Sympathy and Contempt for Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen is a person, and people with problems deserve sympathy. On the Today show this morning, he talked about struggling with the diagnosis of HIV he received “three or four” years ago. “It’s a hard three letters to absorb,” Sheen said. “It’s a turning point in one’s life.” Matt Lauer later read him some of the kind reactions coming in on social media. Sheen seemed touched.

Charlie Sheen is also a celebrity, and celebrities’ words can have public implications. As the most prominent figure to announce a positive status in quite some time, he offers a reminder that even though HIV/AIDS no longer commands the headlines it once did in the U.S., around 35 million people worldwide are living with it. His story also reiterates the idea that it’s not just a “gay disease” and could bring renewed attention to a public-health crisis that has an