It doesn't bother me that he has this tendency, though I do find his tenuous grasp of microbiology a bit troubling. What we call germs are, of course, microorganisms that make us sick; there's not an invisible wizard named "Germs" who waits around for kids to misbehave, despite what he seems to think.

 

Germs only get on food, too, and you don't get them from wiping your nose or using the toilet or whatever other disgusting thing you might do during the course of a day. That's all fine, but God forbid you share a fork with someone.

 

I read recently this study that said that people who live in sterile environments and filter their air and drink purified water and wash and clean everything compulsively, are actually more likely to get sick than normal people. I suppose when you just go through life normally, and are exposed to all the regular dirty crap as all the rest of us, your immune system gets stronger because it's always got something to do.

 

I know a guy who lives this way. Over the years, I suppose I've known lots of people who live that way: Not physically, but psychologically. He guards against anything that even seems the slightest bit inappropriate, or challenges his right way of thinking. And I mean anything, and it's all the same: For him, the most disturbing sadomasochist porn is no better or worse than "that gay purple teletubby". It's all bad, it's all wrong, and he'll never tolerate it and he'll certainly never let his kids see it. It's the kind of mentality that relentlessly crusades against Harry Potter books as being non-Christian, or forbids any mention of Halloween because it's the Devil's birthday.

 

And while there seems to be room to debate whether or not Tinky Winky is homosexual or Bratz dolls are prostitutes, there will always be those who argue that these things are indicative of some kind of cultural erosion, something that we've lost or given up. People will always look to the past as some unattainable ideal, like this standard we've abandoned as a society and can't ever get back. Like some golden age when things were wonderful and dreams could be picked off the dream-tree.

 

Which is total crap.

 

Once on Frasier, when discussing an unplanned pregnancy, Martin recalled the Good Ol' Days, when a girl would be sent away to a convent to have her baby, and "Then when she came back, they'd raise the baby as a little sister. Not like today - we had morals and values back then!" People were lynched and physically maimed for the slightest differences. I don't see how things were any better.

 

Even 30 years ago, there was a lot more that was acceptable than now. There were no kids films in the 70's; everything was rated R. Every movie had a nude scene. All that is passe now. But no one says a word.

 

I think people who shelter themselves this way do themselves and their families a dis-service. Not only do they miss out on some really cool stuff, but they're really not preparing their kids to live in the real world. When a kid grows up in a house where he's forbidden to eat candy or watch Nickelodean, there's a very real possibility that he'll grow up obsessed with Snickers bars and Spongebob.

 

Like, I knew this one dude who came from this severely dysfunctional alcoholic home and he never had shoes to wear. He was always wearing old shoes with holes in them that didn't fit. And now, as an adult, he never throws shoes away and owns like 20 pairs.

 

Like when you see a survivor of a Nazi death camp who got real fat later on. Except that never seemed to happen for some reason, and whenever you see survivors of death camps they're all still lean. I never got that.

 

Anyway, the point is that you only get strong by resistance. Any weightlifter will tell you that. You don't get strong by hiding in a hole or avoiding things you don't like. The Buddhists call this tendency to hide from things "aversion".

 

Anyway it's stupid.