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Noting that germ-killing products are all the rage, Allen Salkin in the New York Times (<\/span>link<\/a>) present us with an example of journalists scrabbling to find an angle to an otherwise boring story.<\/span><\/p>\n Why are so many people buying (questionably effective) lotions, creams, <\/span>water ionizers<\/a>, <\/span>UV wands<\/a>, and other weapons of mini destruction?<\/span><\/p>\n Is it because people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to get sick? Because they hear about diseases spreading through the air, water, and handles of doors?<\/p>\n According to Salkin, maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that people just want to have control over their lives. People aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily worried about the flu as much as they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re worried about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dangerous, out-of-control world\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we live in.<\/p>\n This explain why people are especially concerned about germs on planes and subways. Because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where terrorists might strike! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where we feel the biggest need to control the uncontrollable.<\/p>\n Uh huh. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to suggest an alternative theory: Maybe people are especially conscious of germs on planes and subways because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where all the other people are. All the sneezing, coughing people who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wash their hands. Not terrorists. Just folks.<\/p>\n And now for the previously advertised BONUS THOUGHTS!<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve noticed a lot of people using those germ-killing gels in an odd way. They reach for them in the kitchen, or after using the office bathroom, rather than using the sink and soap. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather leave bacteria carcasses on their hands than wash the live bacteria off.<\/p>\n