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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 04:34 AM
Basically, diamonds have an 'invented intangible value', like fashionable handbags versus a 'fake' handbag. Their value does not come from their rarity, and are in fact abundant.
Pretty amazing. De Beers created a massive source of revenue for themselves, not by actually producing anything of value, but simply exploiting the simple nature of people on a massive and sustained scale. Primarily, the 'social proof concept'. All they did is create a socially self-sustaining myth that 'diamonds are the way men propose marriage', and that 'the diamond size (and cost) correlates with implied love'.
This might have been discussed elsewhere here, but I saw no thread title with 'diamond' in it. Every man should know that diamonds are a load of bullshit.
If I ever feel the need to buy an engagement ring, it will contain any gemstone but. My response to 'why not a diamond?' will be 'because you deserve better than that and I respect myself'. Crafty bastards.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arch...nd/304575/
Quote:Quote:
The diamond invention—the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade. Until the late nineteenth century, diamonds were found only in a few riverbeds in India and in the jungles of Brazil, and the entire world production of gem diamonds amounted to a few pounds a year. In 1870, however, huge diamond mines were discovered near the Orange River, in South Africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. Suddenly, the market was deluged with diamonds. The British financiers who had organized the South African mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered; diamonds had little intrinsic value—and their price depended almost entirely on their scarcity. The financiers feared that when new mines were developed in South Africa, diamonds would become at best only semiprecious gems.
...
Although it could do little about the state of the economy, N. W. Ayer suggested that through a well-orchestrated advertising and public-relations campaign it could have a significant impact on the "social attitudes of the public at large and thereby channel American spending toward larger and more expensive diamonds instead of "competitive luxuries." Specifically, the Ayer study stressed the need to strengthen the association in the public's mind of diamonds with romance. Since "young men buy over 90% of all engagement rings" it would be crucial to inculcate in them the idea that diamonds were a gift of love: the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the expression of love. Similarly, young women had to be encouraged to view diamonds as an integral part of any romantic courtship.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 06:37 AM
The only true value of something is how much people are willing to pay for it. So diamonds are valuable because people say they're valuable. Kind of like money. Or bitcoin. I don't see how it makes a difference. Girls will expect you to propose with a diamond simply because they wanna brag about it to their friends. If you think it's worth 10 grand, do it. Somebody once said ''marriage is betting half your shit that you will love each other forever''. If you're gonna propose, diamond should be the least of your worries.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 07:40 AM
Quote: (05-18-2015 06:37 AM)turkishcandy Wrote:
The only true value of something is how much people are willing to pay for it. So diamonds are valuable because people say they're valuable. Kind of like money. Or bitcoin. I don't see how it makes a difference.
No one used sand for money, they used gold and silver, or salt back when it was scarce. As the article mentions: try selling it back to them and see how much
they value it.
The error in your statement is that you have generalized with the word 'people', when in fact there are two groups of people in this case: the clever diamond company shareholders and executives, and the saps fooled or socially pressured into wasting large sums of money on a piece of squished coal.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 10:26 AM
First, don't get married. If you have a burning desire to pass on your genetic legacy, then go the surrogate route to get a child no woman can ever take away from you. The 20-30k you spend may even be about the cost of the wedding a potential wife might demand just to marry her. You can hire a nanny or au pair to get the female influence if you have the money. You as a single father will probably be a better parent then a single mother anyway.
If you must get married despite all the advice telling you not to, don't buy a diamond.
Do movie night with her say a month or two before any proposal. Watch "Blood Diamond" and afterwards become very concerned for the poor people in Africa. Talk about how diamonds from other places (Russia or Canada) still prop up blood diamonds through demand and price. Then when the day comes- Bam! pop out a nice ring with a white sapphire that is much less expensive.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 10:51 AM
Meh, my ex wife bought her own engagement ring.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 01:21 PM
Yes, one of the best marketing campaigns of all time. And it could only have happened because the diamond business was a very tight cartel at the time. Otherwise why would De Beers have spent the money helping other suppliers. Much less so now, though I don't think it's harmed prices so far. They are still ridiculously high.
You may be interested to hear that the Oppenheimer family (they were the ones responsible for the campaign) sold their entire stake in De Beers a year or two back. I'm guessing they figured that "the centre cannot hold" and that producers outside the De Beers cartel would dramatically undercut prices. So those wedding rings may soon be a lot less valuable...
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 02:57 PM
I work in the gemstone industry, albeit not diamonds and not in the 'precious' gems.
Diamonds are definitely abundant but there are certainly very valuable diamonds out there. For instance, Ruby. A red diamond is worth a shit tonne of money no way about it. For a clear, well cut red diamond you would need to be royalty or HAM Chinese to get one.
For regular old diamonds though, like the ones guys get pressured into buying for their materialistic status whoring women do tend to be worthless. And its for this reason that diamond companies have been stepping up their game in regards to branding. For example the Polar Diamonds of Canada which are "conflict free".
I work in the jade industry and 7/10 of the most valuable stones ever have been jade. But like all gemstones, there is a wide range of value in the jade itself. We use industrial grade diamond tools to cut our jade as its the third hardest stone in the world. Diamond can be made synthetically so the future is indeed limited to the worthless average diamond purchased by the average consumer.
If a man wanted to take some massive risk and have a lot of fun doing it, buy a boulder of jade from a Burmese jade market, smuggle it out of the country and cut it open. You could be an instant millionaire, or just out a few hundred grande.
One story goes with the Doubly Fortunate necklace that the two brothers purchased the stone for next to nothing. The first cut revealed that it was indeed a waste of money. But on the second cut it revealed exquisite jade, and on every subsequent cut the value of the stone doubled. One of the necklaces sold in 1997 for almost $10 million dollars. The most expensive necklace was from father to socialite daughter Barbara Huston back in the 1930s. The Jade necklace was recently purchased back by Cartier for almost $28 million dollars.
High quality jadeite goes can go for $3 million per carat.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 06:05 PM
A good substitute for diamonds is moissanite.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-18-2015, 10:10 PM
Exactly. We will have diamonds forever (ha) because we can make them in labs. We need diamonds for cutting tools and sapphire is less abundant than diamond but still used in abrasives. Industry needs hard stones to cut other hard stones.
Its not until gems get to one carat (200mg) that rarity becomes an issue. For example there are a lot of sapphires in the world, but not many red and anything above a few carat is worth a lot.
Even diamonds in a large form are rare. I understand where this thread wants to go but the reality is that all the mediocre diamonds in the world have no impact on the valuable diamonds. Even if thirsty simps keep buying .5 to 5 carat diamonds the supply of 15 -35 carat diamonds of high quality and colour are still so rare that they will have value no matter what.
All gems are hoarded somewhat by the miners. I would love to know how many carats of red sapphire Australia mines each year. It could be a lot, or it could be very few. Either way they have their hands on them and no one else can get a hold of them so therefore they are rare and valuable.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-19-2015, 07:37 AM
I didn't know a ruby is a diamond though. There hardness's are different being the ruby is softer if I remember correctly.
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-19-2015, 07:47 AM
So lets ask the proverbial question:
Where can I get cheap real diamond rings?
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Diamonds: A Lesson in Cultural Control for the Benefit of the Few
05-19-2015, 08:07 PM
Quote: (05-18-2015 10:51 AM)kleyau Wrote:
Meh, my ex wife bought her own engagement ring.
Kevin Federline,is that you?
"Go be fat on someone else's time."