If you don’t like socks and sandals stop looking at my feet

If you have ever laughed, joked or criticised someone for wearing socks and sandals then I urge you to have a word with yourself. Why is it that among all the things you don’t like, you feel it OK to police this one?

You despise 95% cocoa chocolate, extra-large cars and rudeness, so why do you police my footwear?

I’d bet money you haven’t even asked yourself. I doubt you’ve even read the Wikipedia entry.

If you have a problem with socks and sandals, and I mean a problem that goes beyond ‘oh I don’t know about this Jeremy Corbyn fellow, he collects photos of drain covers’ then I recommend you take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror.

Why are you policing this opinion? It affects you no more than the Great British Bake Off, a lot less than homelessness; global inequality, the threat of nuclear war – things you put a lot more effort into turning a blind eye to.

And yet here you are thinking that you are having your own thoughts about some fundamental truth regarding clothing. But you have never questioned this ‘truth’ that sandals worn with socks is a bad thing, despite it offering a moisture wick that trainer manufacturers can only dream of. And, if made well, cross country all-weather ruggedness.

You’ve been told a lie and you are repeating it foolishly.

I worked an entire winter walking around with people with high levels of mental health support needs. We went out and about and I wore two pairs of socks – like a trainer sock on the inside, smooth and flat, and a hiking sock on the outside (not pulled up, I don’t go out of my way to cause outrage). I never got wet feet… just think of all the times you’ve heard people boast about real woolen jumpers and how they keep you dry.

But I will go further. You picked up this opinion, this blindness to reason as if observing an objective truth, and you fought for it like it was your own. Like it was real and authentic, but you never questioned if the reasoning behind the opinion was sound. I’ll break it to you. It isn’t.

Are you racist? Do you dislike socks and sandals because Romans wore them?

The earliest case of socks and sandals comes from an archaeological dig that revealed Roman footwear in Britain.

I urge you to think again before you tell someone that they are ‘wrong’ for wearing clothes that you don’t like – it is the start of you policing attitudes that are not your own. Embrace difference – would you really rather we all wear the same labels?