Dude, what is WITH me?

[muck_a_luck]

And Vika, the new secretary to the lawyer down the hall from me, just got engaged about a month ago.

Gorgeous ring.

And she just announced that she thinks it's too small.

Which just set off my tirade about the evils of diamonds.

Though I did not give the lecture to her. Rather, to the impressionable 19-year-old that sits next to her that was talking about the "cute" ring she wanted if she ever gets married.

19-year-old gets points with me because she always emphasizes the IF so strongly. :)

Anyway, I had my usual rant about blood and monopoly, and have now returned to trying to get work done.

Hose/Shoes, diamonds... I need a third thing to be irriational about, so I can have a trifecta.

Oh. And while I'm here. Saw the best bumpersticker the other day.

"Forget world peace. Visualize using your turn signal."

*snickers*

Comments

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

OMG I WILL JOIN YOU ON THE SOAPBOX!!! As near as I can tell, the women-diamonds thing is a completely manufactured want. That has somehow missed me completely. When I see those DeBeers ot even the JC Penneys or whoever else does jewelry) ads at Christmas time, I just want to heave. Piece of rock = love? Uh, no. Love = love. If a guy ever gave me expensive jewelry, I'd tell him to get hs money back and take me on vacation instead.

And the bitch that just got engaged? Her fiance needs to run far, far away. Now. An engagement ring is means "I want to marry you." The getting married part is what's supposed to be important. The spending the rest of your life with the guy you love. If you give a CRAP about the size of the ring, you don't deserve him.

Just read yesterday that Leo DiCaprio is making a movie about conflict diamonds. It's supposed to open around Christmas, and DeBeers is freaked. Heh!

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

They want to perpetrate this fiction that diamonds can be certified and tracked. Biggest load of crap. Diamonds are one of the most fungible commodities there is.

Yup. Created desire. I despise those commercials so much that Husband delights in teasing me about them. But the flip side is that diamonds are one of the few true monopolies left. These handful of families/corporations control them so tightly. That huge rock that costs three-months salary isn't really that rare. The monopoloy just MAKES it rare. So not only created demand, but also artificial scarcity. Gets my hackles up, knowing that. Even if it weren't for blood diamonds, I don't think I would be willing to buy a diamond.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes, exactly. I remember reading a few years ago that DeBeers had decided to a one-time dump of a bunch of diamonds into the market, which was going to devalue all diamonds. I don't remember why -- they had some reason. But, ew! There's just something wrong about one entity having that much control over a valued commodity. All of that crap just reminds me of the big tulip bulb craze of the mid-17th century.

[mresundance.livejournal.com]

I have the same issue with women = LOVE JEWELRY AND DIAMONDS OMG. That old rhetoric that women want to be "treated" to jewelry or are always expecting a ring. Gag. I would MUCH rather have a rare 1st edition copy of The Portrait of the Artist as Young Man, or nice slippers or something, rather than busting the bank on something that is ornamental and no value to me. (But then I do not ID as woman, so.)

In some relationships I've seen where guys drench women in jewelry, it sometimes strikes me as some kind of "buying" her affection and services. In these cases I'm talking about, the guy will pretty much do jack shit around the house and jack shit of the emotional work of the relationship, but he makes it up by "spoiling her" and it's creepily like he's paying her off for services rendered.

But that's just in a few cases. And you've gotten my snark out.

As for the fiance lady. WTF? Man should run far, far away. How ungrateful of something that he absolutely DIDN'T have to invest in. Meh.

[amise.livejournal.com]

Do you remember those commercials a few years back? The ones that said that a good guideline for a wedding ring was two months salary?

Those drove me nuts.

[pecos.livejournal.com]

I am so with you on the diamonds. I wear a CZ, and will own up to it whenever anyone makes any kind of comment. Brides are allowed to be one of the most shamefully selfish, horrible and frightening creatures on the planet. The only way I can stomach then is knowing that their little fantasy world will be dust soon enough.

Oo, I sound SO bitter. Anyhow, I guess this is why I cannot stand 'let's get married!' in my slash. If it's fantasy anyhow, I'd like to think these guys are better than all of that.