Okay. So I’m writing a blog for a few reasons. First of all, I am a miserable failure at keeping in touch with my friends, and while I know that they (you) are unlikely to read this regularly, I am hoping that this will help…
Second of all, many ridiculous things happen every day, things about which I often feel compelled to comment. I usually complain to someone close by, but over the summer in particular, that is often not an appropriate strategy. So I’ll be putting my comments here.
A great example of this is a commercial that is currently running by GlaxoSmithKline. VALTREX treats genital herpes (bravo to GSK on choosing to research that and not something more, um, pressing). You’ve seen the ad–there’s a moderately attractive, youngish couple out in nature somewhere, and they guy goes, very directly and matter of factly, “I have genital herpes.” The girl quickly interjects, “And I don’t.” And then one of them (I think the guy) says, “And we’re trying to keep it that way.”
The ad goes on to point out why VALTREX will help them do just that. Fine. Very good. If I had genital herpes, I would be ecstatic about something that would make potential partners less likely to get infected by me, and thus, more likely to have sex with me. And if that girl wants to go ahead and hope that VALTREX and its X% success rate protect her from an incredibly inconvenient and embarrassing ailment that will stick around her whole life, just so she can bang the guy, that’s cool too… Maybe they’re in love, or something. Whatever.
My real issue is when the voice-over, in an effort to illustrate why the medicine is a necessary purchase for those in sexual relationships that involve genital herpes, says (I’m paraphrasing):
“70% of people with genital herpes got it from having sex with a partner who exhibited no signs of an outbreak.”
…
I guess my question is, WHO ARE THE 30% OF PEOPLE WHO CAUGHT GENITAL HERPES BY HAVING SEX WITH SOMEONE WHO WAS EXHIBITING SIGNS OF AN OUTBREAK?
Seriously. 30% is a big number. I would like to know those people are, because I would like advance warning before interacting with them. Economists (and I am almost one) assume that all people are rational, and economists base their decisions/actions on conjectures stemming from that assumption. There is clear evidence that these people are highly irrational. “Catching herpes from someone exhibiting signs of an outbreak” is right up there on the “Things You Can Do That Are Stupid” list. Right between “foregoing high school because you’re banking on your career as a rapper” and “putting your hand on a hot stove.”
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Anyway, things like that are why I’m writing a blog. I don’t know how often I’ll post, but comments are welcome. Hope you enjoy.
June 13, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Ahh, Jim, this is right up my alley! Last year, my friend “Bill” was in a relationship with a girl who’d been around the block a few times before she met him. We all thought she was bad news, but he was so desperately stricken with her, and so desperate in general, that he didn’t care. Then he found out about her herpes. So he thought about it a little while, then said to his roommate,
“So, um, Steve…herpes isn’t THAT bad, right?”
To which he replied, “I don’t know WHAT you’re thinking, Bill, but you’d better get it out of your head RIGHT NOW.”
Before he could enter the shark-infested waters, she cheated on him, and it was over. Which didn’t stop him from helping her with her physics homework during finals time. Oh, Bill.