Milk and cream beat diplomatic expertise any day
Ben and Jerry’s is at it again. One might think that the international furor that followed the venerable Vermont company’s decision not to sell its product in the West Bank would have ended its interest in politics. Hardly so. Now it’s President Biden in the sights of Ben and Jerry’s for trying to stand tough on Ukraine. When the president made the decision to reinforce US troops in Europe, Ben and Jerry’s tweeted:
You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. ⁰⁰We call on President Biden to de-escalate tensions and work for peace rather than prepare for war. ⁰⁰Sending thousands more US troops to Europe in response to Russia’s threats against Ukraine only fans the flame of war.
— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) February 4, 2022
Put aside, for a moment, Ben and Jerry’s failure to understand that preparedness is essential in geopolitics, be it in diplomacy or in war. Often, preparedness for war is the best way of avoiding war. Exhibit A: the Cold War. Both the US and the USSR were prepared for war, and no war came.
With its tweet, B&J’s demonstrates once again its ignorance in international relations.
It criticizes President Biden — who no doubt considers innocent Ukrainians in addition to European security — for taking sensible steps in response to Russian brinkmanship. It is Russian President Putin who has Ukraine in the crosshairs. It was Russian agents who likely poisoned a Ukrainian candidate for president. It is Russia who annexed Crimea. It is Russia who brought down an airliner over Ukraine. It is Russia that is amassing troops on Ukraine’s eastern border and, at least as of this writing, seems set on invading.
Yet, B&J’s piles on President Biden.
Turns out, it wasn’t just Israel that B&J’s didn’t know a lot about, it’s foreign and international relations in general. No surprise here. After all, this is an ice cream company, not a think tank. How does an ice cream company make informed pronouncements on foreign policy?
It’s part of a larger, troubling trend. Everybody thinks he is an expert. We have here another casualty of the internet, which brings unparalleled access to information, which people confuse for understanding. Add to that the never-ending cycle of social media commentary, and what we are left with is not only the ubiquitous impulse to comment on everything, but the illusion of a keen understanding of complex issues.
The Jewish community experienced this recently with Whoopi Goldberg’s ignorant observations on the Holocaust. Anyone can make an ill-informed statement. What is remarkable is that when Goldberg was confronted by her lack of knowledge, she at first doubled down. She could not simply say, “It appears that I don’t fully understand this subject. I would like to learn more before I comment further.”
This kind of humility is no longer in vogue in today’s cacophony of talking heads, Twitter handles and other venues for ignorance. Congresspeople talking about the gazpacho police — it’s all part of the pattern. We do credit Goldberg for eventually acknowledging the inaccuracy of her initial comments.
Back to Ben and Jerry’s. Like the rest of us, we assume its board of directors is deeply concerned about the situation in Eastern Ukraine and fears the loss of life and destabilization that would come with a Russian invasion. But if the B&J’s board is not deeply knowledgeable of international security — which, perusing its board members’ biographies, hardly seems to be the case — why not just keep quiet? Why not humility?
Indeed, Unilever’s chief executive, Alan Jope, allowed that after his subsidiary company’s incendiary tweet, “[On] subjects where Unilever brands don’t have expertise or credibility, it is best to stay out of the debate.” Really! No less than King Solomon said (in paraphrase): “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
Though the geopolitics in Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine are different, Ben and Jerry’s reaction to both reveals a common thread — lack of depth. In both cases, the ice cream company fails to comprehend the nuances of the conflict and the contributing roles of all the various parties. Instead, it simplistically defaults to “Big, bad Israel” or “Big, bad America.” Russia, with its 120,000 troops, is not making war; the US, with its 10,000 troops, is. Such is the trope common in progressive political circles, of which B&J’s is a card carrying member. That kind of thinking (if that is the word) undermines B&J’s attempt to be taken seriously on political matters.
Despite noise on social media, the difficult political decisions, whether on Israel or Ukraine, are typically taken by well-informed State Department officials. They do not always get it right, that’s for sure. But we would rather have them make the tough calls instead of the dealers in milk and cream.
Copyright © 2022 by the Intermountain Jewish News
