Dairy farmer here, who fought this crap off when we still didnt know what it was.

Bird flu contaminated raw milk in cats, yeah it will kill the shit out of them. Its what helped us figure out what it was in the first place. Nothing confirmed so far as humans being infected from consumption that i am aware of currently, but i personally wouldnt try it.

The dairy workers that got bird flu. It was pinkeye that popped positive for h5. Probably splashback from either milk or fecal. It wasnt really a big deal other than conjunctivitis sucks.

But if you drink raw milk, you are playing russian roulette as patient zero at this point. Dont do it.

You know. Its interesting. Like… really interesting. And sobering.

Reading history books about the rise of the nazis and the reich, and you ask yourself, “how could they have not known what was going on?” and “how could they let these things happen?” What were they doing just standing around? Why did they let this happen?

I understand that history is written by the victors. I understand that there is so much we will never know. There is nuance and circumstance and so many things that snowball into the most terrible things.

But now… im starting to understand the feeling of powerlessness now. The inability to change the machines that are in motion. The overwhelming dread.

I could make generalizations of the people of germany in the 1930s. But it would be disingenuous. And unnecessary. It feels like they are my neighbors now in 2025. They are angry, or apathetic, or ignorant. And the machine and history does not care about them in the slightest. History will be written by the winner and we are all going to be a broad generalization of what happens next. Your experiences will be written off as a success for the new order, or as a failure. If it is written at all.

History doesnt teach you to dwell on the minutiae and routines of the common man. It doesnt teach you that, despite everything you may do or what you believe, or how much you loathe the actions of your leaders, that you have so little sway. That you are powerless and ineffective.

I feel that and understand that now.

History books in school taught us the wrong lesson i think. But i dont think that we can learn this experience from a book or documentary. If it could, we would not be repeating it now.

As a dairy farmer myself, im paying extreem attention to all of this. Ive been paying attention to it since we found out about it a year ago. Our response has been absolute garbage and ill be one of the first to call out our absolutely shitty response. Im on the front lines right now. We have not dealt with this problem with the seriousness and attention it deserves.

That being said, this comment chain feels wierd. Like, the discourse im seeing is setting off real red flags right now for me. Im not so sure that lemmy is as secure as i expected it to be.

Im still here and will stay here, but something doesnt feel right about our conversation in this thread right now.