[email protected] Nov 26, 2003
In reply to that second e-mail, I suppose that Jane Pauley didn't regard the terrible rhinovirus that caused her cold as having any special male magnetism that she could feel drawn to. On the other hand, the rhinovirus itself did find the cells in Jane's upper respiratory tract attractive. That was all that mattered with respect to poor, dear Jane getting that cold!
Wouldn't it have made Jane feel better if Mr. Leno had only castigated and denounced those invasive rhinoviruses as "male predators"? Why, one wonders, did Mr. Leno fail to take that simple step which might have made our poor, suffering Jane feel so much better?
And may male readers beware and take heed. This incident, this breach of manners, may have been what led to the decision that a few years from now Mr. Leno is going to be replaced on the Tonight Show.
But let us try to put media frivolity aside. I don't want the reader to think that this entire article is simply supposed to be a joke.
It is true that in May of 2006, Dr. Dominique Missiakas had seemed slightly amused regarding the idea that all viruses are male. Bacteria were her speciality; she was a member of Dr. Schneewind's department at UChicago; and I was speaking to her on the phone. Amusement aside, she did agree that, from the perspective of a bacterium, viruses are indeed male.
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