Thirtysomething

Blood Diamonds

Or "conflict stones" if you prefer. My friend Heather has been yammering about "conflict-free" diamonds ever since her fiance bought her conflict-free diamond last summer. She's all about the Canadian diamonds now.

This morning I was watching MTV and saw Kanye West's video for his song, "Diamonds (from Sierra Leone)". It features shots of African children mining diamonds, along with narrative about how awful the circumstances are. The video shows these diamonds being sold to greedy white jewelers and then bought by greedy, white clients whose hands begin to bleed when they put on diamond rings. Because, you know, young black rappers don't wear any ice. Apparently, it's just a white thing. Whatever. I have about enough of Kanye West and his soapbox.

It's not that I don't care. I do. Do I like the fact that I could be supporting terrorist by having diamond jewelry? No, of course not. I know that the rock on my hand could have been mined by someone enslaved by rebels. Does that bother me? Of course it does. I don't want to think of anyone being enslaved. But I also know that most of my clothes have labels on them that say "made in India" or "made in Bangledesh" and somehow, I don't think the people who made the clothes have it so hot either.

Heather's right: it's an awful thing that's happening in Africa. What do you do? Do you investigate every product to find out where it came from, how it was made? Because if you did, you'd likely be very disappointed in how the United States economy stays on top. And you'd drive yourself crazy.

So you do nothing. Like me.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 6:40 AM