Facebook comment sections are the toilets of society

[Quixote1818]

Came across a video post where this lady was washing her vegetables with 11.5 ph water to get the pesticides off better than regular water. I was expecting the video to be total BS so I googled it and to my surprise she was right. So I start looking at the comment section and 90% of the post are quoting their Jr. HS knowledge of chemistry and calling her stupid. So I posted an article and the peer review research paper that back up her claim and was stunned at how many people still attacked my response with their Jr. High understanding of Science. I am personally not going to use 11.5 ph water to clean my vegetables but technically the lady was correct and not "stupid". Hopefully it's just the comment sections that is filled with these folks who have knee jerk reactions and don't take a few minutes to look up the published research. I changed my mind when I saw the actual research. It's amazing how proud people are of their own ignorance and are not willing to change their mind when presented with new data. Here are the two links I posted: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/expert-says-youve-been-washing-20223275 And a link to the actual Peer Reviewed paper on the subject the article mentions: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6388112/?fbclid=IwAR0heGShjc8oeB9dK2bXmcTVJAQvGXObi2ozxoaupxGJpL2KnIBGUerwcxQ

[sakabatou]

1. Which is why I don't try to look at the FB comment section.

[Kaleva]

2. Gardeners can be pretty vicious

I'll read the comments section of YouTube videos and some are pretty opinionated and don't hold back telling the YouTuber how wrong he or she is.

[LeftInTX]

15. Hee-hee!

[Duppers]

3. For the most part, imho, FB is toxic...

But the main reason I left is because I don't have time for FB and DU.
And the fact that a person I'd never met went on a marathon messaging me and I was too much of a softie to block her.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. The best part of FB is how easy it is to remove someone.

I have to be on there because of my business. Otherwise, I would never go there.

[Sympthsical]

4. Just don't drink it

Alkaline water is good for cleaning, oily stains, degreasing, etc. And yes, it will wash off pesticides that are oil based. But the food should then be thoroughly rinsed with regular water.

However, there's a lot of woo out there about alkaline water up to and including drinking it to cure . . . whatever the problem seems to be. Our digestive system needs our acids, and people have mucked themselves up from drinking the stuff.

Not saying you're recommending that. It's just a PSA I always give whenever I see the high pH water topic.

[LeftInTX]

6. I don't understand this alkaline water thing

Last edited Wed Jul 27, 2022, 03:14 PM - Edit history (1)

The pH of the water where I live is 8.5. Why would someone pay for it? It's god awful too. It's full of lime and mucks everything up. It also kills plants!

[Sympthsical]

11. The scale is algorithmic

So 11.5 is a lot more basic than 8.5.

However, a basic solution more or less acts like a very strong soap. That's why your fingers get slippery whenever you handle something basic - it's breaking down the natural oils on your skin and will dry it right out. Ammonia cleaner is a pH of around 10, just to give you an idea of how strong a base 11.5 is.

It does have legitimate external uses. Usually to clean oils off things, which is where the OP's pesticide stuff comes in. But so much woo surrounds the idea, that you see it being recommended for all kinds of crazy. People who think at home treatments messing with their blood pH is a great idea. Not to mention throwing your stomach and digestive acids all out of wack.

But yeah, washing oils off something, go nuts. Just rinse so you're not ingesting it.

[LeftInTX]

14. Apparently straight chlorox has a pH of 11

However, straight chlorox can cause significant burns to oral mucosa.
A 10% solution is recommended for washing vegetables.

It seems oral mucosa is more sensitive to alkaline than acidic.

I have Sjogren's Syndrome and can't handle anything soapy near my mouth, but I'm fine with a straight vitamin C tablet.

[PJMcK]

7. Stay off Facebook

It’ll improve your state of mind.

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. They don't worry about being wrong because they are sure they are right.

[edhopper]

10. Facebook is fine

if you stick to only friends.
Post for the general public are not worthwhile.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. Facebook doesn't have comments sections

People comment on posts or on existing comments. Any jerks who invade my FB feed and leave jerk comments get banned. My FB friends do the same.

[dwayneb]

13. Been reading this mindless garbage since the days of "bulletin boards"

Go to Reddit or City Data or Facebook or Twitter and it's easy to confirm that many in this country have lost their critical thinking skills, if they ever had them.

This was obvious from Day 1 of the Internet and the WWW.

It's a combo of that, and the anonymity which allows people to openly be assholes.

[LeftInTX]

16. At a pH of 11.5, the solution will soak into produce like lettuce and strawberries.

It may be safe for oranges and avocados, but high pH products destroys the cuticle of many plants and the solution enters directly into the plant cells.

So, while this may get rid of pesticides, once the highly alkaline product has penetrated the plant tissues, you cannot wash it off.

The peer reviewed study does not mention whether the produce could be consumed afterwards. How would the strawberries taste now that the citric acid in them has been neutralized?

[eppur_se_muova]

17. I've long thought of it as Cessbook.

If I haven't mentioned that here before, it's because I prefer not to mention it at all. I'm not a Cessbook user/member/whatever; never have been. Hated the name the first time I heard it -- sounds dehumanizing.

[live love laugh]

18. FB is a cesspool.

The better parts -- are actually the people engaging in self absorbed picture displays and braggadocio. The worst is the political areas. There are brigades of people who post inane and vile comments and are never flagged but who will “REPORT” those who oppose their stupidity. There’s little rhyme or reason to people being put in FB “jail” over and over without explanation but the likelihood of that happening increases exponentially if you refute RW lies and commentary. The things that I saw that I even reported were too vile to even describe and FB never touched those posts. That’s why I left years ago during Obama’s term.