Like a lot of things, it was a joke until people who were not in on the joke started adopting it seriously, and then it somehow kind of merged under the broad "conservative-adjacent" political umbrella. Just like anti-vaxxers, anti-public schoolers, flat earthers, QAnon, and so on. They start out as tongue in cheek jokes, then a few people start saying "Wait, I believe this!" and inevitably they're welcomed into the funny farm with open arms.
I think you may have this a bit backwards and there’s some conflation going on between real social phenomena and people who find those phenomena too ridiculous to believe and decide to make jokes about it.
I can assure you the basis for the home schoolers, anti-vaxxers, and raw milk consumers wasn’t some joke. They came from disgraced scientists, church leaders, quack doctors, etc.
I’m not saying there has never in history been a joke that directly led to a conspiracy theory or social movement, but the history of many of these things is pretty well documented and several of the categories you mentioned have origins in the 70s/80s.
While I personally think the sale of raw milk is fine as long as adequate monitoring, audits and warning labels are in place, this was very much a serious political phenomenon and I’m not sure how you missed it
> (The Iowa vote broke almost perfectly along party lines with nearly all Republicans in favor and only a handful of Democrats defecting to their side.) And it’s not just in Iowa. Montana, North Dakota, Alaska, Georgia and Wyoming all have passed laws (or changed regulations) since 2020 legalizing the sale of raw milk on farms or in stores.
Not so sure about this…raw milk was absolutely a thing in the community I grew up in (ultra conservative, ultra religious, anti-vax, anti-regulation).
I don’t think most people were aware of this until it made the rounds on social media, but even if some people are joking, it’s a real thing.
Like a lot of things, it was a joke until people who were not in on the joke started adopting it seriously, and then it somehow kind of merged under the broad "conservative-adjacent" political umbrella. Just like anti-vaxxers, anti-public schoolers, flat earthers, QAnon, and so on. They start out as tongue in cheek jokes, then a few people start saying "Wait, I believe this!" and inevitably they're welcomed into the funny farm with open arms.
And these jokes started back in the 80s?
I think you may have this a bit backwards and there’s some conflation going on between real social phenomena and people who find those phenomena too ridiculous to believe and decide to make jokes about it.
I can assure you the basis for the home schoolers, anti-vaxxers, and raw milk consumers wasn’t some joke. They came from disgraced scientists, church leaders, quack doctors, etc.
I’m not saying there has never in history been a joke that directly led to a conspiracy theory or social movement, but the history of many of these things is pretty well documented and several of the categories you mentioned have origins in the 70s/80s.
While I personally think the sale of raw milk is fine as long as adequate monitoring, audits and warning labels are in place, this was very much a serious political phenomenon and I’m not sure how you missed it
> (The Iowa vote broke almost perfectly along party lines with nearly all Republicans in favor and only a handful of Democrats defecting to their side.) And it’s not just in Iowa. Montana, North Dakota, Alaska, Georgia and Wyoming all have passed laws (or changed regulations) since 2020 legalizing the sale of raw milk on farms or in stores.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/10/the-alt-ri...