The Cut, Color, and Clarity of Stupidity
Posted on | November 18, 2008 | No Comments
All the proof ever needed to demonstrate that human beings are irretrievably flawed can be found in the diamond business.
Here’s a rough-cut summary: tens of thousands of workers, predominantly in third-world nations, sacrifice their health digging up hillsides and stream beds in order to find a few shiny objects. The shiny objects are then shipped across the globe so that other people can place them on their bodies and feel more important than they are.
Many of the diggers are forced to work against their will, and some of them die in the process. Genuine twenty-first century slavery.
Meanwhile, first-world consumers are marketing-conditioned to spend an obscene amount of money to purchase a useless, inert bauble. And they feel happy doing it!
But here’s the pièce de résistance: more than thirty years ago, a process to synthetically manufacture a diamond substitute was developed. Cubic zirconia, at a fraction of the cost and without the human suffering, is indistinguishable from the real thing to anyone not carrying a jeweler’s loupe with them.
Yet vanity knows no bounds. Consumers want only “the real thing.”
If the human race is ever placed on trial in some cosmic court, I am testifying on behalf of the prosecution.
Tags: cubic zirconia > diamond trade > Diamonds > jewelry > slavery > stupidity > vanity
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My name is John. I have opinions about everything, especially about how to solve world problems. Most of my rants have to do with the runaway stupidity on this planet. If you don't agree with my views, that's OK - it's a free country (kinda). Just don't mistake this site for a democracy!
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