Monkeypox: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Always nice to drop in on John Oliver when I get too optimistic about life.

out of context "it's basically a sexually transmitted disease so it's not a threat to most of the population" is such a hilarious quote.

20:25 "So, what can we do now?" Every time I watch your show, John Oliver, I wait to hear this line. It's why I watch your show, while I never watch other political opinion shows (Maddow, Hannity, Carlson, etc.). All those folks ever do is manufacture outrage, point fingers, give people someone to blame and hate. They never offer solutions or say to viewers that we can take responsibility for doing anything ourselves. They never proceed to the final, crucial parts of a good argument: what actions should be taken and who should take them. You do. Thank you.

It still amazes and saddens me that we get our truth from comedians such as John Oliver and Jon Stewart rather than government "officials" and our representatives who are to serve our best interests. Still, thank you Oliver, et al, for all you do. It's greatly appreciated.

I'm very sympathetic with the girl with NF1. Some people can be so thoughtless and hurtful. I admire the girl for coming forward and taking this opportunity to inform people about NF1.

That young lady with NF1 has been such an amazing ally and even though she was thrust into the public eye against her will and forced to reveal to everyone her private medical information, she's been strong throughout. I have lupus and get looks when I'm flaring up with contagious looking "rashes/lesions" on my face and body. I've heard people whisper comments and it hurts. I cannot image having someone publicly and ignorantly pointing out my lesions on social media.

I hope good things come from this -like awareness about NF1 and that not everyone's skin is perfect. Maybe a big brand can give her a lotion commercial to promote the fact that not everyone's skin looks like an airbrushed photoshoot. She deserves good things to happen to her. I'm happy John Oliver is helping to get the truth out there to his massive audience. And I hope the cowardly douchebag that tried to embarrass her on TikTok is going through hell right now as karma.

"And it's just 1 of the 1 ways, the war on terror has made us safer" is a massively underrated joke

For a little historical perspective, I read how the eruption of Tambora in 1815 (the biggest of the millennium) caused changes in weather patterns globally, which then led to cholera pandemics over the next couple of decades. When cholera reached the British Isles, the aristocracy was at first unconcerned because it was only affecting poor Irish communities. It wasn’t until the disease began spreading to the aristocracy that the government began making an effort to help the people in general. This, iirc, would eventually lead to the establishment of the NHS in the UK.

In other words, we’ve already learned a lot of these lessons, but we keep forgetting or getting distracted by shiny things. 🙏

So frustrating that we as a country are just so resistant to helping literally anyone, ourselves or other people. Had we given out those vaccines before they expired, we might not be experiencing this outbreak right now. And we will not learn from this.

"If we had an outbreak associated with bowling, would we not warn people to stop bowling?"
Ironically 2 years ago we warned people not to go out and wear masks because of Covid, and look at the reactions.
Based on the above analogy, people would only want to go bowling even more because it's their "freedom" to go bowling

Fax machines are still huge in the medical and legal system because they insure a point to point communication. It is far more secure than an email.

as someone who still eats a lot of freezies despite being a grown adult man, that "just snap it in half, no scissors necessary" revelation is legitimately mind blowing

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING WITH MY LIFE?!?!?!

Back in college, when I studied Pathology, I had a great professor who loved to say "Nature only respects 3 things: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. It doesn't respect things like lines on a map, governments, ideologies, language, religion, or egos - just Biology, Chemistry, and Physics."

Your discussion of monkeypox was brilliant and inspired! I appreciate and applaud your sense of justice for all people. You consistently bring an intersectional lens to all the issues you present. I am an ordained Christian minister who believes that the core spiritual principle of most religions is compassion. I appreciate how you call us all from judgmental religiosity and immoral indifference to compassion and justice. My mother used to tell me that I was a "preacher and a comedian" because I intentionally integrate humor in my spiritual teachings as a way to open people's hearts and minds to be more receptive to loving challenge. I call you are a "comedian and a preacher" because of how you use humor to invite us to live by the spiritual principles of compassion, caring and justice. I have kept you in my prayers for many years and will continue to do so. Bless you.

It was insanely ableist for this woman to be targeted for her illness (not to mention the issue of whether or not a coincidence that they felt comfortable targeting a woman of color in particular).

I have Neurofibromatosis (NF1) and monkey pox has made my life absolutely hell. People will come up to me and as if I’m infected. They’ll move away from me and shield their children.

I have never despised my body more. I have to wear sweaters when it’s over 90° to avoid being gawked at like a zoo animal.

Seriously makes me wonder if it’s worth continuing this existence if I’m gonna be ostracized for the rest of it. Genuinely thinking of checking out early if someone films me and it goes viral.

I visited a couple different breeders in 2011 when I was looking to buy pet chinchillas. One of the breeders had an open air enclosure with several prairie dogs. The breeders proceeded to explain to me that they were legally required to disclose that they had been in part responsible for monkey pox spreading several years back. I was only 20 at the time, but looking back, the fact that they were still somehow selling prairie dogs after that fiasco is just wild.

I feel terrible because I have trypophobia and whenever I see pictures of monkey pox rashes and bumps I get hours of goosebumps and shivers; it is 100% a me problem of course but I can imagine how horrible it must feel to see someone have a reaction like that. Do any others have similar reactions and know how to lessen them? Ever since high school biology class (whenever I had to look at those damn onion cells through the microscope) I’ve had these reactions and want to stop them

This was an open book test where the teacher gave us the questions ahead of time and still we managed to write the answers incorrectly onto our arms.

Great episode, timely and hardhitting. What a mess we are in we are so lucky to have journalism like this that cuts straight to the story served with a little comedy to help the medicine go down. LWT has become my favorite weekly news program.