Culture

We’re Being Roasted By Americans Over Our Stupid Smashed Avo Housing Debate

"There is no such thing as 'avocado toast'. That is not a real thing."

by Osman Faruqi  16 May 2017

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There are a lot of incredibly dumb things about the current Australian debate around housing affordability. But perhaps the most absurdly stupid feature of the discussion is how frequently smashed avocado pops up as a reason why young people can’t afford a house.

The smashed avo meme was introduced by Bernard Salt, a columnist for The Australian, last year. According to Salt the reason young Australians couldn’t afford a house was because we were spending all our money on fancy brunches. Despite the fact that this argument was rapidly and easily debunked, it’s unfortunately become embedded in our public discussion on housing.

This week it popped up again when a millionaire “real estate mogul” went on 60 Minutes to blame young people’s eating habits, and enjoyment of reality TV, as reasons why we can’t afford to buy property. The millionaire in question only managed to get a foothold in the property market thanks to a hefty loan from his dad, and he was deservedly made fun of for that fact.

Overnight the US media has discovered our obsession with the very dumb debate about smashed avocado and they are giving us a lot of shit.

It didn’t take long before random Americans joined in the pile-on.

Sometimes it takes the perspective of another country to call us out before we realise how stupid a particular situation is.

I really, really hope we’re learning that lesson.