Diamonds vs. HDTV. Gee, really?

[kyrielle]

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=wired_news&itemid=43626

Ah, a news article about how women prefer an HDTV system to a 1-karat diamond ring. Come on people, is that so hard to figure out? Diamond rings are stupid. The diamond is not all that pretty; glass or cubic zirconium can match or better it, at a fraction of the cost. Myths aside, the diamond ring is an awful value, since the market is controlled as it is; it resells for less than most people think.

All the ads that try to sell you diamond rings? Are practically insulting, saying that's what a woman wants. Do I look like I have fuzz for brains? If you want to get me a jewel, get me something with color, or get me cubic zirc. If you want to get an investment, buy me some stock. Don't fiddle with the two.

At least the HDTV is useful. And I don't want one of those, either. Now, a digital video recorder, or a digital voice recorder, or both..... (Actually investigating the latter to figure out which one I want; simply drooling over the former.)

WHY do people assume the inherent worth (monetary and sentimental) of diamonds? Ugh. Expensive marketing campaign makes a nice lead weight for an already-iffy stone, anyway.

And yep, it is before 5 am and I am grumpy. Imagine that.

Comments

[the_rck]

Grmph. This is my second attempt to comment on this... For some reason, LJ often won't register that I'm logged in when I try to comment even though it registered it for other purposes. Sigh...

Anyway, I agree with you about diamonds. Of course, I don't care for jewelry generally. I have to keep telling relatives not to give me more dust collectors (Fortunately, Scott figured it out pretty much immediately).

My take on gemstones of any sort in rings is that they're an annoyance. They stick out, catch on things, hurt my fingers...

[canyoncat.livejournal.com]

LOL! It's sad when a diamond isn't good enough, but it is all about money, and a good HDTV setup is going to cost a lot more than a 1-karat diamond ring. Some people like diamonds and some don't, I think they are rather special myself. You want color? When a diamond sparkles you get all of the colors of the rainbow. Yeah, you can get the same thing from cubic zirconium (at least some people think so) but the diamond was made by mother nature over hundreds of millions of years. I will take natural over man-made any day. Don't get me wrong, I am not a diamond freak. Robin only has two rings, her original engagement ring, and an eternity band that I got for her this year, and I know she is very attached to both of them.

[camwyn]

At least the HDTV doesn't stand a high chance of having been mined at gunpoint by prisoners of war, then sold to finance bloody revolutions and atrocities in African civil wars... sorry, I've been soured on much of the diamond mystique ever since the Clean Diamonds Campaign started at Amnesty International. The diamond industry just managed to get a code adopted to cut down on the use of conflict diamonds to finance all manner of horrors, but in the end the HDTV is probably still a safer bet.

Besides, I like colour in my stones.

[ladywraith.livejournal.com]

I don't personally like diamonds. Or rings with stones in them, to be truthful. My mother had bought me a simple, small gold ring when I was 16...it had 4 diamonds on the corners of a larger emerald. Pretty little thing, but I was so terrified to wear it (for fear of losing it or the stones), that it sat in my jewelry box for years.

One night, my Mom borrowed it. I never got it back, which is fine. She was 'safekeeping' it, you know? Well, I didn't mind, because I'm not really a gold fanatic, either. I can't even wear gold earrings...I get infections like mad. Anyway, last year, her apartment was broken into and the ring is gone now. I was more upset over the fact that it was the ring that -she- had saved and saved for to buy me. It was special. Not because it had stones in it, but because it was from Mom.

Anyway, I digress. My engagement ring? Sterling silver, fairly flat, with an engraving of a Celtic triskele in it. My wedding band? A two-toned gold band with Celtic knotwork and the Claddagh symbol (and it's primarily white gold). No stones. Karat? 10k gold. I had the option of 18 or 24. No way. I wanted something sturdy.

See, I'm tough on my hands. I shelve books for a living and have always worked with my hands. Some of those books are 10+ lbs each. I don't know how many of my co-workers have ruined their rings because of squishing their hands between books, getting their rings caught on bookshelves, etc. I think they have lost a small fortune between all of them in various jewels (diamonds, sapphires, opals, etc.). One lost so many stones at work that she finally had the ring melted down and made into a new ring with the remaining stones!

So, I just don't want the hassle. Give me something flat with a pretty engraving or other markings and I'm a happy gal. ;) I told my hubby flat out when we were getting engaged that I'd hurt him if he spent a fortune (or even a small fortune) on an engagement ring. He let me pick it out. Cost: $20. *laugh* But it's not how much it is, or how many stones, IMO... it's the meaning behind it. He could have given me a ring from a Cracker Jack box and I would have been just as happy. :) :)

Or new computer 'toys'. *laugh* ;) (Sorry about the long-winded-ness...)

[pheon.livejournal.com]

I quite agree with you about diamonds. Good thing your mother does, too, isn't it? :-)

[leora.livejournal.com]

I fully agree.

The diamond cartel is disgusting.

The ads for diamonds on tv are insulting.

And while diamonds are pretty enough, they are overrated and overhyped. I'd much rather have platinum, white gold, or silver to yellow gold. And I'd much rather have an emerald or opal than a diamond. But for preference, I generally wear hematite rings. They are beautiful, shimmery, and look slightly different from anything else. They also break quite easily, and I've gone through several of them. Fortunately, I can usually pick up more for somewhere between $1 and $5 when I feel like getting a new one.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally agree. Back in college, a bunch of us joked that we'd know he was the wrong man for us if he proposed with a diamond, do you remember that? Rie and I were especially emphatic.

Diamonds are washed out. And I'm sorry, but huge stone, frequently unadorned, plunked on top a band? FUGLY!

The diamond industry makes me sick, too.

[kyrielle]

And see, I don't think it's sad at all, but that's because I'd rather get a glass prism than a diamond. (I think I'd rather get a glass prism than an HDTV, too, considering I never watch TV.)

I just don't like the stone. It's horribly expensive, and for what purpose I can't see, but I agree, some people think they're pretty. I don't understand, but I acknowledge that it's so. ;)

Re:

[canyoncat.livejournal.com]

To each their own.
That's what makes us all so special, right?
:)

[kyrielle]

Yep. Actually, I'm beginning to like more and more the kind of ring Scott spoke of getting - Black Hills gold, colored gold in patterns. They're pretty, the more I see of them, though I still wince to think of wearing that much money on your finger, I grant.

[kyrielle]

By the way, where do you find hematite rings? I love hematite!

[leora.livejournal.com]

Little stores that sell various items like beads and candles and such. They often have a small basket of hematite rings. I used to pick them up at a store walking distance from my university, right now I wouldn't know where to find one. Although there is a rock and mineral store in the area that might have them.