Posted on 10/20/2005 10:06:42 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
When will trial lawyers dip their scoops into Ben & Jerry's?
STEPHEN MOORE
I've always prided myself on conscientiously avoiding funding anti-free-market liberal causes in America, so you won't ever catch me pouring Newman's Own oil-and-vinegar dressing on my salad. But I confess to an addiction to Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and the greatest flavor ever invented in ice-creamdom, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch.
So this weekend, while in Vermont to speak at the Freedom Fest sponsored by the Ethan Allen Institute, a conservative state think tank, I paid a visit to the world-famous Ben & Jerry's ice-cream factory.
To be in Vermont and not visit this landmark would be as unforgivable as visiting Rome and not going to the Colosseum. So I slapped down three bucks and waited in the gift shop where a pint of ice cream costs $3.99--which to me borders on price-gouging. (One of the supreme ironies of this socially conscious firm is that it is one of the best capitalists you'll ever come across.)
The tour itself is a 30-minute propaganda campaign explaining why the company's founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for their unwavering commitment to the environment and economic justice.
Meanwhile, their factory is a monument to the efficiencies of capitalism and technological progress: Several dozen giant computer-operated machines churn out hundreds of thousands of cartons a day. I half expect the massive energy-gulping freezers to be solar-paneled or powered by green-friendly windmills, but no, they use lots and lots of conventional electricity. It turns out that if you want really good ice cream, you just have to tolerate a little more global warming. That's a trade-off that I personally am willing to make.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Sorry Steve.
All Ben and Jerry's Blows.
The Worlds Best Ice Cream, and none of the Hypocrisy.
http://www.2dips.com/ice-cream-reviews.php?id=30
I've tried B&J's ice cream twice and it's no better than Pet, Mayfield, or Bryers. When you consider the price, it boarders on nasty.
Nah, the best flavor is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Not only does it help support the small dairy farmer, but also the small chocolate chip manufacturer.
Have you tried "Fossil Fuel"? It has little chocolate dinosaurs in it. YUM!
Very true. In case you missed it, there was a brilliant discussion of just this topic in Reason recently with the always entertaining T.J. Rodgers weighing in.
I don't like ben and jerry's ice cream; I don't like the names of their ice cream and I don't like them or the company they founded.
Well, that about says it all.
My wife and I visited the same place last month. I had the same reaction as the columnist. These guys sold out to Unilever!! This is capitalism built on cows -- where are the animal-rights activists when you really need them?
Feel sorry for them? They sold out to Unilever and made a fortune! Going through the factory tour last month I got the sneaking suspicion that these two guys used the hippie act as a way to get people to buy their overpriced product! And yet they are still heroes, after selling out!!
We went on the tour last spring. The kids had a great time and my husband and I just rolled our eyes.
The samples were quite tasty though.....
Oh, no, no....Godiva Belgian Dark Chocolate!!!
It might be an irony if it wasn't a matter of conscious policy on the part of the left to use any means necessary, including capitalism, to subjugate the masses.
the term irony imparts a dignity to left wing tactics that it doesn't deserve and paints the user of the term as naive.
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