We are living in the age of CRAP (Cheap Rubbish Always Preferred). It seems that almost everything you buy is a cheap and nasty shadow of what you were expecting, and almost certainly manufactured in some far-east hell-hole, by a dollar-a-day serf coughing their guts up in an environmental disaster area that was virgin countryside a couple of short years ago.
We've just tried to replace a battery on a laptop. The first unit was slightly warped, and the clip didn't quite lock into place. The replacement was so badly warped it wouldn't even slide into place. We ordered a 'genuine' replacement, but that wasn't even the correct type for the laptop, so that went back too. Finally No.4 fitted & worked. I'm now working on another laptop: the replacement keyboard has arrived. At first glance it looks OK. On closer inspection it is missing all the locating lugs that hold it in place. So that's got to go back as well.
But you see how deeply this whole ethos has ingrained itself into our culture: just watch Dragon's Den. In comes an inventor with a gadget. They're all interested, until he mentions that they cost a couple of quid to make. Their faces drop. "It's OK" he says, "I can get them made in China for 2 cents". And their little faces light up like kiddies in a sweet shop.
Meanwhile I'm screaming at the TV "NO STOP! I'm drowning in SHIT (SHoddy Inferior Tat). This might impress the SCUM (Short-sighted Credulous Uneducated Morons), but you're supposed to know what you're doing!"
What's worse is that all the "big brands" are chasing lemming-like along the same path. Most of the stuff you buy is actually made in the Far East. Now, maybe these brands have stringent QC, materials traceability and all the other good stuff. Maybe you might actually get something that's decently made. But when the factory goes onto it's clandestine night-shift, knocking out unofficial product using official labels & serial numbers, but the cheapest materials it can find, and with no QC at all, then it's a different matter. Because the goods look completely authentic, come down the correct supply chain, and are practically impossible to separate from "the real thing". Until you hit the brakes, to find that the expensive, quality-branded pads you purchased from a reputable supplier are, in fact, made from compacted cardboard & cement dust. Not so irrelevant now, is it?
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