Ray Kroc who made McDonald’s everything it is today, said: “It requires a certain kind of mind to see beauty in a hamburger bun.” Not sure if I saw beauty, but I did go and do a little photography book about burgers anyway. It’s called ‘Yum: A manual of burger deconstruction’ and is available in two versions (cheapo and overpriced) from Blurb. Along with my last bestseller (Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Fourish [in Zapf Dingbats] {also available from Blurb}) the books are done for the sake of doing them rather than for anyone to buy (which is probably just as well). You can also ‘read them’ on screen in a nifty page-turnable preview. Other than the quote from Kroc there’s a quote from Charles Kingsley who wrote in 1857:
“We have to face the existence of a dangerous class into which the weaker as well as the worst members of society have a tendancy to sink. A class which, not respecting itself, does not respect others; which has nothing to lose and all to gain by anarchy; in which the lower passion seldom gratified, are ready to burst out and avenge themselves by frightful methods”
I came across this quote in the exhibition Rank: Picturing the Social Order which I blogged about at the time. Now as you can imagine, I’m not a fan of McDonald’s, but I don’t like pundits who slag off the working class for doing as they’re told and consuming McProduct. Funny how no one’s proposing a junk food tax on Waitrose. Another quote I’ve appropriated from Rank, is one from Ferdinand Mount, who in his book Mind the Gap said:
“The working class has been subjected to a sustained programme of social and institutional erosion… The vicious circle of condescension whirls on”.
Pity he writes for Rupert Murdoch’s Times. Anyroad Ferdie’s quote adorns the poster I’ve done to go with the book. Download an A4 version here for free. Buy the hardback book and let me know and I’ll send you an 18×12″ print (limited edition) or get in touch, give me some money and I’ll send one to you. Right – when are they doing Creame Egg McFlurries again?
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