How Your Immune System Actually Works
George Carlin was wrong.
Our friends and family think they understand their immune system because George Carlin explained it to them in the 90s:
Where did this sudden fear of germs come from? What do you think you have an immune system for? It's for killing germs. But it needs practice. It needs germs to practice on. If you kill all the germs around you, and lead a completely sterile life, then when germs do come along you're not going to be prepared. What are you gonna do? I'll tell you what, you're gonna get sick and you're gonna die and you're gonna deserve it because you're f-ing weak and you've got a f-ing weak immune system.
George Carlin was right about a lot of things, but he was wrong on this one.
(He got plastic wrong, too.)
Unfortunately, this part of his 11th HBO standup special became permanently lodged into the American cultural memory. I only saw it once as a kid, but it stayed with me for the rest of my life.
Not even AP Biol…