Well, off to the wasteland.

 

In the Fallout world, there’s always a running joke about when Fallout 5 will finally come out. Every now and then, some meme surfaces about the release date, but there’s never any real news. Yesterday I saw one claiming Fallout 5 is going to be a live-action roleplay game. Honestly, that sounds more plausible than most rumors these days. Navigating the wasteland on Twitch at night—and writing here—feels like the safest way to deal with an increasingly chaotic world.

 

I’ve said it before: sometimes things really are better in an imaginary world.

 

Okay, okay, I know it sounds like my brain “threw a track” (an old armor term). But here’s the truth: there’s a lot of chaos out there, and most of us are just plain exhausted. My moments in the wasteland are moments where I don’t have to acknowledge anything outside the game. Of course, some things demand your attention whether you want them to or not—but for a while, I can shut the door and let it burn.

 

What’s bothering me?

 

Truthfully, a lot.

 

Five years ago we had that little pandemic thing. Remember? Suddenly everyone was a fucking epidemiologist. Masks, vaccines, social distancing—every piece of public health advice became a battleground. And of course, the buffoon-in-chief was out there recommending bleach injections. If you honestly believed that would keep you alive, I genuinely fear for the continuation of life as we know it.

 

Fast forward to today, and the nonsense hasn’t stopped. We’ve got an anti-vaxxer running Health and Human Services, bringing his own “special knowledge” to public health. Meanwhile, the buffoon-in-chief is now suggesting that acetaminophen (a word it took him three tries to pronounce) causes autism.

 

I’ll be blunt: I’m almost glad I had a stroke and don’t practice anymore. Watching this unfold from the sidelines is infuriating enough. Living it inside the system would probably break me. I worry for the future of healthcare—not just mine, but everyone’s.

 

Why I retreat to the wasteland

 

Trips to the wasteland might actually be the sanest choice right now. Better to explore a ruined world in fantasy than watch one forming in real time. And no, that doesn’t make me an alarmist. The fact that someone can spew utter nonsense and instantly have half the population believe it—that’s what’s terrifying.

 

I’ve tried to stay neutral when it comes to politics, but as someone who spent over half their life in medicine, neutrality is hard. Even if my departure from the profession wasn’t exactly stellar, I’m still more qualified to talk about healthcare than half the loudmouths with TV cameras. Hell, I once had an investigator tell me I’d be better off flipping burgers at Burger King. Funny thing is, I’d still trust me with a stethoscope over them with a spatula.

 

The bigger picture

 

Somewhere along the line, expertise became a dirty word. People look at those of us who studied advanced fields and assume we’re elitist snobs. But here’s the thing: humanity wouldn’t have made it this far without science, research, and the people willing to test, retest, and refine it.

 

It’s long past time to stop treating professionals like they’re running some shadowy con game. Yes, every profession has a bottom line. Nobody works purely out of altruism. But to assume medicine—or science in general—is just a hustle is naive.

 

If you need a second opinion, ask my mom and my dog:

Trust the experts, not the snake-oil salesmen.