that HIV science is wrong and that alternative healing modalities can cure AIDS. Christine Maggiore, the late HIV-positive founder of the organization, Alive and Well, claimed that HIV-positive people must liberate themselves from unfounded fear, avoid toxic antiretroviral drugs, and embrace their natural ability to be well. Analyst Jeremy Youde argues that AIDS denialists can be considered as a counter epistemic community—a counterculture group that grew out of the demand for alternative medicine and the incorporation of new social movements. In addition, the chapter states some reasons why people may be attracted to AIDS denialism. It reinforces the normal psychological processes of denial that people experience when diagnosed with a dread disease, and it accords with a prior distrust of medical science, thereby appealing to people already attracted to alternative medicine.
Keywords: AIDS denialism, Christine Maggiore, Alive and Well, Jeremy Youde, alternative medicine
Columbia Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
