Societal toughness in decay
I have a beef with cleanliness, or maybe it is a disagreement with the degrees to which people overthink, overspecialize, obsess, and overreact in today's society. I constantly see people worrying about their allergies, about their health, about asbestos(in one case). I see and hear of people overdiagnosed with a myriad of clinical disorders, most of which diagnoses didn't exist before 30 years ago. Who do these people turn to and talk about? The experts. In my opinion, sometimes those who label themselves experts are simply individuals who have one thing that they obsess over in life, and although they may know more about a certain subject than everyone else, it is almost criminal to pass on an overly cautious mindset.
Allergies. I believe that the current spat of everyone having allergies results from a combination of factors. Genes, environmental toxins, lack of people having hookworms, and underexposure to healthy germs and bacteria as children. Nowadays seems like many people have severe allergy problems all the time, and I think the biggest factor is that those people don't have hookworms. It goes back to the invention of flush toilets, because a scientist noted that people in the south were often a little more lethargic than northerners. He discovered the cause was hookworms, and that people pick them up through the soles of their feet, around outhouses. So they invented the flush toilet. Unfortunately, the side benefit of having hookworms is that the hookworms will inhibit the body from having an extreme immune response to things, which is what allergies are, is the body overreacting. Lately some people have been getting intentionally infected with hookworms, and it completely cures them of allergies.
This ties in with another point. People in the US aren't exposed to enough dirt and germs in their childhood nowadays. Kids stay inside and play WoW. I think it's important to kick a kid outside and let them get a little dirty, it helps build their resistance to things.
Asbestos. I probably don't know enough about it, I'm not an expert. But today I had a client literally screaming at me because I broke off a little piece of linoleum that may or may not have asbestos. To be sure, I can respect a client's wishes, and I understood that she disapproved. But to get overly dramatic just brings out disdain in me. I can't stand it when someone gets overly emotional for no real reason. It sounded as if she was convinced that she would drop dead in the next 5 minutes. I've been covered from head to toe in asbestos dust before, while wearing a respirator, and when I mentioned that, she told me that I have killed everyone I love. That's nice. I did actually clean up instead of rolling around in it and going home and begging them to breathe deep. I've also soldered with lead solder for years doing microcircuit repair, breathing lead fumes hasn't made me drop dead. Personally, I believe the most dangerous substance I've ever worked with has been the dusts of various south american hardwoods, some of them burn the skin, some make me feel weak, even with a mask that sawdust is deadly. However at present, my health is wonderful, and I have an amazing immune system, perhaps because I ran around all over the woods and dirty places when I was a kid. Also when I was a kid, everyone else would get sick, and most of the time, I would not. I never showed signs of mumps, measles or chicken pox, although all my family caught it. The gist of this ramble is that some people are tough. 100 years ago and beyond, everyone was tough. They had to be. I think the overvaccination, antibiotics, and overmedication regimen that our society seems hell bent on pursuing as well as the retreat indoors into a spic and span environment, is going to do us in eventually, or at least- some people.
Allergies. I believe that the current spat of everyone having allergies results from a combination of factors. Genes, environmental toxins, lack of people having hookworms, and underexposure to healthy germs and bacteria as children. Nowadays seems like many people have severe allergy problems all the time, and I think the biggest factor is that those people don't have hookworms. It goes back to the invention of flush toilets, because a scientist noted that people in the south were often a little more lethargic than northerners. He discovered the cause was hookworms, and that people pick them up through the soles of their feet, around outhouses. So they invented the flush toilet. Unfortunately, the side benefit of having hookworms is that the hookworms will inhibit the body from having an extreme immune response to things, which is what allergies are, is the body overreacting. Lately some people have been getting intentionally infected with hookworms, and it completely cures them of allergies.
This ties in with another point. People in the US aren't exposed to enough dirt and germs in their childhood nowadays. Kids stay inside and play WoW. I think it's important to kick a kid outside and let them get a little dirty, it helps build their resistance to things.
Asbestos. I probably don't know enough about it, I'm not an expert. But today I had a client literally screaming at me because I broke off a little piece of linoleum that may or may not have asbestos. To be sure, I can respect a client's wishes, and I understood that she disapproved. But to get overly dramatic just brings out disdain in me. I can't stand it when someone gets overly emotional for no real reason. It sounded as if she was convinced that she would drop dead in the next 5 minutes. I've been covered from head to toe in asbestos dust before, while wearing a respirator, and when I mentioned that, she told me that I have killed everyone I love. That's nice. I did actually clean up instead of rolling around in it and going home and begging them to breathe deep. I've also soldered with lead solder for years doing microcircuit repair, breathing lead fumes hasn't made me drop dead. Personally, I believe the most dangerous substance I've ever worked with has been the dusts of various south american hardwoods, some of them burn the skin, some make me feel weak, even with a mask that sawdust is deadly. However at present, my health is wonderful, and I have an amazing immune system, perhaps because I ran around all over the woods and dirty places when I was a kid. Also when I was a kid, everyone else would get sick, and most of the time, I would not. I never showed signs of mumps, measles or chicken pox, although all my family caught it. The gist of this ramble is that some people are tough. 100 years ago and beyond, everyone was tough. They had to be. I think the overvaccination, antibiotics, and overmedication regimen that our society seems hell bent on pursuing as well as the retreat indoors into a spic and span environment, is going to do us in eventually, or at least- some people.