hassan
La ilaj? ila Al
As some of you may recall, late last year nsu alum posted an article on another bulletin board exposing the diamond trade to be a crime against humanity. You may also recall that I declared my very adamant boycott against the diamond trade publicly on that same thread.
Well, this thread seeks to build a stronger case against diamond's apparent stranglehold on decency, ethics, and plain common sense. I also encourage those with opposing points of view to post those views and then kiss my Cuban butt.
a-hem....
I am opposed to diamonds because they are not a real commodity yet they are more expensive than a legit commodity like gold; they are grossly overvalued.
I am opposed to diamonds because the greed it breeds in turn breeds inhumane treatment of fellow human beings.
from the MARCH 2002 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC:
"The 120 million carats [a carat is one-fifth of a gram] of rough diamonds extracted globally from the Earth every year weigh a total of just 24 tons, a single truckload, but those 24 tons are sold by the producers for about seven billion dollars. Since they cost less than two billion dollars to extract, the profits are already immense. By the time the diamonds reach the customers [about forty eight percent of all diamonds purchased retail globally each year are bought by Americans] waiting at the far end of the pipeline, the truckload, set in jewelry, is worth over fifty billion dollars."
Do the math folks....
Much of this business comes from where much of this modern world's madness comes from: false traditions born of marketing. In much the same way that gluttoness gift-giving and even the very image of Santa Claus are Madison Avenue manifest in our social fabric, the Western "tradition" of diamonds being the true measure of one's love is a sham. The tradition dates not back to Roman times, or Elizabethian times or even Victorian times; instead, the whole con of diamonds being the one true symbol of real love is less than a century old.
This was created mostly by the very folks that would benefit most from this sudden and unprecedented "need" for diamonds: the diamond traders, specifically DeBeers of South Africa. Even the now very familiar slogan of "Diamonds are forever" is not a profound axiom of ancient wisdom but a DeBeers marketing slogan
Well, this thread seeks to build a stronger case against diamond's apparent stranglehold on decency, ethics, and plain common sense. I also encourage those with opposing points of view to post those views and then kiss my Cuban butt.
a-hem....
I am opposed to diamonds because they are not a real commodity yet they are more expensive than a legit commodity like gold; they are grossly overvalued.
I am opposed to diamonds because the greed it breeds in turn breeds inhumane treatment of fellow human beings.
from the MARCH 2002 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC:
"The 120 million carats [a carat is one-fifth of a gram] of rough diamonds extracted globally from the Earth every year weigh a total of just 24 tons, a single truckload, but those 24 tons are sold by the producers for about seven billion dollars. Since they cost less than two billion dollars to extract, the profits are already immense. By the time the diamonds reach the customers [about forty eight percent of all diamonds purchased retail globally each year are bought by Americans] waiting at the far end of the pipeline, the truckload, set in jewelry, is worth over fifty billion dollars."
Do the math folks....
Much of this business comes from where much of this modern world's madness comes from: false traditions born of marketing. In much the same way that gluttoness gift-giving and even the very image of Santa Claus are Madison Avenue manifest in our social fabric, the Western "tradition" of diamonds being the true measure of one's love is a sham. The tradition dates not back to Roman times, or Elizabethian times or even Victorian times; instead, the whole con of diamonds being the one true symbol of real love is less than a century old.
This was created mostly by the very folks that would benefit most from this sudden and unprecedented "need" for diamonds: the diamond traders, specifically DeBeers of South Africa. Even the now very familiar slogan of "Diamonds are forever" is not a profound axiom of ancient wisdom but a DeBeers marketing slogan
