ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Munch. Munch.
Wow, these Maria cookies made by Goya sure are crispy. And only 25 calories each.
We’ve got a boatload of Goya products in our pantry now, one of our pushbacks against the left’s increasingly aggressive culture war on America.
Goya Foods came under attack merely because its CEO, Robert Unanue, visited the White House and made some positive comments about President Trump. The left has called for a boycott of the company, which specializes in Hispanic foods.
Unlike many of their targets, Mr. Unanue told the attackers where they can get off, which is at the end of a short pier. So, some of us are doing our part to fatten Goya’s bottom line (and perhaps our own waistlines) to show our appreciation.
Over at Trader Joe’s, however, it’s a different story. The innovative grocery chain based in Monrovia, California, caved almost immediately to a 17-year-old high school senior, Briones Bedell. All it took was her Change.org petition to scare old Joe into getting rid of fun and fanciful ethnic food lineups, such as Trader Jose’s (Mexican), Trader Giotto’s (Italian), Trader Ming’s (Chinese) and Arabian Joe (Middle Eastern).
A company spokeswoman did the usual mea culpa, explaining that the names “may have been rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusiveness, but we recognize that it may have the opposite effect.” Really? Have millions of customers been pushing their carts around the stores, seething with indignation?
This is right down there with Land O’Lakes butter ditching the delightful Indian maiden or Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream sending Eskimo Pies into the PC chopper. In the name of “diversity,” the left is wiping out any diverse views, harmless evidences of ethnic food differences or even gender-specific titles. Perhaps Trader Joe’s should change its name to Trader They.
Flush with victory, Briones demanded that Trader Joe’s not only announce a timeline for the name changes but pull all of the offensive products off the shelves until the changes can be made. And darn the cost. This is straight from the Marxist playbook by Saul Alinsky, who said activists should never settle for winning. They should always raise the ante, saying, “what have you done for me lately?”
Conservatives could learn a thing or two from Alinsky about effectiveness, even though he dedicated his “Rules for Radicals” book to Lucifer. Jesus said to be “wise as serpents but harmless as doves.” In other words, use the brains God gave us to seek good outcomes without resorting to evil means.
Somewhere, the rosy-cheeked Swedish enfante terrible Greta Thunberg must be turning green with envy at Briones Bedell’s instant victory. Greta’s insistence on our shedding all fossil-fuel-based energy, which would send us back to the Stone Age, has not been nearly as successful as the far less ambitious campaign waged by the Scourge of Trader Joe’s.
It turns out that most people not named Bernie Sanders, Al Gore, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Joe Biden really like reasonably priced appliances, cars, airplanes, air conditioning, indoor plumbing and other technological marvels made possible by abundant energy.
Greta’s accusation against modern life (“How dare you?”) at the United Nations thrills the hearts of young Democratic activists who are working hard to turn America into a communist version of Sodom and Gomorrah.
However, Briones has snagged the current activist halo. Someone should warn her about pride going before a fall. If you can bring a $13.7 billion company to its knees in a few days over a petition that had garnered only 2,800 signatures, you can do anything. Anything approved by the cancel culture, that is. Petitions with thousands of signatures calling for protection of religious minorities in China like the Uighurs don’t even merit news stories.
Speaking of religion, you have to search keenly through our reflexively atheist media to find stories about the shocking attacks on Catholic churches all over America.
On July 11, a suspected arson destroyed much of California’s San Gabriel Mission, built in 1771. Statues of pioneering missionary Father Junipero Serra are being toppled or defaced.
A Jesus statue at Good Shepherd Church in Miami was beheaded. In New Haven, Connecticut, someone painted anarchist and satanic symbols on the door of St. Joseph’s Church. In Ocala, Florida, a man drove a van into Queen of Peace Church during morning Mass, poured 10 gallons of gasoline and set it on fire. Statues of Mary have been defaced or damaged in New York, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Colorado.
Like the ongoing violence in major cities such as Portland, Oregon, or the bullying of corporations, this is part of the left’s accelerated cultural change. Marxism requires destroying reminders of heritage so that a new culture of stone-cold socialism can rise on the ashes.
It should alarm us that the Democratic Party has shed its liberal persona and is all in for the revolution. Asked about the mob throwing a statue of Christopher Columbus into Baltimore Harbor, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shrugged and said, “People are going to do what they do.”
As assaults on the American way of life deepen, we’ll need more people like Goya’s Mr. Unanue.
It’s become clear that nobody will be allowed to sit this out.
• Robert Knight is a contributor to The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
