Mary Fisher was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and came to prominence through a riveting speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention (RNC) in which she decried HIV stigma.

Now, the 67-year-old author, activist, advocate and entrepreneur is speaking out against the politics of blame and shame in the current U.S. presidential campaign.

"Of late, I've noticed that my optimism is struggling with my culture. It isn't easy to find joy or high expectations in the context of uncouth politicians speaking half-truths to their mobs of angry supporters," she said in a March 16 lecture at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA, entitled "Freeing the Entrepreneur for the Global Good."...

In her remarks, Fisher cited the role of rhetoric in the rise of fascism leading to the Holocaust, saying "If you'll forgive a brief sermon: It was rhetoric that gave Hitler his mounting power. Eventually, his words were on the lips of those who goose-stepped across Europe, and his name was on the lips of every man, woman and child in the showers of Auschwitz.