Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that parent company Unilever has silenced its attempts to express support for Palestinian refugees, and threatened to dismantle its board and sue its members over the issue.
The lawsuit is the latest sign of the long-simmering tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and consumer products maker Unilever. A rift erupted between the two in 2021 after Ben & Jerry’s said it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank because it was inconsistent with its values, a move that led some to divest Unilever shares.
The ice cream maker then sued Unilever for selling its business in Israel to its licensee there, which allowed marketing in the West Bank and Israel to continue. That lawsuit was settled in 2022.
I said early on:
Yes, you can use reducto ad absurdum arguments in a fallacious way. That’s true of literally any kind of argument, so it’s pointless to say that. Point out the actual fallacy or don’t.
Reducto ad absurdum fallacy = reducto ad absurdum used fallaciously. That’s all.
I can explain it for you, but I can’t understand it for you.
But why call that out at all? Why not call out an actual fallacy built inside a reducto ad absurdum argument (assuming there is one)? The poster way up the stack did not clarify at all. They posted “reducto ad absurdum” as if that was the end of it.
Perhaps they were using that as a shorthand for “reducto ad absurdum fallacy” and, not unreasonably, expecting that people would infer ad much from context.
Either way, we have discussed this to death and you’re still beating the horse, if you will forgive the purposefully mixed metaphor.
Even if you won’t, it’s too late now, so we all must find a way to cope. Have a good day.