Spoke to DC for a few minutes today. Apparently, he has drunk the Kennedy Jr. Flavor-Aid. He has gone down a misinformation rabbit hole from which forces greater than I will have to pull him.

He is still teaching at a private school, and we both spoke briefly about the old days of gaming, being old dudes (he is eight years older than me) with individual health concerns. We remained friendly or at least civil when it came to our differing beliefs and candidates. I imagine that 45 is going to take Florida’s vote anyway, and his and JC’s votes really wouldn’t turn the tide either way. I caught him up on Pearl and life in Virginia, talked about how proud I am of BHK’s work, and I think we had a pretty good time. He told me about his student gaming group, mostly Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: the Gathering, but some old-school Dungeons & Dragons in there as well.

Overall, I am quite disappointed in his mindset, but I am not surprised. No one should get all their information from social media, and his situation is even worse since he gets all of his information filtered through a private religious school and his spouse, who also believes that there really are Nigerian princes looking to share millions, that prosperity doctrine works, and that colloidal silver is some kind of wonder drug.

Florida has a concerning trend of misleading its people into joining anti-vaccination and anti-women’s health movements. It is regrettable that these guys, who are otherwise known for their kindness and generosity, fall victim to such misinformation. Fortunately, their influence is limited, preventing further escalation of the situation. However, it is disheartening to consider the possibility of one of them facing serious health consequences due to their misguided beliefs, and worse, treatment or lack thereof afterward.

This is probably the first time I’ve spoken to him since we moved to Virginia. I often come away feeling a bit sad, but what can I do? I only talk to him maybe yearly or every other year, and there are good spirits to be had too.