quote:They have completely created both the demand for the product and the entire industry that supports the product and they did it by one of the dirtiest and most underhanded means in history... by conviencing a large, large number of an entire generations of women that if he doesn't shell out a huge, massive amount of money for a diamond that he doesn't love you.
Men are not immune to culturalization. So maybe after all these generations if he doesn't shell out a huge, massive amount of money for a diamond after growing up in the same culture, with the same values that she did, maybe he doesn't love her.
In this culture we express our affection in certain ways, many of which have something to do with money.
I can't tell if you're being serious here or not, but just because two people were raised in the same culture with the same values doesn't mean they both share those values with everyone else. Meaning the bride and groom may have come to their own conclusions, separate from their family and culture, about how to express affection. It's absurd and rude to suggest that a man who decides, despite cultural pressures, not to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a ring doesn't really love his future wife.
Also, I think you are overstating the case for being "established" before marriage. People can get married poor, it won't destroy their lives.
In general it seems like you are trying to justify your ring to yourself and the rest of us.
-------------------- Officially Heartless Posts: 3065 | From: The Montgomery County of the West Coast- Berkeley, CA | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
Rhiandmoi
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
I am not trying to justify my ring to anyone. I have it, I like.
What I am trying to say is that people have many reasons for doing and not doing things. Some men will not be buying engagement rings because they abhor the conditions under which diamonds are collected. Some men will not be buying engagement rings because they think the notion of an engagement ring is BS cooked up by De Beers. And some men will not be buying engagement rings because they just aren't that into the woman. I am saying that it is possible to communicate with monetary gifts how much you are into another person.
And of course people can get married poor and it won't destroy their lives. That doesn't mean I have to think it is a good idea.
-------------------- I think that hyperbole is the single greatest factor contributing to the decline of society. - My friend Pat.
quote:Originally posted by Rhiandmoi: I am saying that it is possible to communicate with monetary gifts how much you are into another person.
And of course people can get married poor and it won't destroy their lives. That doesn't mean I have to think it is a good idea.
Nor should you think it's any of your business how another couple expresses their love or financial situation.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged |
Joe Bentley
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
So if I just went to Africa and chopped the kid's arms off myself, you know cutting out the middle man and all, it would be okay as long as I was doing it to "express my love?"
-------------------- "Existence has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long." - Rorschach, The Watchmen Posts: 8929 | From: Norfolk, Virginia | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
As long as you pay the boy two month's salary.
-------------------- This used to be the life, but I don't need another one. MyBandwagon Posts: 3254 | From: small town Texas | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Joe Bentley: So if I just went to Africa and chopped the kid's arms off myself, you know cutting out the middle man and all, it would be okay as long as I was doing it to "express my love?"
Why not give a Canadian diamond or a sapphire or a ruby to "express your love" if you feel this strongly about African diamonds? Or is it really the idea of spending any amount of money on a piece of jewellry that is the true source of your angst?
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Am I a horrible person for laughing so hard I choked when I read Starla's post? I'm going to need a whole new laptop...
-------------------- "If God wrote it, the grammar must be infallible. Perhaps it is we who are mistaken." -MapleLeaf Posts: 977 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |