(no subject)
http://jezebel. com/5032002/the-jewels-in-septembers-elle-come-at-an-extremely-high-price
for those of you too lazy to read, De Beers price fixes their diamonds so that you can never sell them for anywhere NEAR the original cost, the founder is a blatantly outspoken white supremacist (or maybe just a huge fan of being British, either way), and they hide the fact that they unearth about 5 times the amount of diamonds that they report, forcing the price of diamonds up exponentially. on top of that, De Beers has been found to practice illegal mining operations and has violated about a million human rights violations by building their company on the backs of native African workers. and they edit their Wikipedia entries, because they're sore losers. it's also worth mentioning that if Africans themselves were "allowed" to have full control over their diamond resources alone, a large number of African countries wouldn't be in such poor shape.
the actual point here is that Elle magazine decides that in their new issue they're going to dedicate an entire accessories spread on De Beers' new line of African tribal mask inspired jewelry. the issue here is that one company (that owns 40% of the diamond market, and is considered the monopoly on the diamond industry) has not only dehumanized and abused an entire culture of people, but they've effectively turned their "employees" belief system into a commodity worthy only of a one page spread in Elle magazine.
i'm not entirely sure how many of you are planning on going out and buying some crazy bling but seriously think about this before you buy from them. and on top of that, i don't know how many of you chickies (or guys....?) read Elle but i'd consider their moral, ethical, and journalistic integrities before taking any of their articles with a grain of salt. they either don't do their research or they don't give a shit but either way it's entirely off-putting. they also get some kind of commission for advertising (since that's really all it is) a company's stuff in their magazine, so i'm sure that the plight of native African workers doesn't mean all that much to them.
/soap box
for those of you too lazy to read, De Beers price fixes their diamonds so that you can never sell them for anywhere NEAR the original cost, the founder is a blatantly outspoken white supremacist (or maybe just a huge fan of being British, either way), and they hide the fact that they unearth about 5 times the amount of diamonds that they report, forcing the price of diamonds up exponentially. on top of that, De Beers has been found to practice illegal mining operations and has violated about a million human rights violations by building their company on the backs of native African workers. and they edit their Wikipedia entries, because they're sore losers. it's also worth mentioning that if Africans themselves were "allowed" to have full control over their diamond resources alone, a large number of African countries wouldn't be in such poor shape.
the actual point here is that Elle magazine decides that in their new issue they're going to dedicate an entire accessories spread on De Beers' new line of African tribal mask inspired jewelry. the issue here is that one company (that owns 40% of the diamond market, and is considered the monopoly on the diamond industry) has not only dehumanized and abused an entire culture of people, but they've effectively turned their "employees" belief system into a commodity worthy only of a one page spread in Elle magazine.
i'm not entirely sure how many of you are planning on going out and buying some crazy bling but seriously think about this before you buy from them. and on top of that, i don't know how many of you chickies (or guys....?) read Elle but i'd consider their moral, ethical, and journalistic integrities before taking any of their articles with a grain of salt. they either don't do their research or they don't give a shit but either way it's entirely off-putting. they also get some kind of commission for advertising (since that's really all it is) a company's stuff in their magazine, so i'm sure that the plight of native African workers doesn't mean all that much to them.
/soap box