Bare feet really did use to be acceptable. Here’s a repost of an entry I did on June 13, 2011. I was on the campus of The Ohio State University.
First, a picture from 1970, via Flickr:
Outside Townsend Hall, 1970
And now, from yesterday:
Outside Townsend Hall, 2011
No, I’m not in the original picture. But this illustrates the great change from then. These days, even the thought of that many people just appearing barefoot seems foreign.
Both pictures are taken in front of Townsend Hall on the campus of The Ohio State University.
And it is not only foreign, it is endemic. At the time the early picture was taken, there was no problem using any of the university libraries barefoot (and nobody saw any reason to prohibit it). But just a few years ago the Ohio State library system initiated a ban on bare feet. Coincidentally, this happened shortly after I was there doing some research (and was seen by a librarian).
Hmmmm.
Of course, there is no good reason for such a policy. It’s there just for the usual dumb excuses: NSNSNS, fear of liability, it’s just not done, . . . Even though it never caused a problem 40 years ago, and still doesn’t, it has now entered the mythos that bare feet must be banned.
I suggest sending them that picture, since they do not appear to know their own history. Those old enough to remember that time seem to have developed a collective amnesia and total denial that this ever happened. Can’t possibly let the young generation of today know we ever did this, oh no.
Same here. Send them the picture.
Unfortunately, though, it won’t change anything. Prejudiced people are immune to logic and facts, by definition.
I have to agree with Hadashi, prejudice is hard to change.
pepaulmier: Granted; however the first step is to change their behavior. Look at race, there are still about the same percentage of bigots as a century ago, but at least lynching is a rarity now, and if you are the bigots’ target, that is significant. Start by getting rid of laws promoting the prejudice.
I don’t think it’s as bigoted, I think that kind of bigotry has gone way down. I don’t think it would have been possible to elect a black president even twenty years ago.
You know what, maybe sending it won’t change the situation, but taking it in and showing it to their faces might change a few opinions, or at least soften them.