The art of con

I was reading an article the other day that described the varieties of tea that are available. For me, tea comes in handy bags, and as long as it is hot and strong, I am not particularly bothered about its history. I know that I should be more selective and should probably seek out tea with a fair trade label, but I don't. We can all be apathetic and cannot possibly care about everything.
What prompted me to comment was reference to a particularly expensive tea that is sold to those who have more money than neurons. I think it is called White Virgin, though I may be wrong, and costs a huge amount of cash. What is special about this tea? one might ask. Allegedly the difference between this tea and others is that it is not touched by human hand, and is harvested by women wearing gloves who cut the leaves with silver scissors! I confess that when I read this I laughed. So ......... what! How does this improve the purity or flavour of the tea?
I was reminded of growing up in a market gardening area in the days when every fruit and vegetable was harvested by hand. Brussels Sprouts were always picked after the first frosts, often is bitterly cold conditions. You can't wear gloves to pick sprouts and hands get very cold. Quite often pickers would pee on their hands to warm them up - a sensible solution to the problem.
We live in a society that seems obsessed by labels; so much so that there is a huge illegal industry out there forging labels so that people can buy them more cheaply, and now everyone can sport the Gucci, Armani, Burberry and all the rest of the must have labels. Now of course, it is hard to tell the fakes from the real and so who cares. It would seem that some people will spend all they have just to be a little different from the crowd, and yet by so doing they are just joining a different crowd.
I still love Brussels sprouts but always make sure that they are well washed and peeled before cooking.