What IS good, and how do we determine it?

[Randy Carson]

If someone has AIDS, which is more effective at preventing the spread of the disease: using a condom or abstinence?

If it is the latter, then yes, relying on condoms...with a known failure rate...does provide a false sense of confidence which does aggravate the AIDS crisis.

A completely useless question. Randy. Let's get it through our head. Humans are going to have sex. Doesn't matter what you tell them, what you preach to them, what your doctrine is, what you threaten them with. Sex is among the strongest instincts we have. We know this. Can we stipulate this? Or are you going to pretend that they'll stop if only you just threaten them the right way?

So, it is your view that throughout the course of human history, in all places and at all times, humans had sex without self-control? Or would you say that it is possible for people to be chaste/celibate until marriage?

Knowing they will have sex, spreading "lies" about how condoms make things worse is just plain evil.

If I told you that the airplane you are about to get on was probably safe, would you get aboard?
If I told you that the roller coaster ride at the county fair is usually safe, would you buy a ticket?
If I told you that the taxi driver in the cab you just hailed is sober most of time, would you get in?

Let's make it personal.

Do you think if more people used condoms in Africa that the spread of AIDS would be stemmed?

Not 100%. Which is what would happen if people in Africa stopped having sex with people who are infected altogether.

I also noticed that you didn't address the cretin from Mozambique who told his "flock" that condom manufacturers were infecting their condoms with HIV.

Because I know nothing about this situation. I'm routinely accused of making stuff up, so should I feign knowledge of this matter or go do five minutes of Google research now just to respond to another hole you want to drill in the boat?

Let's make this personal, okay? Just to test your resolve.

You meet a nice girl and you go out a few times. Things are progressing nicely on many levels, and intimacy is a possibility. Then she tells you she has AIDS. "But it's okay," she says. "If you use a condom, you probably won't become infected."

Kind of a show-stopper, isn't it?

Nope. Not at all. If I liked her enough, and there was enough of a connection there to warrant a further relationship where I make sacrifices, I would continue dating her. We wouldn't have sex until I could verify her viral load. If it was zero, I would get prescribed PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis), which is covered under my insurance. My chances of contracting with PrEP and a condom are effectively zero. The only thing I would have to verify is that she is serious about her cocktail and also that she checks and monitors her viral load regularly. Not a show stopper at all.
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Suuuuuure you would, Mike. Sure you would. Cause all that is a lot easier than simply finding another cute girl.

(Can you imagine the comments folks in this forum would be hurling at me if I had written a paragraph like that?)