Today I had a routine doctor’s appointment to refill a prescription that I’ve been taking for over 13 years for my ongoing and permanent issues with my stomach. It should have been a regular visit, but my doctor has always been somewhat… eccentric. But today it took a turn that I honestly didn’t see coming.

Almost immediately, the conversation veered off the road into the ditch and we were into politics. I have learned many things since around this time in 2016 and chief among them is to keep my leanings and opinions out of the conversation unless I felt I was in friendly company. This strategy has served me well and helped me avoid what I can only assume were dozens of confrontations in that time.

Today was going to be no different and I honestly didn’t think it would be an issue. But my doctor immediately began discussing fringe ideas and gauging my receptiveness to them. I steered away from the truly insane things a few times and did my best to keep it on the level and about, you know, my health. Eventually we got back to why I was there and it went well for a few minutes before we were back off the rails talking about transgender surgeries and a dereliction of duty in the highest levels of government. You know, the shit your crazy uncle tries to bring up at Thanksgiving? Yeah, all of that.

So I continued to steer and as the appointment concluded and I walked out of the office, I felt a genuine sense of confusion about what had just occurred. This is a medical professional in his mid-60s. He has hurled some insane talking points my way over the years but today was uniquely unhinged. I never even approached the subject of his vote this year, but it’s safe to say from his verbal crucifixion of the Biden Administration that we might not be on speaking terms if I asked.

But the bigger concern I have is that a medical professional of any kind would allow this to affect his judgment as a physician. I am a good listener and stay quiet when I don’t have anything to contribute, so things never take a bad turn, but I can’t say for a fact that all of his patients would do the same. And that bugs me.

If our medical professionals can’t even remain objective in the face of the world we live in and the insanity of it all, then what does that say about our institutions in general? I’m not sure it says anything. And maybe his eccentricity is an anomaly in the industry. But if it isn’t, fuck. Just fuck.