Ugh, please tell me this is a joke...

[Peter B]

https://au.yahoo.com/news/tv-host-says-hasnt-washed-hands-10-years-germs-arent-real-011455557.html

A Fox News presenter claimed he hasn’t washed his hands in a decade because “germs don’t exist”.

Pete Hegseth made the bizarre claim to the the Fox and Friends audience on Sunday morning with a justification of “I can’t see them, therefore they aren’t real”.

Gawd, would he believe they were real if he looked through a microscope, or are microscopes just part of some liberal conspiracy?

There's obviously something to the Australian rhyming slang for Americans: Septics (septic tank > yank).

[bknight]

Might be an antivaxxer also?

[gillianren]

Almost certainly an anti-vaxxer; the crossover between anti-vaccine hooey and a lack of belief in germ theory is of course enormous.

My political discussion group got very concerned about ever shaking this guy's hand, because particulate matter is a thing.  I actually speculated myself about what he does all the time, since I routinely wash my hands not out of a fear of germs per se but because I have something I don't want on my hands.  I bake, for example, and very seldom can you do that without getting dough on your hands.

[Echnaton]

Apparently it is a dirty joke.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/02/11/fox-news-host-pete-hegseth-wash-hands-10-years/2835616002/

Hegseth says the joke is a call-out to germ obsessors to lighten up. "My half-hearted commentary to the point is, we live in a society where people walk around with bottles of Purell in their pockets, and they sanitize 19,000 times a day as if that’s going to save their life," he said. "I take care of myself and all that, but I don’t obsess over everything all the time."

I'm prone to saying weird things with a straight face too. But it is kind of strange to see people on TV be so gross. 

[gillianren]

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he was lying now.

[Von_Smith]

https://au.yahoo.com/news/tv-host-says-hasnt-washed-hands-10-years-germs-arent-real-011455557.html

A Fox News presenter claimed he hasn’t washed his hands in a decade because “germs don’t exist”.

Pete Hegseth made the bizarre claim to the the Fox and Friends audience on Sunday morning with a justification of “I can’t see them, therefore they aren’t real”.

Gawd, would he believe they were real if he looked through a microscope, or are microscopes just part of some liberal conspiracy?

There's obviously something to the Australian rhyming slang for Americans: Septics (septic tank > yank).

So what you're saying is he doesn't wash his hands because doing so would be antiseptic.

[Bop]

There's obviously something to the Australian rhyming slang for Americans: Septics (septic tank > yank).

So what you're saying is he doesn't wash his hands because doing so would be antiseptic.

Groans- don't give up your day job...

(waves hi to PeterB, long time no see, Boppa from SSSF)

[Peter B]

There's obviously something to the Australian rhyming slang for Americans: Septics (septic tank > yank).

So what you're saying is he doesn't wash his hands because doing so would be antiseptic.

Groans- don't give up your day job...

(waves hi to PeterB, long time no see, Boppa from SSSF)

*waves back*

G'day! Long time no hear.

Everyone, say hello to one of the other denizens of Dr Karl's Self Service Science Forums, one of the more fun science forums (and with a distinctly Aussie feel), while it lasted.