Look at this dumb fucking article:
Flip-flops are a magnet for dangerous, deadly bacteria
The flip-flop is the preferred summer shoe for many New Yorkers. But on city streets, the flimsy footwear can be deadly. That film of grime that coats your feet at the end of a day of flopping around town is some dangerous dirt. Lab tests of two reporters’ flip-flops, worn for four days, revealed a potentially deadly germ – Staphylococcus aureus – lurking on the rubber. If it seeps into a cut on your foot – an entirely common summer affliction – the bacteria can enter the bloodstream and, if left untreated, kill you.
A magnet! A magnet!! Guess what? Everything has bacteria on it. Wash your dirty foot. Don’t rub bacteria in your foot-cut. If you do get a foot infection, don’t not get it treated. If you do these things, which you were already doing anyway because they are common sense, I promise you will not be MURDERED BY FLIP-FLOPS. Jesus Flopping-Around-Town Christ.
Regardless, maintaining a physical barrier between your skin and any public surface in New York City is a good idea.
I only wear them around the house. I think they are silly on city streets. And don’t step in dog shit with those things on your feet.
I miss Golob. Where is he, anyway?
“If it seeps into a cut on your foot – an entirely common summer affliction”
Really? I’ve been running around in flip-flops — super comfy ones that I got from MEC — for several summers now and never cut myself. Maybe people in flip-flops should just try not to walk on broken glass or near exposed jagged steel?
You know, I’ve always wondered, most everybody agrees that it’s a bad idea to rub poop on an open wound, yet if you get a torn butthole, how come that doesn’t get totally infected every time you take a huge dump? What’s with that?
I always look at people in flip flops and think: “you are so fucked when zombies start taking over” …..Its the single most important reason to wear sneakers while out on the streets.
Haha, that article is hilarious, because Staph. aureus is found on people already as a part of normal skin flora. If you don’t want to catch the more pathogenic strains, then you can’t touch anything!
You know what else is full of fucking dangerous germs? Your fucking mouth, goddamn it. Wash that baby out with soap before rubbing it on any cuts or open wounds.
If I had a cut on my foot, I’d wash it, stick a band aid on it, and not wear flip flops as it heals. These news stories are always so stupid.
I’m also not certain why flip flops are so much worse than other kinds of sandals.
@9, from an industrial design standpoint, flip-flops are going to, well, flip and flop around, perhaps creating more of an updraft or up-flinging of dirt, etc., onto one’s bare foot. Whereas, a regular sandal neither flips nor flops, but rather follows the up and down trajectory of the foot, limiting such updraft and up-flinging of dirt, etc. Such as.
I’m not a flip flop fan and I can think of a dozen better arguments against them than this silly article.
Look what happened to Jimmy Buffet…turned him into an alkee.
I blew out my flip-flop
Stepped on a pop-top
Cut my heel had to cruise on back home
But theres booze in the blender
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on
Flip flops – and the manufacturing process for them – contribute more to the giant floating plastic reef than do all the plastic bags they’re going to tax when the Seattle referendum passes.
Just in case you wondered.
On the other hand, you could just wear compostable wooden clogs like most people do.
Wait, most people wear wooden clogs? No one told me! Or anyone else in my neighborhood either. I haven’t seen a wooden clog for… years maybe…
Yeah, that’s exactly what this country needs… more misguided fear driven into its citizens.
I always knew improvident footwear would lead to death.
My roommates sometimes ask why you’re my favorite Slog contributor. I read posts like this and wonder why they even need to ask me that question.
The true danger of flip flops is a bee caught between the flip and the flop.
Ridiculous alarmist crap from a couple of tabloid hacks. Germs are everywhere; that’s why we have skins and immune systems.
I spend most of my leisure time barefoot, including running daily errands. I scrub my feet every day–when’s the last time you washed your sneakers? Your feet in shoes and socks ooze out 8-16 ozs. of sweat a day, even in winter; lots of people wear one pair of shoes every day for months or years. You might wash your socks every day or two, but your shoes are still massive fungus and bacteria farms. It’s established that the most dangerous infections from puncture wounds are when something sharp picks up the kinds of germs that love living in your sneaker’s midsole and carries them into your flesh; barefoot-incurred punture wound infections are statistically much safer because more benign germs are involved.
Why do people get squicked out about bare feet or flip-flops and not about their gross shoes? Because they’re used to it and they never think about it. Nobody would wear the same underwear for two weeks or two months at a time.
CIty dirt on the sidewalks? Christ, you’re BREATHING it all day long. All the dried loogies, dogshit, garbage puddles, and diesel soot are stirred up by traffic and aerosolized all day long, and come to rest in your alveoli as well as on your kitchen counter. A little on your foot won’t hurt you.
The American media is built on fear and this is just another example. Nice to see that Sloggers see thru the bullshit.
Flip flops are looked upon by escalators as a tasty delicacy. This, too, is a danger.
Yeh, 7, you’re right, I think: S. aureus is part of our normal flora (a bit more common in mucus membranes than feet, usually, but still….). Perhaps the hack who wrote the article confuses it with the, indeed potentially deadly, methacillin resistant S. aureus……
“Many New Yorkers”
Ehhh…I think they were looking at tourists. No sane city-dweller wears flip-flops on the street.
Umm, isn’t staphylococcus aureus, like, pretty much everywhere anyway?
Oh, right. Yes, in fact, it is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staph
@22: There’s no question that even the normal staph can cause dangerous infections — but infections aren’t due to the mere presence of the bacteria.
I can’t believe that the esteemed NY Daily News would run such a scare story.
Actually, what I really can’t believe is that Lindy would waste her time tearing apart a story from a New York tabloid. She’s undoubtedly the only one who took it seriously in the first place.
The only thing dumber than WIS’s comment is the flip flop itself. They are noisy and horrible and if people who wear them are more prone to death and disease, I’m fine with that.
@13 – oh sorry, I was thinking of people who don’t wear flip flops and historical choices still used worldwide.
Yeah, clogs.
@5: Good point, Jesse. Run it through Questionland!
@14: Pretty sure I’ve NEVER seen ’em, King Rat, and they sound uncomfortable as hell. Best wishes to all.
I used to hate flip flops. I joined the peace corps though, moved to Niger, and after 3 days of 100 deg. plus heat, I was converted. Now Niger is one of the poorest countries on earth. I live in NY now and I don’t believe I’ve ever come upon kids shitting in the alley, so I think it may be dirtier. Niger also has all sorts of rocks (that you kick in the dark because there’s no electricity) and thorns and nasty shit that cuts your feet. As a consequence, I did indeed get many a foot infection. With soap, clean bandages and time, those infections cleared up. I can’t verify that Staphylococcus aureus was present. I can say that blowing poo dust and human feces was abundant. Since I have both of my feet still, I think this proves that the NY Daily News needs to grow a pair.
Will Sarah Palin please step up while holding condemned-to-death Trigg (is that the Downs Syndrome one? Or is it Track? Whatever) and tell us how Obama’s Health Care Reform bill requires US Americans such as to wear flip flops, get infected, and immediately be sentenced to death? I’m waiting for her input! SUCH AS!!
@5
You’re on to something….
You know what else is full of fucking dangerous germs? Your fucking ASSHOLE, goddamn it. Wash that baby out with soap before sticking anything in it!
I can’t believe this wasn’t a lead story on the “Today Show!”
As a regular viewer of the show, I feel blessed to have been informed that:
Filthy germ infested grocery bags on kitchen counters = death.
I think flip flops should only be worn at the beach or in a public shower. Any other time and the wearer looks like a slob. Especially dudes in flops and jeans.
I thought the flip flop was invented to protect my feet from broken glass, because if I wasn’t wearing them I would be walking barefoot. Let your feet breath or stick them in a sweaty shoe crawling with athletes foot? It’s just a little dirt after all.