This is the tenth post not having anything to do with vaccines.
Thank. The. Lord.
I wanted to talk to you about something that has been on my radar the last few weeks as school has resumed and some of my students have been asking me for my background. They seem to want to know who this guy standing in front of them talking about epidemiology is and why they should listen to him. I wanted to point out my degrees, but that would have been too easy. After all, they have the syllabus. They know what my degrees are. Instead, I talked to them about my work.
I’m not going to bore you with all the stuff that I do, however. I’m just going to tell you that the main part of my work consists in trying to change the world. Much like Batman, I sometimes feel like I am fighting some pretty big and evil forces out there. And I feel alone, although I have a great team of friends who are always ready to come to the rescue.
One truth that you need to keep in mind is that this persona of Reuben Gaines is a lot like Batman. That is, I’m not just one person. You’ve read on this blog before about how I considered myself to be an idea (and how ideas don’t die). You’ve also read how I strive to be more than just a man. After all, my enemies (or people who don’t like me) will always find something in the human part of me to attack. If they look hard enough, I’m sure they could find something that is unpalatable to someone somewhere.
Much like the Batmen in the movies, there are different people who have donned the cowl and cape of Reuben Gaines and taken on the anti-science and anti-vaccine nuts out there. You may have noticed it if you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning. One or two, or more, blog posts don’t have the same structure as the others. In those cases, other people who are great people and know a lot more about other stuff than I do have taken it upon themselves to write. This is one of the main reasons why complaints from The Weirdo John Stone and others about me don’t really scare me.
He’s complaining about a group of us… A group who wants to change the world.
I’m kind of glad that I’m not alone in wanting to and working toward changing the world because one person should not be alone in doing so and should not even succeed in doing so. I’m flawed. I might impose a dictatorship if I do end up gaining all the power. (Not likely.) I think this video puts it best:
So I want to thank you, dear reader or two, because you are also kind of like Batman. You want to change the world as well, and that’s why the things that I (or we) write interest you. That’s why you keep coming back, why you share links from this blog, and why you also do some pretty amazing things out there in the big, bad world.
Now that the ten non-vaccine posts are up, now that the trolls are a little underfed, let us dive into the craziness of the anti-vaccine and anti-science idiots who would be the end of us all if we left them in charge of the Ebola response…
The Poxes Blog 
I lasted precisely one minute into the drivel, then was forced to click off.
Meanwhile, I *did* play the “part” of “Batman”ish in real life.
While in the military, I moved my family into the home we could afford, one in a section of Philadelphia. The neighborhood was not unknown to hear gunshots from drug dealers at the end of our street, where there was an Original Philadelphia plan park.
Well, at that point, I was reserve and hence, had some time on my hands and, erm, consideration of the non-bulletproof design of my bedroom. That is important, as my wife is disabled.
Lacking any community townwatch, I formed my own singular townwatch. It became highly effective, though I’ll not discuss the means of such success. I’ll only suggest that there were only three hospitalizations, two far later. The later being when an ambush was established and I noticed it, under laughable conditions. Hence, I took my dog for a walk and he enjoyed a fine “meal” of two idiots hands.
Yeah, the place was that ugly.
Around the time that the dog had his fine hand meal, the neighborhood finally got off of their long suffering butts and formed a *real* townwatch.
It’s since died, after I deployed for over a year.
So, some times, there *is* a need for a real “Batman”.
Most of the time, there is not.
Considering his speech patterns, I have a psychological diagnosis to consider.
I’d expound further, but professionals read here, they know what the story is for this blogger and likely, myself. They might be slightly off or wildly off for me, not so much for this kid.
Regardless, I have to go abed. It’s late, even for me and I have to leave for work at 3:30PM.
And that is a buffer, I far, far prefer to arrive at 3:15.
Just so I have time to eat, get coffee and water, then begin to prepare for the day.
Hey, it could have been Fishtown, where drooling white toughs menace people wearing ties.
Heh, been there as well.
Maybe next time, I’ll wear a tie. 😉
One might recall the Reveres.