Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Doctors are the enemy

Perhaps you have Three Stooges Syndrome?

Doctor and patient
Doctor and patient
Scientific data
  • Mr. Hipster:
  • My sister complains to me constantly of nebulous ailments, but she never actually gets a satisfying diagnosis for anything. I grow weary of her hypochondria, since she doesn’t trust most doctors, and so prefers to chalk her imagined sicknesses up to gluten, the alleged emanations of plastic containers, or whatever other hipster affliction is trending on Twitter that week. I don’t think anything’s wrong with her, ergo I don’t feel compelled to worry, but I also don’t like being party to her hypochondria. Is it wrong to just tell her she’s a perfectly healthy 27-year-old woman and to get over it?
  • — Anna
  • Dear Hipster:
  • Based on the fact that he misreads signs and squints a lot, I am almost positive that my husband needs glasses. He won’t go get his eyes tested, and he insists that he can see fine enough. We are both in our 30s. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for him to have made it this far in life without prescription eyewear, and that there’s no shame in seeing the optometrist. Obviously, he feels differently. I don’t want to badger him into it, so how should I change tack and get him to see the eye doc?
  • — Anonymous Wife in Glasses, North County

I’m hardly the first or last to say this, but if there’s anything we’ve learned from medical dramas, it’s that seemingly insignificant conditions unfailingly cause life-threatening complications. If you can’t get someone obsessed with seeing the doctor by saying, “Do you remember that one episode of House where the guy went in for a routine buttcheek-boil lancing, and if he hadn’t they never would have caught whatever absurdly rare malady in time and his heart and/or brain would have literally exploded?!” then I guess we don’t live in a world where WebMD’s iPhone app is always there to inject any citizen with 10 cc’s of liquid hypochondria, stat.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Batman has opinions

Good or bad? I don’t know. There’s something to be said for having more access to knowledge. Nine out of ten hipsters agree that being able to discuss the merits of obscure indie rock bands in online message boards enhances the enjoyment of said bands. Whatever you feel about Dr. Wikipedia, that’s the world we’re living in.

Now that we have that out of the way, imagine that your loved ones’ medical problems — real or fantasy, ignored or overzealously embraced — are Kings of Leon songs. Against everyone’s better judgment, your respective family members actually like these songs so much that they’re thinking about going to Reykjavik on August 13th with the hope that the band might play every single one of their ill-conceived pop numbers back to back to back to back beneath the lingering sunlight of an 18-hour Icelandic summer day. Yet just because we, and our shared exceptional taste, would rather suffer renal colic than a full day of subpar pop rock doesn’t mean it’s necessarily harmful for someone else to do so. Wait until there’s some real risk, like when squinting at the movie theater threatens to turn into impaired driving, or until someone tries to say that “Sex on Fire” is the “Heart-Shaped Box” of our generation.

After all, seriously, what kind of rock band walks offstage because a pigeon poops on the bassist? I’m pretty sure John Entwistle (on whom all bassists should model their conduct) would have just asked for a hat and an extra bottle of backstage whiskey.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Secrets of Resilience in May's Unforgettable Memoir

Doctor and patient
Doctor and patient
Scientific data
  • Mr. Hipster:
  • My sister complains to me constantly of nebulous ailments, but she never actually gets a satisfying diagnosis for anything. I grow weary of her hypochondria, since she doesn’t trust most doctors, and so prefers to chalk her imagined sicknesses up to gluten, the alleged emanations of plastic containers, or whatever other hipster affliction is trending on Twitter that week. I don’t think anything’s wrong with her, ergo I don’t feel compelled to worry, but I also don’t like being party to her hypochondria. Is it wrong to just tell her she’s a perfectly healthy 27-year-old woman and to get over it?
  • — Anna
  • Dear Hipster:
  • Based on the fact that he misreads signs and squints a lot, I am almost positive that my husband needs glasses. He won’t go get his eyes tested, and he insists that he can see fine enough. We are both in our 30s. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for him to have made it this far in life without prescription eyewear, and that there’s no shame in seeing the optometrist. Obviously, he feels differently. I don’t want to badger him into it, so how should I change tack and get him to see the eye doc?
  • — Anonymous Wife in Glasses, North County

I’m hardly the first or last to say this, but if there’s anything we’ve learned from medical dramas, it’s that seemingly insignificant conditions unfailingly cause life-threatening complications. If you can’t get someone obsessed with seeing the doctor by saying, “Do you remember that one episode of House where the guy went in for a routine buttcheek-boil lancing, and if he hadn’t they never would have caught whatever absurdly rare malady in time and his heart and/or brain would have literally exploded?!” then I guess we don’t live in a world where WebMD’s iPhone app is always there to inject any citizen with 10 cc’s of liquid hypochondria, stat.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Batman has opinions

Good or bad? I don’t know. There’s something to be said for having more access to knowledge. Nine out of ten hipsters agree that being able to discuss the merits of obscure indie rock bands in online message boards enhances the enjoyment of said bands. Whatever you feel about Dr. Wikipedia, that’s the world we’re living in.

Now that we have that out of the way, imagine that your loved ones’ medical problems — real or fantasy, ignored or overzealously embraced — are Kings of Leon songs. Against everyone’s better judgment, your respective family members actually like these songs so much that they’re thinking about going to Reykjavik on August 13th with the hope that the band might play every single one of their ill-conceived pop numbers back to back to back to back beneath the lingering sunlight of an 18-hour Icelandic summer day. Yet just because we, and our shared exceptional taste, would rather suffer renal colic than a full day of subpar pop rock doesn’t mean it’s necessarily harmful for someone else to do so. Wait until there’s some real risk, like when squinting at the movie theater threatens to turn into impaired driving, or until someone tries to say that “Sex on Fire” is the “Heart-Shaped Box” of our generation.

After all, seriously, what kind of rock band walks offstage because a pigeon poops on the bassist? I’m pretty sure John Entwistle (on whom all bassists should model their conduct) would have just asked for a hat and an extra bottle of backstage whiskey.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Memories of bonfires amid the pits off Palm

Before it was Ocean View Hills, it was party central
Next Article

Houston ex-mayor donates to Toni Atkins governor fund

LGBT fights in common
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader