Food and Stuff

Why do so many poor people feed their families cheap and unhealthy supermarket food yet have their houses filled with big screen TVs and the like? asks TV chef and tosser Jamie Oliver.  Well, the fact is, Jamie, aside from perpetuating stereotypical views of the 'poor', you've actually hit on an important point as to what's wrong with modern society.  You see, al those TVs, mp3 players, Blu-ray players and other expensive consumer goods which clutter our homes, are seen as symbols of success in today's society.  Material possessions are seen as the only worthwhile measure of success.  TV and newspapers tell us all the time that that the key to happiness lies in owning 'stuff'.  The more expensive 'stuff' the better.  Of course, according to capitalist theory, the possession of such 'stuff' reflects one's ability to afford them - the more financially successful you are, the more you earn, the more 'stuff' you have.  Want more 'stuff'?  Work harder.

Except that, in reality, it doesn't work like that.  Constantly bombarded with the message that you must have this 'stuff', or you are a failure and your life is incomplete, many at the lower end of the economic scale resort to other means to get the money to buy 'stuff'.  No matter how many minimum wage shifts you work on a zero-hours contract, you aren't going to earn enough to buy much 'stuff'.  So they resort to loans from dodgy lenders, cutting back on spending on less glamourous 'stuff'. Like food, for instance.  Believe me, focus on a diet of horse meat ready meals and you'll soon find that you've saved enough for a flat-screen TV to slump in front of and watch Jamie Oliver demonstrating how out of touch with socio-economic reality he is.