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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3597 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 4, 2022

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Does anyone have any general advice on picking an engagement ring? I'll be proposing soon and I honestly have no idea where to start. I assume that walking into a local jewelry store is the easiest way to do this but also by far the most expensive. Is there a better way?

Is there a better way?

Yes, there is a better way - spending your money on something of actual value.

If gf wants a diamond, explain to her history and present of diamond industry, explain to her the masterful psyop that equated love with gifting your monthly wage (formerly, now it is supposed to be three months) to mafia yakuza drug cartel De Beers corporation.

gf still wants a diamond?

Explain to her that you cannot sell a diamond except at 90% loss (if lucky), explain that diamond is not investment that appreciates, that diamond is not store of value, that diamond is pure money sink.

gf still wants a diamond?

Explain to her that cubic zirconium indistinguishable from diamond provides all benefits of diamond (impressing some species of birds and people with bird brains who are impressed with bright shiny things and being prime target for criminals) at 1/100 price.

gf still wants a diamond?

Replace gf, unless you want to be slave of TV advertising for life.

De Beers and the Diamond companies might have pulled a fast one, but they did so successfully. The real important dynamic is not between her and the De Beers company but between her and her female friends/family. If she's the type to relish rubbing the pointlessness of diamonds into the faces of her friends and family that ask about the ring, more power to her. But if she is only going to give those stock answers when the subject comes up and secretly be ashamed of her cubic zirconium ring, even though the savings went into buying a car or having a thousand better meals, then you're making a meaningful tradeoff here even if doing what is locally best for you benefits some assholes with a monopoly.

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