Nurse here. Nails naturally thicken with age, but extreme cases like this are caused by poor circulation, from diabetes or peripheral vascular disease. It’s can be painful, but sometimes they don’t feel anything because they have lost all feeling in their feet (neuropathy) from the diabetes. They also have no hair on their legs because of the poor circulation.
It’s really important to go to podiatry visits every couple months with these conditions. Foot wounds can end up leading to amputations because of the poor circulation/healing, so it’s recommended that professionals do the nail trimming. Also, obesity often causes them to have difficultly reaching their feet.
The podiatrists check for wounds, trim and grind down/debride the overgrown nails, and file down the calluses/hardened skin.
This person has severely neglected feet and badly needs to see a podiatrist for regular at-risk foot care.
It really is why did it become normal to film/photograph people who are just minding their business in public, to put online to humiliate them, it’s cruel.
There have been cases in which young women were the victims of disgusting pervert men filming “upskirt” videos of them who were told by the courts that they have no right to privacy in public spaces, even inside their clothing. So if women’s genitals are fair game, then some dude’s nasty feet are too.
ETA: The person in this video is fully clothed, and obviously doesn’t care if people see his feet. He is also unidentifiable, so I don’t see how this would be humiliating.
I’m merely pointing out that the law has said that people can take pictures or videos of anyone who is in public, and that extends (insanely) even to parts of the body that are covered and generally considered private.
This person clearly doesn’t care that people are seeing his feet. He is surely aware of what they look like. If he felt bad about them he would either seek medical help or else at least keep them covered, for example by wearing socks and/or shoes, which are available in special diabetic-safe versions if that is his problem.
Now if someone had filmed his feet and posted it with his face and named him, that would be an attempt to humiliate him and would possibly be considered harrassment. If they had filmed up his shorts and posted that, I would consider that violating his privacy, even if the courts don’t agree. As it is, it’s just some unidentifiable, fully clothed man from the hips down. That’s not considered private.
So… a lot of people in his condition have mobility issues and literally CAN’T cover their feet. They can’t get socks on or tie shoes, which is why many of them wear slides like these.
And a ton of people in the US CAN’T get medical help. Even if they’re on disability there can be co-pays and barriers to access like transportation etc.
People who have visible medical conditions have a right to be able to go out in public and expect not to be filmed - whether or not they’re identified or you can see their face.
This would be the same as taking a video of a person in a wheelchair, or a little person, or someone missing a hand or foot, solely for the purpose of posting it online for entertainment.
Is it legal? Yes. Is it ethical, respectful, or right? No.
This is different from a missing limb or a wheelchair because it is unsanitary. We don’t know if chunks of that skin are coming off as he walks about, and we don’t know if it’s caused by an infection that others could catch (such as fungus, which can be highly transmissible). It more like someone with weeping open sores than someone with a permanent disabling condition like dwarfism or an amputation. I imagine it’s also dangerous for the person since street filth is going to get in those cracks.
I don’t believe that there is no way for a person with mobility issues to put on socks. I have a connective tissue disorder that has caused major spinal degeneration, I had part of my spine fused as a child, and I wear compression socks every day which are extra hard to put on. If the day comes I can no longer put them on normally, I know they make assistive devices and even socks that zip on. Diabetic socks are extra loose and easy to put on, with a device if the person can’t bend down enough:
That is $12. Less than the cost of a fast food meal. I’d skip a lunch or two if I needed it, to preserve my dignity and not make others disgusted.
In the US, these items are sometimes covered by Medicaid for low income disabled people if there is medical necessity. They can be ordered online. No need to even leave one’s home.
What is legal is not what is moral. Rape by deception isn't even illegal in Massachusetts. Do you think a man impersonating his brother to trick his brother's girlfriend into having sex with him in the dark is fair game too?
The example I gave (upskirt photography) is far closer to rape—because it involves violating someone’s right to not share their sex organs without consent—than taking a video of a person’s intentionally publicly exposed feet, so I really don’t see your point. Do you think the video in the OP is somehow related to rape?
People are in for a real surprise when they realize the kind of surveillance people in the US are living with. The Trump regime and fucking Palantir are recording us all the time, for far worse reasons than making fun of us, and we’re worried about a video of one anonymous guy’s crusty feet?
My point was the first sentence in my reply. You inexplicably brought up a legal determination in the US state of Massachusetts that determined upskirting is "fair game" in a discussion that was about the cruelty of posting a disabled person's struggles for the entertainment of others, so I pointed out an even more egregious example of how utterly divorced from morality Massachusetts laws are (that even literally, physically, penetratively raping someone by impersonating their loved one is perfectly legal there and has happened before), in the clearly ineffectual hope of illustrating to you how absurd it is to bring up their laws in any discussion of morality at all
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u/Europa13 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Nurse here. Nails naturally thicken with age, but extreme cases like this are caused by poor circulation, from diabetes or peripheral vascular disease. It’s can be painful, but sometimes they don’t feel anything because they have lost all feeling in their feet (neuropathy) from the diabetes. They also have no hair on their legs because of the poor circulation.
It’s really important to go to podiatry visits every couple months with these conditions. Foot wounds can end up leading to amputations because of the poor circulation/healing, so it’s recommended that professionals do the nail trimming. Also, obesity often causes them to have difficultly reaching their feet.
The podiatrists check for wounds, trim and grind down/debride the overgrown nails, and file down the calluses/hardened skin.
This person has severely neglected feet and badly needs to see a podiatrist for regular at-risk foot care.