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Is Bling Bad - Would I Even Accept a Diamond?

I’m terribly distressed about this article I found that’s from 2002. It’s called “Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond Ring from Anyone, Under Any Circumstances, Even If They Really Want to Give You One“.

I don’t know if my heart can bear the thought of not being iced out. I need the bling. I must have it. I love sparkly things but I don’t want anyone to be maimed, killed, or enslaved to provide me one.

That means I need to find artificial means of the bling bling, or figure out which ones of these companies are true to their word of not participating in the conflict trade.

It’s not as simple as believing they wouldn’t lie. You see, when a corporation is public, particularly here in America,  it is obligated to do what is best to maximize shareholder value. And if you remember Enron, or the Fight Club movie, that means if the cost of lying is less than the cost of telling the truth, they lie. People in corporations are often good people… but the nature of a public corporation is such that profit is king.

I’m not knocking corporations. I own one that I hope to take public in a few years if I can figure out how to maximize profit without minimizing humanity. I’m just letting you know - that’s just the nature of the beast.

At the time the aforementioned article was written, I don’t think there was a solution to this problem. But there is now, at least that’s what I’ve been told from my preliminary research online. I’ll be digging deeply in future days to find out if it’s true…. in the meantime, here’s a quote and a link to the article I was referencing.

6. Diamond Mine-Owners Violate Indigenous People’s Rights
Diamond mines in Australia, Canada, India and many countries in Africa are situated on lands traditionally associated with indigenous peoples. Many of these communities have been displaced, while others remain, often at great cost to their health, livelihoods and traditional cultures.

7. Slave Laborers Cut and Polish Diamonds
More than one-half of the world’s diamonds are processed in India where many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers. Bonded children work to pay off the debts of their relatives, often unsuccessfully. When they reach adulthood their debt is passed on to their younger siblings or to their own children.

8. Conflict Diamonds Fund Civil Wars in Africa
There is no reliable way to insure that your diamond was not mined or stolen by government or rebel military forces in order to finance civil conflict. Conflict diamonds are traded either for guns or for cash to pay and feed soldiers.

I truly want to believe that the UN policies from last year and all the related awareness that occured changed this situation. I really want to think that is true.

But I’m holding off from buying a diamond or asking/hinting for one until I know for sure.

Read the whole article about whether to accept a diamond though. Scare the crap out of yourself. It’s for a good cause.

    • This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 11:01 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can also leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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