Re: HIV and Gas Pumps -- Lafcadio T. Lion and Strawberry Sage and Friends Fun Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [7], 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 11:02:26 03/21/03 Fri
Author: Bar (from a Friend - Vicki)
Author Host/IP: user-0cal6jp.cable.mindspring.com / 24.170.154.121
Subject:

Re: HIV and Gas Pumps
In reply to: Bar 's message, "HIV and Gas Pumps" on 10:11:32 03/21/03 Fri

Jacksonville Sheriff:

'It's a hoax' Not to worry.

In June 2000 when this message first began circulating, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department issued a press release exposing it as a hoax. No such incidents have been reported in Jacksonville or anywhere else.

"Captain Abraham Sands" doesn't exist.

Whoever authored the email simply made it all up.

The warning does, however, add an interesting new wrinkle to the HIV needle-stick rumors circulating in various forms since 1997. Previous variants warned of tainted syringes planted in movie theater seats and pay phone coin slots, not to mention random stealth prickings in night clubs and other crowded public places.

Now,we've got tainted needles on the handles of gas pumps.

Where will they turn up next?

All of the stories have been debunked by authorities, with the exception of a brief spate of copycat pranks that occurred in Virginia in 1999.

According to police there, hypodermic needles were indeed found in the coin slots of public phones and in bank night deposit slots in a couple of small towns in the area, but none were contaminated with HIV. Presumably the pranksters were imitating rumors that had already been circulating for months.

Unsubstantiated though it may be, the belief that unknown assailants are intentionally spreading AIDS by hiding contaminated needles in public places remains popular, especially on the email forwarding circuit.

One reason is that these tales and other urban legends like them provide an outlet for our fears � of strangers, of the motives of some of the more marginal members of society, and of AIDS itself.

They're presented as cautionary tales, though they don't function as such � at least, not on a literal level � because they fail to address the primary way HIV is actually transmitted: unsafe sex.

Curiously, however, these made-up scenarios function very well as metaphors for sexual acts. All of them, by virtue of the fact that a needle-prick is involved, symbolically associate contracting the AIDS virus with an act of penetration.

Consider the further symbolic charm of the notion that you can be exposed to HIV by inserting your finger into the coin slot of a much-used public phone.

And now, we're being advised to be careful when pumping gas.

Take all due precautions, we're warned, before sliding the nozzle into the tank.

Sound advice? Metaphorically speaking, yes!

Vicki

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]