interminable exegesis: Refractive Beauty (Blood Diamonds)

Raw beauty can cost you an arm and a leg but you battle to save your wealth while we lose our limbs so you can gloat (Keeble, 2013).

Blood diamonds are my topic of choice, mainly because they hit close to home. Over the years diamonds have been seen to bring happiness to women who are to be married or even lovers of jewelry However, diamonds bear a dark side, apart from their refractive beauty, that has caused the death of many Africa.

A diamond is one of the toughest substances known to man. Diamonds consist of 99.95% pure carbon atoms (Excel Diamonds, 2013). Due to their isometric structural arrangement Diamonds are different compared to the rest of the crystal family. The refractive properties of a diamonds are a reason they are loved so much. The Word “diamond” was derived from the Greek word “Adamus” which means indestructible. According to (Savage, 2008) diamonds have always been vehemently revered throughout the ages and they stood to represent supreme strength. Plato on the other hand held the notion that diamonds were living spirits (savage, 2008).

A diamonds is forever (De beers, 1948). Diamonds have attracted many and have also been called “A girl’s best friend”. However, the brutal story behind how diamonds are acquired is a ignored by people every single day. The reality protrudes especially after one watches movies such as blood diamond. Reality being: people are dehumanized, in order to attain the gem that is to be sold – in return for arms. A prime example is Sierra Leone. In its inception the RUF followed the words “No More Slaves, No More Masters. Power and wealth to the People“. However the RUF became the masters and enslaved its own people by forcing Men and children to mine diamonds under the guard of armed men. They were notorious for mutilating people amputating hands and legs – that of women and also children to reinforce the message that civilians should remove their hands from the war (civil) and also politics. Furthermore, Children were abducted from their families and trained to be soldiers for the RUF. The diamonds that were mined by these men were then used to buy arms that would aid in the war.

This brutality is overlooked and over priced diamonds is sold to unsuspecting customers who have little care for the process behind getting the diamonds. So, as a subjective view, when a man is down on one knee, about to propose, it is all done in vein if the diamonds encrusted into that ring has not been mined by the man himself. He then becomes implicated in the funding of a war. Because of western imperialism the notion that: “Poverty makes people do reckless things but rich people do worse to protect their bling” (Immortal Technique, 2008.) is true. The insanity in the ignorance about diamonds is in the fact that very few people realize that the companies from which they buy their diamonds “American-Swiss” for example hold a paradox in their name considering the fact that Switzerland has absolutely no natural resources. Yet some people think that diamonds come from Antwerp.

An opinionated statement from one would be that – Resources are worthless however humans put a price to everything. The downfall, with diamonds being that, on resale, they are worth far less than the initial exorbitant cost of the stones. Diamonds could be perceived as tears from the Gods or the bearers of happiness. However when you are the one mining them, money can only buy you misery because your soul is auctioned for a gun. No matter where is the world you find it, whether or not it has been through the Kimberly process. The diamond. Is a BLOOD DIAMOND. Uhuru. Sasa...