Optical disillusion

HIV-positive man’s response to “self-made” billionaire Kylie Jenner goes viral

It’s been a few days since the Internet collectively scoffed at the assertion that Kylie Jenner is on track to become the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire.

Among the many responses the eyebrow-raising statement received, one man’s deeply honest comment stands out from the crowd, showing just how absurd the whole story is.

When the New York Daily News shared a link to their woefully out-of-touch article about Kylie Jenner, they managed somehow to up the ante on the really?! factor.

“19-year-old Kylie Jenner is worth $900 million and on pace to become the youngest self-made billionaire ever,” they captioned the link, before asking, “What are you doing with your life?”

Well, Shawn Decker took the question at face value, and basically shut the prompt down.

He wrote:

“I was diagnosed with HIV at age 11 in 1987. My parents were told I had 6 months-to-2 years to live. I’m turning 43 on Monday and I’ve spent the last two decades of my life educating about HIV through writing, speaking and laughter.”

Shawn’s comment has received over 63K retweets and 260K likes. Clearly, he struck a chord.

The overwhelming response led him to share more of his story:

Other responses to the NY Daily News tweet shared a similar position, though none were as poignant as Shawn’s story:

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