Ben & Jerry's Integrity Problem

You would think after the glaring examples of Bud Light and Target Stores this spring that companies would think again about wading into the woke waters of social activism. The collapse of those two brands in a matter of months should lead most companies to think a little more clearly. 

Ben & Jerry’s is not like most companies.

The namesake partners are holdout hippies who profess activism for various causes, but when they are called upon to do what they are urging others to do---they fade like the sunflower in the fall. 

While most of America celebrated our freedom and liberty, Ben & Jerry's put out a message: 

"This 4th of July, it's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now." The tweet linked to a page on its website that explains further. 

The response the Leftists hippies got was not exactly what they expected.

Be informed, not misled.

Special Message for Washington State residents:

Please sign Referendum 101 if you have not yet done so. The purpose of this referendum is to overturn SB 5599. This is a link to the official website.

SB 5599 rebrands parents as abusers and hides kids from parents

KOMO News quoted Governor Inslee saying, “If a young person is totally estranged from their parents and has no meaningful relationship we need someone to care for that child and the way the legislation is set up is essentially, the Department of Children Youth and Families will step into that position to care for that child so you have someone looking out for their benefit,” Inslee said. “In the real world we want these kids to be protected and not homeless and that’s basically the reason for this bill.” 

✔️ False. Any runaway youth already has access to shelters. What the new law does is rebrand involved parents as abusers so that shelters and host homes can contact DCYF instead of the parents to notify families of their child’s whereabouts.

Do not believe the lie.

*****************

Do as I say, not as I do.

Ben & Jerry's continued: 

"Ah, the Fourth of July. Who doesn't love a good parade, some tasty barbecue, and a stirring fireworks display? The only problem with all that, though, is that it can distract from an essential truth about this nation's birth: The US was founded on stolen Indigenous land," the message says. "This year, let's commit to returning it."

Their message continued: 

Why are we talking about this? Because on the Fourth of July, many people in the US celebrate liberty and independence—our country’s and our own.

But what is the meaning of Independence Day for those whose land this country stole, those who were murdered and forced with brutal violence onto reservations, those who were pushed from their holy places and denied their freedom? The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights.

The Indigenous-led Land Back movement is all about restoring the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people. It’s about dismantling white supremacy and systems of oppression and ensuring that Indigenous people can again govern the land their communities called home for thousands of years. (Ben & Jerry's)

This 4th of July, it's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now: https://t.co/45smaBmORH pic.twitter.com/a6qp7LXUAE

— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 4, 2023

Once Ben and Jerry got that off their chest and directed the nation to give back all the land to the indigenous folks, they experienced a sense of virtue because they were advancing a cause they deeply believed in. 

They were calling on America to do the right thing.

In the prepared statement from the company, they call for the Black Hills area of South Dakota, where Mount Rushmore is located, to be the first of many properties to be handed back to the Sioux Tribes.  

The reckoning. 

As it turns out, the Native Americans don't want Mount Rushmore. They are asking Ben and Jerry to set an example by giving them any area under the purview of Ben & Jerry’s. Once you consider not just the plots where the factories operate, this company owns a significant amount of acreage. Still, all of the milk-producing farmland, and it is safe to bet that at least a few of their various ice cream shops littered across the landscape surely must intrude on tribal property.

Well…the parfait pair seem to have removed the spoons from their mouths and inserted their feet. 

A tribe in Vermont has accepted the proposal the ice cream makers made. Members of the Abenaki are rather keen on obtaining the land where Ben & Jerry’s headquarters is situated. 

Members of an indigenous tribe who are descendants of Native Americans have reportedly expressed interest in taking back the land now occupied by the popular ice cream makers Ben & Jerry's after the company made their virtue call for America to return "stolen" land.

Don Stevens, Chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation, tells Newsweek that his tribe is "always interested in reclaiming the stewardship of our lands." Still, the ice cream company has yet to contact them regarding the land its headquarters now sits on.

But I thought that was their goal for this year--- To return stolen land to the natives?

Things are never as they seem with the far Left. 

This is very revealing. 

Once again, we see activists rise up with a loud lecture, and the very moment their words are met with reality, they scurry off in silence. In honor of this move, they should issue one of their trademarked themed flavors: It could be a lemon and shellfish-flavored dish called Ben & Jerry’s Pucker and Clam Up!

This is not the only time the entrepreneurs have created a backlash. In 2020 they issued a letter of support for Black Lives Matter protests that were seen as divisive. It also has not aged well, as in that open, they called for President Trump to disavow white supremacists (he already had), promoted the discredited 1619 Project, and defund the police. 

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s also made a mess when it announced it was pulling its shops from the “occupied” West Bank in Israel. This ill-thought show of support for Palestine also meant that Palestinians could not obtain their product since they have no stores in that country, only in the region where they have access. But also, the move to remove the ice cream could not be made due to existing contracts in that area made by the parent company, Unilever.

Yes, that is correct; the upright and selfless pair sold out in 2000 to the multinational corporation, and through that agreement, Ben & Jerry’s maintains a standing board, one that oversees the company’s social activist programs – and one that serves as an ongoing headache for Unilever. Following the July 4 announcement this past week, Unilever had a bit of a sell-off of its stock, resulting from calls to boycott the ice cream brand.

It will be some time before we know if they meltdown and face a Bud Light-level of market resistance, but if they want to achieve that goal, they are off to a rousing start.

Unilever, their parent company, has already lost $2.5 billion since last Tuesday---the 4th of July.

Takeaway. 

Lying to the left is what breathing is to biological life. 

That is why the father of modern leftism, Vladimir Lenin, named the Soviet communist newspaper "Pravda," the Russian word for "truth." Truth is what a leftist says it is. It is not an objective reality.

That's the problem with Ben & Jerry's blabbering about giving back land to the natives. They don't believe a word of what they're saying.

The left has always relied on lies to gain and retain power. This is as true today in the United States as it was in the Soviet Union.

Here are some examples of lies from the Left that influence current national policies compiled by Real Clear Politics: 

• Men menstruate.
• It is fair when males who identify as females compete in girls and women's sports. 
• To be colorblind is to be racist. 
• The Trump 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to win the election. 
• President Donald Trump said there were "very fine" Nazis. 
• Donald Trump is a dictator. 
• America is a racist society.  

America was founded in 1619, not 1776.

This is the infamous New York Times lie for which the Times was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. This is the same prize awarded to the same newspaper in 1932 for its horrific lie that there was no famine in Ukraine when, in fact, Joseph Stalin was deliberately starving about 5 million Ukrainians to death. Leading liberal scholars of American history have condemned the Times' rewriting of American history -- that the American Revolution was fought in order to preserve slavery. 

The greatest lie: "Go ahead and eat the fruit, surely you will not die...you shall be as God."

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.