Sincerely, Cassandra and Bruno
Author: Avital O’Glasser, MD
Dear friends, family, colleagues, and concerned(ish) public:
It’s likely very difficult for you to have imagined what January 2023 would have been like if you had been asked to predict it three years ago. Me? Cassandra? Aw heck, I could have told you what to expect–but if you had asked…or even listened…odds were you would not have been able believe me (I shake my fist at you, Apollo, for that damn curse of seeing the future but never being believed!). At least my name finally crept into the collective vernacular with people saying they FEEL like me or should get their names changed to “Cassandra”. Meanwhile, Bruno over here? Heck, you didn’t even know he existed until a year ago (that, and the fact that WE DON’T TALK ABOUT BRUNO…).
I will say, though, with the help of a global pop-culture phenomenon, and some people’s return to the Classics (I guess there’s only so much a person can stream online while they wait for the third season of Ted Lasso…), it is really nice to have some more name- and brand-recognition.
One of our most validating experiences in the last year came when the Merriam Webster (MW) dictionary announced “gaslighting” as the 2022 word of the year (WOTY). MW owns their decision in the most mic-drop way possible: “it is totally a real word, and not something we made up just to mess with you”. Wait!? Did MW just say they aren’t gaslighting us about the meaning of the word “gaslighting”??? ME. TA.
The MW word of the year doesn’t need to be a brand new word (“gaslighting” originates from a 1938 play that…you guessed it…demonstrated that concept as a core plot element). The choice is driven by what words are looked up in the dictionary in the past year. “Gaslighting” saw a 1740% increase. The 2021 WOTY was “vaccine”; in 2020 it was “pandemic”. I’m seeing a theme emerge…maybe the 2023 word will be “I’m taking public health experts and epidemiologists seriously”. Oh wait…that’s a phrase, not a word… And damn it, “I told you so” is a phrase, too! Bruno is whispering to me that he’s putting his money on “Weltschmerz” (the feeling of “world weariness” or the feeling you get “when your expectations of the world fall disappointingly short”).
Bruno and I might seem cool and aloof, throwing shade at the states of denial paraded around as blissful ignorance, wishful thinking, or unrealistic optimism. Like Katie Porter, it might appear that we don’t give a F*...but that is just our psychological defense mechanism. We really do care, we really do give a F*...but we are truly running out of F*’s left to give. So here we are, with our siblings in advocacy, desperately trying to spread the messages that are either ignored or that don’t want to be talked about.
No, the pandemic isn’t over.
Yes, COVID is still here
No, the COVID vaccine is not killing thousands of people
Yes, we DO know how to stop COVID’s spread
No, healthcare worker morale is not getting any better.
Yes, hospitals are over capacity and the healthcare system is crumbling.
No, you cannot avoid RSV and the flu just by wishful thinking.
Yes, the third season of Ted Lasso is long overdue (we believe everyone DOES agree on that one…go figure…).
Against the flood of misinformation, disinformation, and disbelief, we know some of you are listening, standing up, speaking out. On your behalf, I’m going to channel Bruno’s eloquent niece: “Gimme the truth and the whole truth, Bruno.”
Bruno and I have built the bonds of an unlikely friendship through shared experience and mutual understanding over the past year. It has made our necessary missions a bit less isolating. A lone duck became a pair…so hey Lin-Manuel, ya gonna write us a new partner in crime this year, a new camarade in arms, a third musketeer?? We’ll believe it when we see it.
Sincerely,
Cassandra and Bruno
About the author: Avital O’Glasser, MD, is a hospitalist at Oregon Health & Science University and the editor of the WIMS blog (Twitter: @aoglasser). This is the third article in the Cassandra series on the WIMS blog (which includes 2020’s “Call Me Cassandra” and 2021’s “We Need to Talk about Bruno. Signed, Cassandra”.)
