Originally Posted by
gj83
I thought wearing shoes and shirts in public was just to keep the hippies out. Most places say it is for hygiene and the health departments usually mandate it...but that doesn't mean it's necessary.
If you knew of the amount of glassware broken in restaurants you wouldn't be so keen to ignore health department regulations.
That said, I have no problem with bare feet, but bare feet in most public places are not part of the US culture. So, unavoidably, people who flaunt cultural norms attract attention and suspicion upon themselves.
Since we are herd animals, different often means damaged and the bare feet in public that we are most exposed to indeed frequently belong to street people.
That said, there are posters on FT who espouse the health benefits of going barefoot. I suspect we will hear from them shortly.
Personally, I remove my shoes aboard aircraft, but leave my socks on. I wear kung foo shoes to and from the lav since I do not want my feet nor socks soaked in other peoples, nor mine, for that matter, excrement.