retweeted a statistic about how the vast majority of dairy-related illnesses are due to raw dairy products

(probably the trendy ones, drunk by hipsters and science-haters, rather than, you know, actual dairy farmers or small-holders drinking the stuff in their ranch houses, because with their knowledge they’re highly unlikely to poison themselves, amirite)

and now people on social media are telling me dumb shit about how ‘all factory farmed milk has pus in it!’ (no, it doesn’t, because ‘pus’ isn’t a thing) and ‘nobody ever got sick from raw milk!’ (lol, clearly not true, bro) and pasteurization kills essential nutrition and

OMG THE STUPID

not only do we know that raw dairy, improperly handled, which is super likely when the market is so far from the consumer, makes people sick, but

it takes literally fractions of a second to learn about the modern dairy industry’s checks and balances (here’s a single example about how romantic notions about milk are wrong) plus,

WHOA THE FDA EXISTS

Ye fuckin’ gawds i just can’t

EVEN

the chiropractics

the naturopathics

the anti-vax

the vegans and smoothie-drinkers and pseudo-yoga practitioners (yoga is a method of enlightenment, not an exercise regime, for fuck’s sake)

the ‘cure cancer with alkaline diets’ crazies…

WHY ARE WE SO WILLING TO BE DUMB WHEN WE HAVE SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE

yes, i’d love absolutely fresh diary, i guess. if i had a cow or goat and milked her myself, well, i’d drink it unpasteurized, if i had total control over the entire supply chain, from her udder to my face

(but seriously, i don’t want to breed them every season or two and figure out what to do with the calves or kids and i know from my aunt that quadrupeds are not inexpensive to keep healthy and i live in a fucking uptown apartment so the odds of my ever having access to FRESH raw milk is NONE)

and if i left the pail out in the sun for half an hour while fucking with my laundry or some shit, i’d probably heat it before consuming it, because fuck puking, really

…but commercial raw dairy? even from earnest, small producers? um, not so much. i prefer my milk pasteurized and unhomogenized. because even earnest, small producers cannot guarantee that their milk is held in perfect conditions at all times, from the teat to my fridge, unless they bring the shit to my house themselves.

when there’s a simple, effective method for killing any potential contaminants that does not measurably alter milk’s nutrients, why not use it?

oh, but MUSH, heating the milk destroys the nutrition!

does it, then? um, no. no, there’s no evidence that’s true, meaningfully. i mean, maybe someday there will be methods for proving that supposition, but today, no. the money’s on not poisoning yourself when you don’t have to.

plus, what’s wrong with heating the stuff? don’t we heat our milk more often than not, using it in coffee, in recipes?