Gangsta boyz!

Another street shot of some likely lads in Bradford.

I have a pet theory regarding gangs.

After reading Alain De Botton's 'Status anxiety' (a brilliant read) I think our culture has become too obsessed with status rather than more wholesome attainments.

Surface over content. Because your worth it?

Celebrity culture is one symptom & a cause of this & I suspect it all stems from the Thatcher years when money became king & what you earned (loadsamoney!) was who you were.

Without any other goals in such a society being part of gang culture (especially in poorer backgrounds where gangs control the drugs money) suddenly confers a huge amount of status & the stakes are high so turf wars escalate as the need for status does.
Ultimately leading to loss of life & it's all so pointless from the outside.

The idea that people can kill for a pair of trainers (a perfect example of form over content, an item that for many has lost any association with sport & has become a post modern emblem of status) is a metaphor for the sorry state we have ended up in.

...but it's not just them 'out on the streets' it's all of us, we all suffer from this delusion.

Do we really need to spend thousands on a new sofa? An amount that would undoubtedly save many lives in less fortunate countries!

That Louis Vitton handbag? £120k for a bottle of champagne while children starve (stupid man).

I suffer from this disease too I'm writing this on a bloody iPhone which I'm sure I have an excuse for...errm...well...I..ermm...

...Sigh!

Where do you draw the line?