"A defining feature of MAGA is a view of everything through the lens of individuality. It’s not about how one can help the community, it’s only about how one can help themselves."
Emily you have succinctly summed up the mindset I see in people today. It still shocks me how many people cannot see beyond the end of their own nose. Would have never guessed raw milk would make that list. I can't tolerate milk unless it's the fat free or skim that is basically water.
It feels very reminiscent of some of their thoughts around Covid. “I got it and didn’t die, so what’s the big deal?!” . The denial is incredible and Emily does hit the nail on the head with their mindset. I actually had a nephew and his wife say those words about Covid last weekend. My reply? We actually know someone personally who died, so you’re wrong. I just got blank stares. There’s no empathy at all for others and that’s something Oprah’s first podcast guest touched on…when you lack the ability to feel sadness for what someone has gone through, you lose the ability to have empathy. I think we are seeing more and more of that and it’s sad and very scary.
Yes, this exactly. I recently read another piece that essentially said that Trump gives people permission to care only about themselves and no one else. CNN posted a clip right after the election of a Latina Trump voter stating this very plainly when asked about his immigration policy: she said she didn't care about anyone else as long as she and her friends had good lives.
I also find it telling about the politics of all this MAHA energy that the things rising to the top aren't that positively impactful on public health (or even an individual's health) in the grand scheme of issues we're facing.
I have two boys who play hockey, and I feel like the MAHA priorities (dyes, raw milk) are like trying to be a better hockey player by sharpening your skates. I mean... that helps, I guess? ... but that's not the hard work that drives meaningful improvement.
For MAHA, hard work looks like stronger regulations against pesticides, less pollution from fossil fuels, fewer microplastics in everything, addressing PFAS, healthier soil, etc... -- those are all priorities that go up against Big Oil (and align with climate activists). That MAHA is only willing to get loud about itty bitty identity issues that can easily be displayed on social media (as Emily mentions) should be telling. And we KNOW they're not touching Big Oil; that's political suicide.
I understand why the political forces are weaponizing this, but why are so many genuinely-concerned people falling for it? Why do so many people not see the forest for trees?
I drank raw milk back in the early 2000s, when I visited a farm in upstate NY where you could watch the milk go from cow to bottle. Raw milk can be safe and healthy if you know and trust the producer. It’s still a risk but a smaller, more carefully made choice. The movement for raw milk RFK Jr. and supporters are pushing is really just tapping into a misplaced nostalgia for some idealized past that can’t be recreated and was problematic to begin with (just like Trump does). We don’t live in small communities where we know our farmers, and the scale of farming today is incompatible with idea of deregulating foods. Selling raw milk across state lines? Without testing? It’s a recipe for disaster. This is why pasteurization became so important to public health. The problem with RFK Jr. is that he’s raising the concerns many people have about the quality of our foods, changes in eating patterns, and the role that gut bacteria plays in our health. These are questions many scientists are starting to ask too. It’s not wrong. What’s wrong is the way he uses it to gain a cult like following where people are unquestioningly listening to someone who actually has no expertise at all. He and Trump are so similar in their ability to tap into these kinds of issues and use them to their benefit with little concern for the consequences.
Well said! I too had a raw milk stage. A friend of mine who grew up on a dairy farm drank raw milk all the time... from his own (dad's) cows. You hit the nail on the head with nostalgia. They want to go back to a time when raw milk was probably safe or at least much safer, but ...it's not. Buying raw milk is just not the same as actually knowing the dairy cows.
Also, as Emily pointed out, fermented or cultured products made from raw milk (yogurt, kefir, cheese) can be quite safe and delicious... because the process of making them deals with bacteria. Before refrigeration, this is how almost everyone consumed almost all their dairy, because they had to, but that's why it was safe.
This is a really good piece. Also screaming internally as I read. My conservative, far right mother mocked Michelle Obama when she tried to make kids’ school lunches healthier then jumped on the RFK Jr. wellness bandwagon so fast. It legitimately creeped me out when I saw it happening.
Raw milk is also a source of Tuberculosis. I’d really like to keep us from reintroducing a mostly eradicated illness back into our population.
If RFK Jr actually makes it to a confirmation hearing, I want every democratic senator to bring up what he did to the people of American Samoa. Causing a measles outbreak that killed 83 people is no joke.
Great explainer! It is WILD to me how quickly raw milk went from fringe to mainstream and a political lightning rod. My 97-year-old grandmother grew up on a farm and always said "we always heated up the milk." Btw, she walked all of her 1st graders down the street to get the Salk vaccine when it came out!
Yes! My mom said they all lined up in school to get the polio vaccine even though it made a scar! (which is how they knew who'd gotten it) Because they all knew someone who'd had polio
Great piece!! Never thought of it that way! A part of me is in the mindset of “F*** around and find out” for the majority of his supporters. This is just one case. If people wanna drink raw milk, let them, and then let them be incredibly ill. It’s the people who feed that to their children that I am the most concerned about because those children don’t have a choice.
I have dairy-farming ancestors who died from tuberculosis, brucellosis, and dysentery contracted from raw milk. I'll never understand why so many people think going back to those days is a good idea. It's hard to be a "chill girl" when you have uncontrollable bloody diarrhea, but I guess it's worth it when you're a content creator in desperate need of likes and shares.
It's a perfect storm. The state of Healthcare in this country does suck. It does drag people into the wellness sphere looking for alternative answers. Also, social media has destroyed people's ability to understand fact from fiction. It's too easy to discredit scientists because science is always evolving. We don't teach enough critical thinking skills in schools, never mind enough history. Which all leads to conspiratorial thinking and easy acceptance of charismatic leaders. Scary stuff.
audibly cackled when you said "I think what these people are looking for is yogurt."
also, loved/hated to see the red Me & McGee Market graphic made the substack....that's a local to me market i used to love until they started going buck wild about the raw milk after someone reported them to the health department for selling it. on their posts, they are really digging in to the "health" of it all and how they are pushing back on "big food" and saying "Your government believes that as an adult, you are too stupid to make informed decisions about what you eat. You can feed your children toxic food like formula filled with carcinogenic preservatives, sweeteners, and dyes, yet somehow, raw milk from local farmers is portrayed as a public menace." and on one hand, i understand the sentiment of that second part! I see how the MAHA movement is compelling! but we're COMPLETELY missing the forest for the trees here, and the people they are trusting to fix these issues are going to make everything so, so much worse. Why does it have to be RAW MILK??? Why can't we focus on the damage of something important like ALL THE CARS AND GUNS???
The saddest part is watching it all happen. Watching these people potentially sicken their families. I Feel like the next four years is full of “wait and see what happens!”
These health food kicks seem to run in cycles with people believing anecdotal stories rather than science and data. I’m a child of the 60’s and 70’s. My mom went through a natural food phase when I was a teen in the 70’s. We lived in Medford, OR where rural areas and farms and dairies were right next to or in the cities. We drank raw milk, ate nuts, granola and carob and a lot of cheese from small dairies. You really have to trust the sanitation systems for raw milk. We have been sold so much conflicting information around food over the decades it’s ridiculous.
RFK is a nut. I had asthma a lot as a kid. In the mid sixties, before regular vaccines, I had the measles, mumps and asthma/bronchitis all at the same time. I was very sick and could have died. In the early 70’s I had chicken pox and again was very sick. I knew people who had paralysis from polio.
Raising my kids in the 90’s we vaccinated them with everything available. I’ve never believed in the chicken pox or measles parties where you expose your kids so they get the illness and immunity. Why would you do that and risk death or long term consequences? You don’t know how your kid will respond and kids have died from chickenpox and there are long term effects to the virus (shingles.) Why would you risk giving your kid E. coli from raw milk and risk death or organ shutdowns?
My sister’s first experience gave her genital warts which gave her irregular cervix cells later in life. I was first in line for HPV vaccines for my kids.
I don’t know, but maybe because consequences to diseases are so mythical or not part of their history or family stories, people just decide to risk it, to their and their kids detriment. Maybe WWII is so distant and education about the horrors of the holocaust are so glossed over and nonexistent, people are fine with the fascism and many are just walking into it happily and willingly.
It’s horrifying what people are willingly accepting and believing.
It feels very timely that I just dropped my kiddo off at school and drove past a local food truck having a “raw milk” shake pop-up!
Of MAGA note…The food truck is owned by a gal married to Calley Means and yesterday, her sister-in-law, Casey Means, was there for day one of the pop up handing out their recent book…
I wouldn’t be opposed to MAGA ideas and alternative facts if it only hurt them, and not the rest of America that has common sense and/or is willing to do the research for the FACTS.
"A defining feature of MAGA is a view of everything through the lens of individuality. It’s not about how one can help the community, it’s only about how one can help themselves."
Emily you have succinctly summed up the mindset I see in people today. It still shocks me how many people cannot see beyond the end of their own nose. Would have never guessed raw milk would make that list. I can't tolerate milk unless it's the fat free or skim that is basically water.
It feels very reminiscent of some of their thoughts around Covid. “I got it and didn’t die, so what’s the big deal?!” . The denial is incredible and Emily does hit the nail on the head with their mindset. I actually had a nephew and his wife say those words about Covid last weekend. My reply? We actually know someone personally who died, so you’re wrong. I just got blank stares. There’s no empathy at all for others and that’s something Oprah’s first podcast guest touched on…when you lack the ability to feel sadness for what someone has gone through, you lose the ability to have empathy. I think we are seeing more and more of that and it’s sad and very scary.
Agreed. That sums it all up.
Yes, this exactly. I recently read another piece that essentially said that Trump gives people permission to care only about themselves and no one else. CNN posted a clip right after the election of a Latina Trump voter stating this very plainly when asked about his immigration policy: she said she didn't care about anyone else as long as she and her friends had good lives.
I also find it telling about the politics of all this MAHA energy that the things rising to the top aren't that positively impactful on public health (or even an individual's health) in the grand scheme of issues we're facing.
I have two boys who play hockey, and I feel like the MAHA priorities (dyes, raw milk) are like trying to be a better hockey player by sharpening your skates. I mean... that helps, I guess? ... but that's not the hard work that drives meaningful improvement.
For MAHA, hard work looks like stronger regulations against pesticides, less pollution from fossil fuels, fewer microplastics in everything, addressing PFAS, healthier soil, etc... -- those are all priorities that go up against Big Oil (and align with climate activists). That MAHA is only willing to get loud about itty bitty identity issues that can easily be displayed on social media (as Emily mentions) should be telling. And we KNOW they're not touching Big Oil; that's political suicide.
I understand why the political forces are weaponizing this, but why are so many genuinely-concerned people falling for it? Why do so many people not see the forest for trees?
I drank raw milk back in the early 2000s, when I visited a farm in upstate NY where you could watch the milk go from cow to bottle. Raw milk can be safe and healthy if you know and trust the producer. It’s still a risk but a smaller, more carefully made choice. The movement for raw milk RFK Jr. and supporters are pushing is really just tapping into a misplaced nostalgia for some idealized past that can’t be recreated and was problematic to begin with (just like Trump does). We don’t live in small communities where we know our farmers, and the scale of farming today is incompatible with idea of deregulating foods. Selling raw milk across state lines? Without testing? It’s a recipe for disaster. This is why pasteurization became so important to public health. The problem with RFK Jr. is that he’s raising the concerns many people have about the quality of our foods, changes in eating patterns, and the role that gut bacteria plays in our health. These are questions many scientists are starting to ask too. It’s not wrong. What’s wrong is the way he uses it to gain a cult like following where people are unquestioningly listening to someone who actually has no expertise at all. He and Trump are so similar in their ability to tap into these kinds of issues and use them to their benefit with little concern for the consequences.
Well said! I too had a raw milk stage. A friend of mine who grew up on a dairy farm drank raw milk all the time... from his own (dad's) cows. You hit the nail on the head with nostalgia. They want to go back to a time when raw milk was probably safe or at least much safer, but ...it's not. Buying raw milk is just not the same as actually knowing the dairy cows.
Also, as Emily pointed out, fermented or cultured products made from raw milk (yogurt, kefir, cheese) can be quite safe and delicious... because the process of making them deals with bacteria. Before refrigeration, this is how almost everyone consumed almost all their dairy, because they had to, but that's why it was safe.
This is a really good piece. Also screaming internally as I read. My conservative, far right mother mocked Michelle Obama when she tried to make kids’ school lunches healthier then jumped on the RFK Jr. wellness bandwagon so fast. It legitimately creeped me out when I saw it happening.
Raw milk is also a source of Tuberculosis. I’d really like to keep us from reintroducing a mostly eradicated illness back into our population.
If RFK Jr actually makes it to a confirmation hearing, I want every democratic senator to bring up what he did to the people of American Samoa. Causing a measles outbreak that killed 83 people is no joke.
Great explainer! It is WILD to me how quickly raw milk went from fringe to mainstream and a political lightning rod. My 97-year-old grandmother grew up on a farm and always said "we always heated up the milk." Btw, she walked all of her 1st graders down the street to get the Salk vaccine when it came out!
Yes! My mom said they all lined up in school to get the polio vaccine even though it made a scar! (which is how they knew who'd gotten it) Because they all knew someone who'd had polio
Louis Pasteur must be rolling over in his grave.
Great piece!! Never thought of it that way! A part of me is in the mindset of “F*** around and find out” for the majority of his supporters. This is just one case. If people wanna drink raw milk, let them, and then let them be incredibly ill. It’s the people who feed that to their children that I am the most concerned about because those children don’t have a choice.
and the people they spread that flu to 🫠
I have dairy-farming ancestors who died from tuberculosis, brucellosis, and dysentery contracted from raw milk. I'll never understand why so many people think going back to those days is a good idea. It's hard to be a "chill girl" when you have uncontrollable bloody diarrhea, but I guess it's worth it when you're a content creator in desperate need of likes and shares.
It's a perfect storm. The state of Healthcare in this country does suck. It does drag people into the wellness sphere looking for alternative answers. Also, social media has destroyed people's ability to understand fact from fiction. It's too easy to discredit scientists because science is always evolving. We don't teach enough critical thinking skills in schools, never mind enough history. Which all leads to conspiratorial thinking and easy acceptance of charismatic leaders. Scary stuff.
audibly cackled when you said "I think what these people are looking for is yogurt."
also, loved/hated to see the red Me & McGee Market graphic made the substack....that's a local to me market i used to love until they started going buck wild about the raw milk after someone reported them to the health department for selling it. on their posts, they are really digging in to the "health" of it all and how they are pushing back on "big food" and saying "Your government believes that as an adult, you are too stupid to make informed decisions about what you eat. You can feed your children toxic food like formula filled with carcinogenic preservatives, sweeteners, and dyes, yet somehow, raw milk from local farmers is portrayed as a public menace." and on one hand, i understand the sentiment of that second part! I see how the MAHA movement is compelling! but we're COMPLETELY missing the forest for the trees here, and the people they are trusting to fix these issues are going to make everything so, so much worse. Why does it have to be RAW MILK??? Why can't we focus on the damage of something important like ALL THE CARS AND GUNS???
The saddest part is watching it all happen. Watching these people potentially sicken their families. I Feel like the next four years is full of “wait and see what happens!”
These health food kicks seem to run in cycles with people believing anecdotal stories rather than science and data. I’m a child of the 60’s and 70’s. My mom went through a natural food phase when I was a teen in the 70’s. We lived in Medford, OR where rural areas and farms and dairies were right next to or in the cities. We drank raw milk, ate nuts, granola and carob and a lot of cheese from small dairies. You really have to trust the sanitation systems for raw milk. We have been sold so much conflicting information around food over the decades it’s ridiculous.
RFK is a nut. I had asthma a lot as a kid. In the mid sixties, before regular vaccines, I had the measles, mumps and asthma/bronchitis all at the same time. I was very sick and could have died. In the early 70’s I had chicken pox and again was very sick. I knew people who had paralysis from polio.
Raising my kids in the 90’s we vaccinated them with everything available. I’ve never believed in the chicken pox or measles parties where you expose your kids so they get the illness and immunity. Why would you do that and risk death or long term consequences? You don’t know how your kid will respond and kids have died from chickenpox and there are long term effects to the virus (shingles.) Why would you risk giving your kid E. coli from raw milk and risk death or organ shutdowns?
My sister’s first experience gave her genital warts which gave her irregular cervix cells later in life. I was first in line for HPV vaccines for my kids.
I don’t know, but maybe because consequences to diseases are so mythical or not part of their history or family stories, people just decide to risk it, to their and their kids detriment. Maybe WWII is so distant and education about the horrors of the holocaust are so glossed over and nonexistent, people are fine with the fascism and many are just walking into it happily and willingly.
It’s horrifying what people are willingly accepting and believing.
If they this is the hill they want to die on (pun intended) then so be it!
It feels very timely that I just dropped my kiddo off at school and drove past a local food truck having a “raw milk” shake pop-up!
Of MAGA note…The food truck is owned by a gal married to Calley Means and yesterday, her sister-in-law, Casey Means, was there for day one of the pop up handing out their recent book…
I wouldn’t be opposed to MAGA ideas and alternative facts if it only hurt them, and not the rest of America that has common sense and/or is willing to do the research for the FACTS.