4 ms·
Congrats on presenting a diamond-alternative to her. The diamond trade is absolutely disgusting and unfortunately many people seem to equate "love" with a shiny
by clobber 14y ago
Congrats on presenting a diamond-alternative to her. The diamond trade is absolutely disgusting and unfortunately many people seem to equate "love" with a shiny rock. If it came down to it, I would have to reevaluate marrying someone that refused to believe otherwise.
- hkmurakami 14y agoI started thinking about this issue a few days ago and have yet to come up with a strategy for convincing a (future) partner on the follies of purchasing a diamond. Is there any recourse at all to the epic marketing job De Beers has masterminded?
- jquery 14y agoGood luck. It's akin to convincing your SO that you don't want to celebrate Christmas because it's a product of retail marketing.
- hkmurakami 14y agoOh, did I mention that our family hasn't bought one another gifts on Christmas ever sine I was about 12 years old? :) Maybe there is hope after all! (not)
- heretohelp 14y agoWell. We can't all be generalists.
- katabatic 14y agoHow about sending them this article?
- icelancer 14y agoFind someone who can think logically. Not easy, of course...
- dllthomas 14y ago1) Make jokes about diamonds being bad long before there's thought of engagement rings. Get your friends, hopefully her friends, and ideally her to do the same. 2) Make it clear that your objection is not to financial. If you do go with a gem that proves to be less expensive, donate the balance to a cause she believes in. If you do have financial objections, express them separately, in financial terms; don't conflate the issues. 3) Point out that it is not a long-standing tradition, but rather a recently manufactured one. 4) Don't skimp on other traditions.
- Strilanc 14y agoMy SO has agreed to being given a kitten as an engagement gift. I think it works great as a replacement. Not cheap (food, needles, etc), not short-term, and cute. She'll probably enjoy it more than the 30 aggregate minutes of showing off a ring, too.
- saulrh 14y agoArtificial diamonds are solid, physical proof of the achievement of mankind. We've taken the most regular, durable objects that nature can produce and we've duplicated and bettered them. Every time you look at an artificial diamond, that's science, right there, concentrated and almost literally crystallized.
- enraged_camel 14y agoThat's great if you're marrying a woman who is a scientist. Everyone else will just roll their eyes, unfortunately.
- rmc 14y agoFind someone who's not into that whole thing. Not everyone is the same. There are highly ethical people, vegans, "occupy" people, hairy feminists, eco-warriors, punks, goths, nerds, socialists, anarchists. There are loads of people who will pride themselves on not having a diamond. There are people who don't fit in these common moulds.
- infinite8s 14y agoOf all the groups of people you listed, it's interesting that only feminists are described with an adjective (and 'hairy' at that).
- rmc 14y agoHehe, I suppose I was trying to allude to more extreme feminist leaning people. (Pedantically, I could claim we are all feminists, after all, nearly everyone here thinks women should be able to vote. But that wasn't the meaning I had in mind initally)
- KingMob 14y agoPedantically? Pedantically, feminism encompasses much more than the right to vote, which is why not all people are feminists. Having the right to vote would be suffragism. :)
- buyx 14y agoThe diamond trade is absolutely disgusting I am not sure that the people of Botswana would agree.