Friday, April 07, 2006

hey, you got your politics in my snack!

I have a new favorite snack: Kind Fruit+Nut Almond & Apricot bars, from PeaceWorks.

I found them at the cafe at Borders, where I go with the kiddos almost every Friday after school, for our end-of-the-week decompression. I can't get over how delicious these things are, how not-too-sweet, and how they are satisfying without sending me into a sugar stupor later in the afternoon.

Uh-oh, I just noticed this: 5% of the profits go to OneVoice, a PeaceWorks foundation, that fosters co-existence in the Middle East.

Hmmmm. OK, I looked it up. It should come as no surprise that I'm skeptical about the OneVoice organization, even though the "OneVoice pledge" sounds pretty reasonable:
I pledge to be active in the national debate and hold my elected representatives accountable for swift and courageous action to prevent terrorism and financial crisis. I will encourage others to do the same.
After poking around the website a little more, it doesn't seem as pie-in-the-sky as it could be. But is it a group I really want to support? Do I have to think about this? If I don't want to support this group (although, really, it all sounds very reasonable), should I keep on buying the snacks? Do I even have to make this decision?

Ultimately, it's ridiculous to dither like this. I'm not buying the snack to support the cause. I'm buying the snack because it is, really truly, delicious and nutritious. At least, it's a lot more nutritious than, say, a scone or a chocolate chip cookie. And it tastes better, too. If OneVoice was rabidly anti-Semitic or promoting terrorism or doing anything else truly abhorrent, then I would stop buying these little tasty bars. I'm relieved they are not, though, because it would be a shame to have to give up such a nice thing so soon after having discovered it.

This is the perfect example of how blogging about something makes you think more about it than you really wanted to. I just wanted to talk about this tasty snack, and instead I go wading into Middle East politics! Yikes.

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