5 things you may not have known about Ben and Jerry before their protest arrest.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream have done some pretty cool things.
The hippie ice cream moguls have made innumerable contributions to the American snack lexicon and have crafted some of the most delightfully indulgent ice cream concoctions in history.
Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.
Honestly, where would America be without Cherry Garcia? Half Baked? Phish Food?! If this duo hadn't shoved potato chips into a quart of vanilla caramel ice cream back in 2011, we'd all just be sitting around our homes wondering if dreams really do come true.
Beyond an incredible knack for inventing ice cream flavors you didn't even know you needed, Ben and Jerry tout a long and proud history of social consciousness and responsibility.
It was this long history that came to a head on Monday, April 18, 2016, when the two co-founders were arrested outside the U.S. Capitol. Ben and Jerry were taking part in the "Democracy Awakening" protest that converged on the Capitol building and led to the arrests of over 300 people.
Democracy Awakening, which is tied to the "Democracy Spring" protests that occurred earlier in April, is a protest to "protect voting rights, get big money out of politics and demand a fair hearing and an up or down vote on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee."
The Democracy Awakening protest in Washington D.C. Photo by Mike Theiler/AFP/Getty Images.
It's kind of awesome that Ben and Jerry care so much about social issues that they're willing to get publicly arrested defending them.
There are a lot of issues that Ben and Jerry care about as individuals and as a company — issues they've folded into their company as naturally as they fold caramel ribbons into ice cream.
Here are five issues you may not have known Ben and Jerry really care about:
1. They want the government to fight climate change.
Warming temperatures means melted ice cream, drowning cities, global famine, and general catastrophe.
Whichever of those is the scariest to you, Ben and Jerry have done their part to educate and participate in the climate movement for a long time. They even made a video showing what happens to ice cream when it's just 2 degrees warmer:
GIF via Ben & Jerry's/YouTube.
It might look delicious, but it would be pretty disastrous for the planet.
2. They want the "dough" out of politics.
Dough as in money, obviously. That's their pun, not mine.
The issue of corporate influence on our elections has been front and center in the 2016 election. In fact, it was one of the biggest issues in the Democracy Awakening protests. So you can bet that it's one Ben and Jerry care about a lot:
"At Ben & Jerry’s, we love dough so much, we invented Cookie Dough ice cream. But dough doesn’t mix so well with democracy. In fact, there’s so much big money flooding into our elections in the United States that the voice of regular folks is being drowned out."
Ben Cohen also made his own Bernie Sanders-themed flavor after the Iowa Caucus called "Bernie's Yearning," which claims to be made of "political revolution." Mmm. Delicious political revolution.
3. They want the farmers they work with to be treated fairly.
Ben & Jerry's gets its ingredients from all over the world, including from many developing countries. For example, they get vanilla from Uganda, coffee from Mexico, and even bananas from Ecuador.
A cocoa farm in Ecuador. Photo by Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images.
Ben and Jerry want the farmers who produce those ingredients to be treated respectfully, paid fairly, and of course, to use environmentally conscious practices.
"Ben & Jerry's is committed to sourcing Fairtrade ingredients as a way to improve the livelihoods of small family farmers around the world. As of January 2015, all of our pint, mini cup and scoop shop flavors are made with Fairtrade certified ingredients like sugar, cocoa, vanilla, coffee, and bananas."
Now that you know that, you won't have to feel as guilty when you "accidentally" eat a whole pint in one sitting.
4. They want LGBT equality. Because duh.
And even though marriage equality was declared law by the Supreme Court last summer, Ben and Jerry know that the fight is far from over.
"There’s more to be done, and we’re certainly not done yet! LGBT folks still face discrimination in housing, employment, and health care. Thirty-one states have no laws protecting the LGBT community from discrimination. And the statistics around violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity are startling and sobering."
In 1989, Ben & Jerry's was said to be the first company in Vermont to offer health insurance to domestic partners of employees including same-sex couples. Which, as they note, shouldn't have been a revolutionary gesture.
Since then, they've fought and continue to fight for equal rights for the LGBT community. It makes a lot of sense because, admit it, no matter who you love, you probably love ice cream just a liiiiittle more.
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Ben & Jerry's.
5. They want world peace. Yeah. That's right.
No goal is too lofty or idealistic for the people that dreamed up Chunky Monkey. Ben & Jerry's is committed to creating a peaceful society. They're basically the opposite of a Bond villain.
It's not just a psychedelic tree-hugging fantasy either. They have a plan.
They're constantly supporting political efforts, grass-roots movements, and business relationships that will help usher us toward world peace. If that's not a worthy issue, I don't know what is.
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Ben & Jerry's.
When Ben and Jerry were arrested on Capitol Hill, it wasn't because they wanted to break the law. It was because they were fighting, as they always have, for a better world.
Ben and Jerry might just make ice cream, but their commitment to social consciousness makes them so much more.
When Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield lay their heads down to sleep (possibly on a prison-issue pillow) they probably dream of ice cream — ice cream made with fair trade ingredients and consumed by a peaceful, equal, and loving population.
That's a pretty awesome Americone Dream if you ask me.
Beaver in water. Photo by 
An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Behold, the Rye Riptides miniboat. 
A man sweating in his car.via
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."