Diamonds: The crack of the jet-set and wanna-be fools looking to part with their money

Diamonds are forever – but so is Herpes. And diamonds have about as much socially redeeming value as this terminal virus.

Crude, but true; and here’s why:

The idle rich spend veritable fortunes adorning themselves in these glittering gems. But it’s about time that people of conscience join the muzzled voices that are exposing diamond merchants for the nefarious hustlers they are. Because these are people who – through shrewd marketing – have so hoodwinked the world that most people now regard these frivolous accessories as a basic, even if costly, necessity. And, in this regard, diamond merchants are no different from drug dealers who hook thrill-seeking suckers on dope that inevitably becomes a more important necessity in their lives than food itself.

Women – ask yourselves why you would feel cheapened and profoundly disappointed in your fiancé if he gave you a small diamond ring or, God forbid, no diamond ring at all to mark your engagement; especially if you know that he could easily afford a big rock? But, apart from the vain glory of showing-off a big shiny rock on your finger, how many of you even understand the concocted terms of art for assessing the artificial value of diamonds? (Have you seen any of those PrimeTime Live television exposés where diamond merchants are caught peddling cubic zirconias to giddy lovers who know as much about the 4cs (color, clarity, cut, and carat weight) as they do about rocket science?

Men – ask yourselves what – besides the ego satisfaction and fringe benefits (sex with trophy wives) that come with catering to the superficial desires of women – do you get from spending so much money on diamonds?

And, as enlightened human beings – we should ask ourselves why we perpetuate the sparkling but illusory aura of diamonds by pretending that they have intrinsic value. After all, diamonds are nothing but bits of shiny rock that poor blacks in Africa spend every daylight hour digging from mines and sifting from mud pits, in conditions worse than those that slaves in America laboured under whilst picking cotton 150 years ago. And, no matter how much sexy advertising campaigns gloss over the blood, sweat and tears of diamond production, there’s no denying that the retail culture of these gems thrives on the cruel and inhumane treatment of our fellow human beings.

For a little perspective, consider the sometimes violent protests by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) against wearing fur. These activists vent justifiable outrage against people who self-indulgently accessorize their clothing with fur (a “slaughter jacket”) that they know is derived from the cruel and inhumane treatment of animals. Therefore, where’s the outrage against people who self-indulgently adorn their bodies with diamonds that they know is derived from the barbaric exploitation of human labour? (After all, at least the hedonistic fur wearers can make the argument – albeit specious – that it keeps them warm. By contrast, what utility is there in diamonds?)

At any rate, the next time you see one of those slick commercials or magazine ads telling you that you’re a loser or that your love means nothing without diamonds to seal your bond, think of the poor blacks slaving away in some dirt pit in Africa so that diamond merchants can lay that self-serving and sanctimonious guilt trip on you. Indeed, think also of the diamond profiteers (like diamond’s grand wizards and patrons of Apartheid – the Oppenheimers of DeBeers in South Africa) who remain feudal lords to black miners. Because the Oppenheimers and their diamond cabal laugh all the way to the bank at the stupid Americans who buy 55% of the world’s diamonds and who seem to have bought – hook, line and sinker “that diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

Note– To my nouveau riche black brothers who have taken the pagan worship of diamonds to crass extremes: Please, you are behaving like those freed slaves who wanted nothing more than to own more black slaves than their former masters. Wise up, kick your bling bling habit and use that money that you’re wasting on diamonds to plant seeds of urban development to help supplant the ghetto blight you rap about!

Endnote– To all diamond lovers: Don’t let anyone sell you on the morally relative argument that “certified or pure” diamonds that come from the sanctioned exploitation of blacks by internationally recognized governments (e.g. diamonds from South Africa) are acceptable; whereas, “conflict or blood” diamonds that come from similar exploitation of blacks – only by rebel forces fighting for control of their national governments (e.g. diamonds from Angola or Sierra Leone) – are not. Because the so-called “Certificate of Origin” or “Kimberly Process” is merely a ruse by white merchants who control international trafficking in diamonds to sanitize their gems that are, in fact, just as tainted by human misery as the diamonds that come from black rebels.

Click here to read more about the fact that diamonds are neither rare nor precious; and here to add your voice to the chorus of those expressing outrage against diamond wearers.

News and Politics