DeBeers have massive investments in the synthetic diamond industry. They are actually world leaders and have known that it’s possible to produce higher quality diamonds at a much lower cost. They make a killing selling synthetic diamonds to industry.
Nerevar, you foolish mortal! I have heard your lamentations about the cost of diamonds and how they are too expensive for how common they are. I agree, and I know who to blame. The Bear Company, which holds a monopoly on the diamond industry, is rigging the supply to keep prices high. They use propaganda to create a demand that is disproportionate to the real value of diamonds. What fools they are to think that they can hide such deception from me. I, Lord Dagoth, master of these lands, see through their shallow deceit and call for justice. Now please leave. I have to write upset words on this piece of parchment to show the world how angry i am. Nerevar, do you have a stick with you? Maybe also a stapler? Nerevar please go to the next trader and aquire a new Edding for me. I have let the cap open for too long and now my Edding has dried out.
the alchemists could’ve been successful, and all the gold mine barons would’ve been: so, actually, well, you can’t see it, but I assure you, and the experts will agree, that there is actually a very fine, yes, a very fine distinction (if you can notice it, it really means you have a refined sense of taste, yes) in shimmer between ersatz, synthetic gold from the alchemist, and that the rare, natural from the earth. Ah . . . . well yes, you’re right, the natural gold is ever so slightly duller, but, you see
And the absurd thing is that we probably should use natural diamonds for jewelry, as it is a waste to synthesize such a common rock. If they weren’t hoarded and aggressively marketed as something you have to have, they could just be a neat rock some people are into, there wouldn’t be child slaves dying to dig them out of the ground.
has anyone else been getting tons of ads (on streaming services mostly) literally about this? i keep getting these ads about how you should only purchase natural diamonds because only they matter or something and put some pretty woman in the ad to convince you. it’s pretty disgusting to make a commercial promoting diamonds stolen from the global south and brushing off synthetic diamonds even if they are literally the exact same rock.
I bought my wife a 'fake ’ diamond ring for the engagement ring.
She couldn’t tell her snooty friends that though, so she went and bought herself a very expensive ring with real diamonds.
She had the ring I bought her melted into my wedding band. I hate jewellery though so had no intention of wearing it. I agreed to wear it for a week after we got married. I’ve never worn it again. I haven’t even seen it since that first week. Over a decade. I wonder if it’s just lost, or she has it somewhere still.
it’s hard to know the extent to which the comment represents the marriage. otoh, if one were to read their comment and leave thinking “sounds like a normal, healthy marriage to me”, that imo would be a premium red flag on the reader.
And they are literally the same thing, which is very funny to me. Like, they are flawless diamonds, so now apparently the imperfections are what cost money? Except the cost of natural diamonds is higher when they have fewer imperfections? Diamonds are bullshit.
If anyone wants a really deep dive into the diamond industry, a recent episode of Search Engine (podcast by PJ Vogt, for anyone familiar with Reply All) is all about this: …substack.com/…/why-are-we-still-buying-diamonds
The diamond industry sucks don’t get me wrong. But the real culpurists are the dumbfuck diamond buyers.
My friend is a diamond salesperson and told me a story about one of their customers. They were looking at different pieces and the customer kept asking about the purity of the diamonds in the piece. Whenever my friend said it’s “SI,” the customer would be visibly disappointed and would ask for “VS” or “VVS” which are purer. My friend then got annoyed a bit and told the customer that purity doesn’t matter once you reach “SI” since the impurities are not really visible by the naked eye. He even showed the customer 2 pieces with one looking 10 times better than the other but has SI diamonds and the non-pretty piece has VS diamonds. He asked the customer to tell him which is which and the customer wrongly said the SI one was more pure. Even after he revealed his ruse and showed that purity doesn’t matter much, the customer kept asking for more pure pieces as if nothing happened.
These “people” literallly are willingly being lied to, and they like it. If a diamond buyer saw a piece, told you they love it, told you they would buy it, then you told them it’s a synthetic, they would be disgusted. It’s bullshit from all sides and they deserve eachother.
There’s a concept, ‘conspicuous consumption,’ that people will use products in such a way for their social power regardless of anything else. So getting higher quality diamonds, whatever imperceptible difference it has, is still worth it to be seen as affording the higher tier. One of the ways in which market economies poison the brain.
I feel like the high-end buyer’s don’t care about how much they like their possessions, they care about how expensive their possessions sound when described to others. They couldn’t tell that the SI was less pure, but they knew they couldn’t describe it to their friends as the purest, so they didn’t care.
Funny thing is that this comes from middle class people. There’s still VVS and flawless diamonds which are significantly more expensive. But they can’t afford one that looks any good. Given the choice they’d absolutely burn their money to buy those though.
If it’s wedding ring, the marketing has been about how the purity of the diamond is symbolic of the purity of one’s love. So picking an uglier, but purer, diamond then coild be about prioritizing love over beauty or whatever in that person’s head.
So not necessarily exclusive to people wanting to present themselves as wealthy, that sort of emotional manipulation convinces broke people to blow their savings on a ring all the time.
The Kimberley certification process for diamonds has been entirely co-opted and no longer serves the purpose of ensuring you are not buying blood diamonds. All the NGOs that matter have already walked away considering it a lost cause.
If you buy natural diamonds, there is a good chance you are supporting criminal enterprise and warlords.
Oh no she’s a science teacher and is obsessed with the hardness of diamonds. I bought her a synthetic which she wasn’t pleased with but I’ve had words about I feel about DeBeers and diamonds in general. Love won out, or begrudgingly won out in the end.
Ahh I know the type, mine isn’t that bad but maybe had she went into a different field she might’ve ended up that way. The men in her family are that way though. One’s a cardiologist, didn’t have kids on purpose. Married a woman with an older kid, doesn’t really parent just throws money at the kid.
My life is actually easier long term. I’ve never been attracted to white women. My mom is an affluent white Karen, my sister is on her way to being the same. My dad and sisters SO are constantly fighting, mostly to get them to shut up for 5 mins.
My wife is cold, blunt and super hot. She looks just as good at 40 as she did at 20. Leaves me alone to do my own thing, when we found out I was shooting blanks it wasn’t a huge deal, she was upset we wouldn’t have a kid but she stuck with me anyway. I’ve gotten used to the way she is and will play damage control when she has to deal with other white people. I am a glorified man servant to her whims sometimes.
But at the end of the day I’m happy. Which is more than I can say for my closest friends who have been through multiple divorces
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