Yesterday I went to my Wingnut Dentist to get a crown. I don’t know why I haven’t switched dentists; this guy is so conservative, he actually has dead-tree editions of Newsmax in his waiting room. (Did you even know there IS a dead tree edition of Newsmax? I should leave a copy of Mother Jones in there just to fuck with him.)
But I really don’t want to find a new dentist, I’ve been going there for over 20 years, and I’ve got pretty healthy teeth, so 90% of the time it’s just pop in for 15 minutes twice a year for a cleaning and that’s it. But the wingnut shit is starting to bug me.
Actually, I really didn’t realize what raging wingnuts they were until rather recently. Once, a couple years into the Iraq war, one of the hygienists told me she was still convinced that Saddam had WMDs. She said one of her clients was in the National Guard and told her that they have WMDs now that are as big as an iPod. I’m no expert but I was pretty sure she was confusing WMDs with IEDs. Regardless, the idea that the U.S. could be threatened from Baghdad by something the size of an iPod defied credibility. But what do I know, even if that were true, wouldn’t said iPod need to be filled with enriched uranium and other shit that’s closely monitored by the international community?
Again, what do I know. But hey, no uranium enriched iPods have been found, so there’s that. Score one for the hippie.
I switched hygienists, but wouldn’t you know, I go in there for my biannual cleaning a couple years later and the new hygienist has switched the TV from the usual video of horrific dental implants to Fox News. I told her no way was I going to be subjected to having my gums poked while watching Fox News. I made her change the channel. “Oh,” she says, “I don’t watch it for the politics, just the news.”
Le Sigh.
And so this brings us to yesterday, where my dentist and his assistant are talking about how warm the weather is, like this is fabulous, and how we’ll be “in the clear” weather-wise in a month or two, all the while I’m screaming in my head (because I’ve got a mouthful of putty and can’t say a word) “don’t you remember the damaging hail storm of last March and the tornados of the year before that and the floods of three years ago? In the clear?! Give me fucking break!We’re never ever ever ever going to be in the clear!” I mean, here it is February and our daffodils and forsythia are already blooming. But yes, remind me again about how climate change is a liberal hoax so Al Gore can make money off his clean energy fund.
On Monday it was 60 degrees; today the high will be in the 40s and it’s getting down into the 20s tonight. You don’t get these wild temperature swings without a lot of strong winds, and indeed, yesterday saw a lot of limbs down in the neighborhood. But again: keep telling yourself that the crazy weather patterns are “cyclical” and completely unrelated to the billions and billions of tons of carbon we pump into the atmosphere every year.Even though they’re not.
I just don’t get the conservative mentality. They’re all agreeing how warm the weather has been for the past few years, they can see the daffodils blooming in February, we rarely get snow and when we do it’s gone in two hours, but they still think climate change isn’t real?
So, should I change dentists?
Don’t have an opinion about changing dentists, but climate change is something I’m NOT looking forward to.
Haven’t noticed any blooming foliage, probably because I’m not much of a gardner, but the last few years grass cutting season’s started about two weeks earlier than usual. Last year I had to pull the weed whacker out in January for mid-winter maintenance.
Oh, and then we had the hurricane in August. Am very much hoping that’s not also something to expect with greater frequency…
do you boycott businesses that donate portions of profits to wingnut causes? do you boycott businesses whose ceos spout nonsense and send small fortunes to fund hate groups? if yes, then switch dentists. if no, then stick with this one. it feels like the same thing to me.
Yes?
I am retired military and I am lucky enough to be able to go to a military hospital. There are TV’s in every waiting room and invariably they are tuned to FOX news channel. I once asked the person behind the desk if they could switch to another channel and she said: We have to leave it on the news. I asked her why not MSNBC or CNN and she said this is the only one she knew the channel for – I rolled my eyes. Lately, I noticed they have changed to CNN. Maybe they got too many complaints.
It’s amazing to me how many public places leave the TV on Fox. Sandwich shops, the gym, you name it. I’ve complained several times and I usually get blank stares like, “Fox? What’s wrong with that?” I always have to remember that most people are not political junkies who live, eat, and breathe this shit 24/7 so they don’t even think about it.
If you like the3 dentist’s work then don’t change. The next could also be wing-nut.
My dentist is also a wing-nut but I’ve been going to him for 30-odd years and he’s very good. He used to listen to Rush but when he realized I didn’t like Rush, he changed the radio to swing/jazz music. A few years ago he began to read comics again and he likes SF movies so we talk about those things.
my dentist seems apolitical. and i get o play MY music. he liked the bach.
If you like the quality of your dental care I would stay with your current dentist. Good dental health helps you eat better, reduces cardiovascular disease, and makes your smile nicer. If you are getting good care, live long and live well and convert a lot of people to rational thinking with your smiling reasoned arguments.
My local hot dog stand owner here in Chicago thinks all the city’s problems relate to the lack of patronage jobs and the Shakman decrees of 1970. But the counter help is super nice and it’s on my corner so I don’t really bad mouth the glory days of Richard J. Daley.
I had a pretty hardcore guy (if he’s still alive he’s prolly a teabaggist) for a dentist. Great guy, just loony on politics. Great dentist and he always treated all of his patients with kindness and gentleness.
Hey you could always have Orly Taitz for your dentist!
If he is that annoying to you, find a new dentist. It sounds like your teeth are in pretty good shape and you’re on routine maintenance at this point. It’s not like you’re in the middle of a root canal…
Honestly, why would you keep going to this loon? There are LOTS and LOTS of dentists in the world. I don’t give my money (willingly) to nut cases.
I’d keep going. I’d drop a whole year’s MoJo back issues in the waiting room. And some UTNEs too.
The ones we dropped off at a VA clinic in Lubbock are still there, and it’s been *years*.
Well-thumbed, but still there.
“Hey you could always have Orly Taitz for your dentist!”
THE HORROR. Lordie I forgot that loon is a dentist.