In some more of its classic hard-hitting journalism, the Huffington Post yesterday gave us their list of 15 Annoying Airline Passengers.
Just guess what was on it.
The list was just full of offenders, like
- The Extremely Busy & Important
- The Talker
- The Kid
- The Certain You Find Him Attractive
- The Giant
- The Baby
And of course, the list included The Shoeless, along with the most offensive and biased picture they could think of.
The (Offensively) Shoeless
Putting a bare foot up like that is just plain rude; simply being barefooted is not. Actually, putting a foot up there, shod or not, is just plain rude. And as I’ve noted before, people who denigrate barefootedness never seem to have a problem with flip-flops, which expose just as much of the foot.
But they did hint at a problem. Their accompanying description said
Flights are the perfect time to air these puppies out.
Well, yeah. But that’s a shoe problem. When you stuff a foot into a shoe for an extended time, expect the bacteria and fungi (and their odors) in there to multiply like mad. No wonder other people get upset when the shoes are taken off.
But shoelessness ought not be blamed. Put the blame squarely where it belongs.
Finally, one little encouraging sign. In the comments (161 as of this writing), not a one says anything on bare feet. So maybe most folks just don’t really see it as a real problem.
Ahcuah 
> people who denigrate barefootedness never seem to have a problem with flip-flops
To tell the truth, it’s a fairly recent development. I don’t know about the USA, but here in Siberia even 10-15 years ago someone in flip-flops in public would be looked upon as weird. We called them “shower shoes” or “beach shoes” at that time.
That’s probably true here, too. Here’s a 2005 story about a flip-flop flap when a women’s college lacrosse team wore flip-flops to the White House. But of course, the problem wasn’t the exposure of the foot, since the flimsiest of leather sandal was, and always has been, perfectly acceptable for women. It was the casualness of flip-flops that was the problem.
Sandals only became acceptable for men in around the 1960s and 1970s (and then it was anathema to wear them with socks, which one can see fairly often these days).
LOL, I’m the one with bladder control issues, its horrible, that’s why I always try too get a aisle seat
It’s satire. Ha ha. Must be really cold in OH if Bob is taking this seriously. Brain freeze…
couldn’t agree more!