Why Engagement Rings are Stupid
I have no grievances against the actual ring part of engagement rings. Because it has no beginning or end, a ring symbolizes eternity, which makes it a great symbol for Latter-day Saints and an empty hypocritical symbol for billions of others who don't believe in eternal marriage. The part I have a problem with is the expensive diamonds that American culture expects to come attached. And of course the man is usually expected to buy it, because we're pretending it's still the 1920s and men have more disposable income than women.
Many Americans believe that this is an indispensible time-honored romantic tradition, for the simple reason that the De Beers diamond cartel said it was. And the reason they believe that men are supposed to spend two months' salary on them is because the De Beers diamond cartel said they were. Apparently they didn't want to push their luck by saying three months. In case you hadn't guessed, the "tradition" dates to the early twentieth century when the De Beers diamond cartel made it up. In 1947 their advertising agency said, for example, "We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring - to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services."
It shouldn't have worked, but because people are impossibly gullible, it did. Like I always say, there's nothing more romantic than falling for a multi-billion dollar scam. Part of me thinks they should be strung up by their genitals but another part of me can't help admiring them for getting away with it. The diamond commercials I hear on the radio make me physically ill. They literally tell you that buying their overpriced, worthless product is how you should show your partner you love her. And apparently people somehow believe this shallow manipulative garbage. Like I always say, there's nothing more romantic than guilt-tripping your partner into wasting thousands of dollars to prove that he loves you.
Diamonds, at least the clear-colored diamonds that are included in most engagement rings, aren't nearly as rare or valuable as the diamond companies want you to think they are. And when they were rare, decades ago, it was because the De Beers diamond cartel had a monopoly and limited production to create artificial scarcity. Have you ever considered that if diamonds were actually rare, it would be unfeasible to expect countless millions of couples to each have (at least) one? If you've ever bought one and tried to sell it back, you know that, because you discovered that the store wouldn't pay you nearly as much as you paid them, because they weren't as ignorant as you. Besides not being rare, diamonds are also not indestructible, fireproof, environmentally friendly to mine, unable to be replicated easily in a lab, or an investment that will ever pay you back in the future.
Just think of all the things an average couple could buy or go toward with the absurd amount of money that diamond companies want to extort from them (him). In an era when young people are working their butts off and can still barely afford to be alive, the continuation of this scam masquerading as a tradition is all the more sickening. I know of couples who postponed their marriages until they (he) could afford an engagement ring. No disrespect intended to them, but that's really stupid. Our nauseating consumer culture has clouded our minds about what's really important. In the unlikely event that I ever get married, I may get a ring, but there's no way in hell it will have a diamond in it.
Bonus: Berkely Breathed, being an exceptionally smart man, called out the diamond scam decades ago in "Bloom County". It's taken all this time for Americans to start catching up with him.
Many Americans believe that this is an indispensible time-honored romantic tradition, for the simple reason that the De Beers diamond cartel said it was. And the reason they believe that men are supposed to spend two months' salary on them is because the De Beers diamond cartel said they were. Apparently they didn't want to push their luck by saying three months. In case you hadn't guessed, the "tradition" dates to the early twentieth century when the De Beers diamond cartel made it up. In 1947 their advertising agency said, for example, "We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring - to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services."
It shouldn't have worked, but because people are impossibly gullible, it did. Like I always say, there's nothing more romantic than falling for a multi-billion dollar scam. Part of me thinks they should be strung up by their genitals but another part of me can't help admiring them for getting away with it. The diamond commercials I hear on the radio make me physically ill. They literally tell you that buying their overpriced, worthless product is how you should show your partner you love her. And apparently people somehow believe this shallow manipulative garbage. Like I always say, there's nothing more romantic than guilt-tripping your partner into wasting thousands of dollars to prove that he loves you.
Diamonds, at least the clear-colored diamonds that are included in most engagement rings, aren't nearly as rare or valuable as the diamond companies want you to think they are. And when they were rare, decades ago, it was because the De Beers diamond cartel had a monopoly and limited production to create artificial scarcity. Have you ever considered that if diamonds were actually rare, it would be unfeasible to expect countless millions of couples to each have (at least) one? If you've ever bought one and tried to sell it back, you know that, because you discovered that the store wouldn't pay you nearly as much as you paid them, because they weren't as ignorant as you. Besides not being rare, diamonds are also not indestructible, fireproof, environmentally friendly to mine, unable to be replicated easily in a lab, or an investment that will ever pay you back in the future.
Just think of all the things an average couple could buy or go toward with the absurd amount of money that diamond companies want to extort from them (him). In an era when young people are working their butts off and can still barely afford to be alive, the continuation of this scam masquerading as a tradition is all the more sickening. I know of couples who postponed their marriages until they (he) could afford an engagement ring. No disrespect intended to them, but that's really stupid. Our nauseating consumer culture has clouded our minds about what's really important. In the unlikely event that I ever get married, I may get a ring, but there's no way in hell it will have a diamond in it.
Bonus: Berkely Breathed, being an exceptionally smart man, called out the diamond scam decades ago in "Bloom County". It's taken all this time for Americans to start catching up with him.