Sometimes, when faced with adversity, levity can help ease the tension. That being said, I’d like to offer my own take on the infamous “Clipboard Man” who we all saw on the news last week. Somehow, somewhere, there has to be a logical explanation for why this unknown individual helped supervise the transportation of Amber Vinson from Dallas to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, GA without protective gear. The reason given for this cavalier attitude is that the hazmat suits affect peripheral vision, so it was necessary to have one person supervise the transport without a hazmat suit to make sure nothing was missed.
The Clipboard Man, in a way, reminds me of another shadowy character from back in the 90’s, known as the Cigarette-Smoking Man from the X-Files series. Initially, a man of few words, The Cigarette-Smoking Man, played by Canadian actor, William B. Davis, would appear with bits of highly sensitive information privileged only to a few throughout the world. The Cigarette-Smoking Man is credited with the failure of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba along with the successful assassinations of both JFK and MLK. One of his more crowning achievements, though, is helping the 1980 USA hockey team defeat the highly favorite USSR hockey team by inoculating the Soviet’s goalie’s right shoulder with some sort of nerve block. This is the stuff that conspiracies are made of.
As James Spader’s character Raymond “Red” Reddington from the hit series “The Blacklist” said last week, “ It’s time to strap on the tinfoil helmet.” Could this individual, the Clipboard Man, be with the CIA, DIA or NSA? Was he testing out a new vaccine? Maybe he belongs to some clandestine multi-national organization set up to act as intermediaries between humans and aliens from above. Besides the clipboard, our person of interest wore sunglasses, which reminded me of other shadowy figures from another hit TV show from the 70-80’s, M.A.S.H. Every-so-often Hawkeye Pierce and the crew had to put up with buffoons from either the CIA or DIA who were so full of themselves that they pretended not being who they were, hiding behind aviator sunglasses.
Whatever the reason, legitimate or not, the Clipboard Man, has helped fuel my imagination. Regardless, the real question remains, what made this guy think he was impervious to Ebola Virus? Next, I’m expecting to see Scully and Mulder equivalents being seen in the presence of the Clipboard Man. Only time will tell. All I know is, I have my Halloween costume for this year. I’m going as the Clipboard Man. Who knows, maybe I can convince my wife to dress like Dana Scully. That’s it for now, got to get ready – we’re having the Lone Gunmen over for dinner tonight.
