There is an old joke about how, in order to be a liberal, one must believe that HIV/AIDS is spread by a lack of funding. The intention is to suggest that the liberals have got it all wrong because the self-righteous people who think that joke is funny actually believe — and in the 21st century, no less — that HIV/AIDS is divine punishment for certain “immoral behaviors.”

The very idea that a disease is some sort of subjective moral judgement is not only ridiculous, it is a hateful endorsement of ignorance, which does spread disease and numerous other social ills. And that is immoral because the only objective judgement of morality upon which we can all agree is that that which causes harm to others is immoral.

Now, some might say that engaging in certain behaviors which have been scientifically demonstrated to cause the spread of HIV/AIDS are immoral because they cause harm to come to others. But is it really the behaviors themselves or is it the imprudence of failing to take well-known and understood precautions which is immoral? Is condom usage immoral or is it the promotion of the unnatural practice of abstinence via the withholding of information about the usefulness of condoms which is immoral?

One of the great evils of our times is oversimplified thinking coupled with a lack of reflection which reinforces the oversimplified thinking. All of which cause wrath and pride to be made into virtues in order to support the idea that reflection is a waste of time — lest people figure out that allowing your fellow man to remain mired in ignorance is immoral because ignorance (which should be an easily cured condition) spreads more disease than certain behaviors.