PETA's attempt to scare dairy lovers off milk with white supremacy link falls flat: 'Have you gone insane?'
White supremacists have apparently been drinking a lot of milk lately, and PETA isn’t impressed.
The social media trend is linked to research regarding lactose digestion and race, per the New York Times, that’s been largely distorted by white supremacists, who have taken to chugging milk in public and using milk emojis to celebrate the apparent connection.
Now, animal rights organization PETA is using the opportunity to make an even bigger — and some say far-fetched — connection, in a new blog post, between the milk industry and humans who feel supremacy over animals.
“Aside from ‘lactose-tolerant’ white supremacists, cow’s milk really is the perfect drink of choice for all (even unwitting) supremacists, since the dairy industry inflicts extreme violence on other living beings,” the blog post says. It goes on to explain some basics of the dairy industry: “Like all mammals, cows produce milk only during and after pregnancy, so roughly every nine months, cows on dairy farms are forcibly impregnated so that their milk production will continue,” the post notes. “Their babies are taken away immediately after birth, and the mothers are re-impregnated as soon as possible.” Male calves, it explains, will then typically become veal, while female calves are entered into the same production cycle as their mothers.
Still, people are not having PETA’s logic on Twitter, calling it “crazy,” “a parody,” and “pure wackiness”:
I’m white and I’m lactose intolerant, does that still make me a white supremacist? Do people of color who drink milk suddenly become white supremacists?
— Seamus Donnelly (@seamusirishman) October 24, 2018
Have you gone insane @PETA? Drinking 'White' milk is a symbol of 'White Supremacy'? Please do some Yoga headstands and pray for your idiocy to drain out of your ears. https://t.co/j3MwcpETxP
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) October 23, 2018
So you agree…white supremacists have a history of consuming milk to prove their ethnic superiority. pic.twitter.com/HfRlaehBbE
— Vote🙏Tuesday🙏11/6/18 (@aridcarrot) October 24, 2018
White people and their *shuffles deck, pulls card* .. milk consumption! https://t.co/WTmkDry9jc
— Kaitlin Bennett (@KaitMarieox) October 22, 2018
I am #LiterallyShaking with RAGE I always KNEW milk was RACIST it’s TOO WHITE we need to destroy all white milk NOW #resistwhitemilk #chocolatemilkmatters #rage #orangemanBAD pic.twitter.com/ZFMMzWyYGK
— 👁 (@therealmcjerkk) October 23, 2018
Julie Upton, registered dietician and co-founder of nutrition website Appetite for Health, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that cow’s milk is nutrient-rich. “A serving (8 ounces) provides more than 30 percent of your daily calcium requirements, but also magnesium, potassium, and vitamin D, other nutrients important for bone health,” she points out, adding that it’s a great source of protein and vitamin A.
That said, Upton notes, “Dairy is unnecessary for adults — you can get the same nutrients through careful selection of foods that are high in calcium, vitamins A and D, magnesium, and potassium. One easy way to do that is to look for plant-based milk alternatives that are calcium fortified. Not all are.”
As for PETA’s attempt to change minds through its hard-to-follow white-supremacy logic? So far, it doesn’t seem to be working. “PETA,” tweeted one critic, “has lost their minds.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.