“The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.” – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
When Kim Kardashian appeared on Alex Cooper’s podcast, Call Her Daddy, she stunned listeners by admitting that she would “like to know a little bit more about what… like… a carton of milk costs”. This confession immediately set social media alight. While she refers to herself as a “receipts queen”, religiously keeping every photo and text she has ever received, Kardashian certainly is not checking her Checkers Sixty60 receipt.
In a world where global inflation rates hover around 6%, food insecurity is spiking, and basic groceries are outpacing wage growth, Kardashian’s confession was more than tone deaf. This, distinguished guests, was a masterclass in capitalist alienation. This is not quirky; it exposes an uncomfortable truth about how we have been conditioned to accept extreme wealth.
Kardashian’s joke about the cost of milk is not charming. When the ultra-rich can admit to such disconnection and receive an indulgent reaction from the public, it exposes a specific function of capitalism. This is a precise performance of what Marx called ”false consciousness”. It is an insidious magic trick: we applaud the rich for their self-awareness while quietly accepting the economic system that causes our struggles. It is a facade that keeps inequality palatable.
So, let’s help Kim out a bit. A litre of milk costs around R20 to R25, a price that has risen nearly 30% since 2017.
You caught me, this is not about milk. It is about the ideology curdling behind it.
Listen to me, people (I’m grabbing your shoulders and shaking you)! These absurdities are not quirky. To further illustrate the drastic chasm between our world and theirs, let us consider the actual guideline costs for the average university student. The cost of essential monthly groceries (for home-cooking) averages between R2 000 and R3 000. Essential study materials, including books, printing, stationery, and internet data, add another R500 to R1 000 per month. For a “low budget”, these expenses must be tightly managed against an estimated total of R6 000 to R8 000 per month. That’s not even including rent or a night out at Jolly’s.
Why do we continue to normalise extreme wealth? This reveals far more about our society’s distorted values than it does about the rich. When we humanise the extremely wealthy, we also humanise the system that produces them – a system that manufactures both extreme wealth and a culture that applauds it, quietly partaking in our own exploitation. The real scandal is not Kardashian’s ignorance. It is our collective tolerance for it.
The final challenge is not for her, but for us. We must question both Kardashian’s comments and the entire system that enabled that level of wealth in the first place. Next time a billionaire forgets the price of milk, remember: that’s not forgetfulness. That is capitalism working exactly as intended.
