Holy Crap

Andrew Sullivan, he of the Atlantic magazine, had a post yesterday quoting Adam Serwer, entitled "Extra Punishment." Serwer's quote reads, in part:

Two states in the union, South Carolina and Alabama, segregate their HIV-positive inmates, a policy that is essentially a compound punishment on top of whatever sentence they've already received. They're forced to wear markers identifying their status, they're denied access to many of the same privileges and programs that inmates who aren't HIV positive have [...]. Being HIV positive means that they're forced to live under maximum-security conditions regardless of the severity of their crimes.

After reading it, I sent Mr. Sullivan an email with what I conceded was probably an off-base musing and then closed my computer for the night...only to find today that my email is itself quoted in a follow-up post on the matter (which was edited for clarity, thank you Daily Dish staff). Ahem:

I may be exposing my ignorance, but my first reaction to the separation of HIV+ inmates from the general population is that it's a misguided attempt to deal with a particular long-term effect of rape and infection. I'd be very interested in debating how to stop rape from being an ipso facto part of many people's sentences in this country.

The end of that sentence (and the email), was "which could potentially lead to HIV+ people not being singled out as part of their sentences...." (And yes, I did make use of my beloved, informalizing ellipses in front of a real writer. And yes yes, I know this means I just now quoted myself in my own forum, but that's why this is a blog--you're supposed to indulge your more uncouth, more egotistical impulses. At least, that's what I've gleaned from the Teabagger blogosphere...)

But for realz, how cool is this?

I found Sullivan initially because of his strong, clear stance on gays' civil rights, and ended up sticking around for the mostly right, sometimes wrong, but always thoughtful ideas of an avowed conservative (as separate from Republican or Libertarian). Now, to be quoted in one of Sullivan's posts after devouring his work these past many months--to think that some tiny thought I had in my little ol' head actually added something, however briefly, to the national debate, well...

Speaking as the guy with the ten site visits a week (hello newcomers from Korea, Dubai, and Italy, by the way!), this is like getting my two minutes on American Idol: I may not be able to sing, but at least everybody knows I was here!

Actually, I can quantify how cool this is: my wife even thinks it's cool...which mostly just confirms that we're both big dorks.