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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   14551 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 20, 2026

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If someone's floors clearly doesn't meet the standard that you find acceptable to walk on with socks, it seems reasonable to refuse to enter without shoes, even if you otherwise find it reasonable to take off your shoes indoors. Much like how if someone's shoes are clearly very muddy or dirty, it seems reasonable to refuse entry to them without taking off their shoes, even if you otherwise find it reasonable to allow people to keep their shoes on in your home.

In typical cases, though, I'd say the dirtiness of shoes that have been worn outside is far beyond the dirtiness of the floor of a household where everyone takes off their shoes in a way that the dirtiness of such a floor isn't far beyond the dirtiness of the socks of a typical person. The former involves bringing dirt from foreign/outdoors/public sources into a private/personal space, whereas the latter is just private/personal dirt being swapped around. Personal dirt can certainly be dirtier/more mysterious than public ones, but in typical cases where people put in effort to taking care of their homes, it tends to be the opposite.

I just think in the main where it isn’t obviously dirty one way or the other, fretting about dirtiness is obsessive.

I'm, unfortunately, a pretty a messy and somewhat dirty guy, but I find the standard of "obviously dirty one way or the other" to be far too high for determining whether I care about the dirtiness of something that's going to directly touch various parts of my skin all the time.

How often do you clean your shoes? If they're shoes that you wear outside regularly, they're obviously dirty in comparison to a typical indoor space.

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