September 4, 2007
“钻石恒久远，一颗永流传”（A diamond is forever), 这句被商家 De Beers 设计推出的口号应该是人尽皆知，尤其是恋爱中的女孩子。 似乎“钻石代表爱情”这个概念由来已久，根深蒂固，近年来， 更有“爱情就是钻石”之趋势。 上个月在国内甚至看到一个真人真事的电视节目，女孩子对男朋友倾吐内心的最大愿望—“我就是想要一颗钻石！！！ 我可以以后忍饥挨饿，过简单的日子，但是我结婚一定要一个大大的钻石！”结果男朋友回答说—我们现在没有条件买大大的，先给个小的用着，以后再换—这个回答在女孩子无可奈何的表情中赢得了场上观众的热烈掌声 。。。
很多人也许不知道，这个婚嫁必有钻石的规矩和习俗其实是1960年才由美国开始并且流行起来的—这是个完全由De Beers 一手打造出来的商业产品。无可否定， 这是个出色的市场开发的绝妙大手笔！不过钻石象征永恒，象征纯洁的爱情吗？ 看看李湘与钻石大王李厚霖的一年多的婚姻也许会找到答案？
这个改造了美国人以及整个世界消费习惯的公司，现在又开始把毒爪伸向年轻的中国市场—看看上面的电视场景，和你周边的女性朋友谈谈，然后再在Google上查一下（China+Diamond），你就可以看到，这个不亚于中国空气污染，土地沙化，能源紧张，交通拥挤的无形侵袭，正在无孔不入地进入中国亿万个人家。但是，你知道钻石能从一个稀有矿石变成今天的爱情象征是经过商家采用了什么样的手段，其中还有那些骇人听闻的血钻 （Blood Diamond）和那么多的悲惨故事 呢？
下面的文字是我看了“艾丽丝笔记”的文字“钻石恒久远”的留言并修改的 （“艾丽丝笔记”的原文请看http://blog.wenxuecity.com/blogview.php?date=200709&postID=2151&page=1#mark),可惜没有时间用中文写一遍了。
Anyone who read the book Blood Diamond, or even watched the movie, might have some different opinions on the extravagant value that the merchants put on diamonds. Undeniably, the diamond industry has made this 120 years of industry more profitable than most of the brick-and-mortars. Its sophistication levels on controlling the productions, marketing and sales; the way they cultivate the product imagines and dynamically direct and control the politically climate to create market demand, all and all, came from the visions of one single man, who had no formal education and had virtually no money to start with, Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the one and only dominating diamond company in the world, De Beers.
Even today, it is inconceivable to many that, out of this $81 billion annual sales industry, De Beers has over $60 billion sales, and the U.S. customers consumed more than $31 billion dollars (2004), over 50% of its sales are to the U.S. —and, more amazingly, this happens when De Beers, the world largest diamond company, is prohibited by law to do any direct business with any U.S. company because of its monopoly position in the world of diamond, which is in violation of U.S. Antitrust Law. There is also a U.S. law specifically prohibits De Beers in conducting formal business in the U.S., no more than three officers can be in the U.S. at the same time, or facing arrest even jail time.
Of course, the so-called Blood Diamond is only less than 2% of the total annual global sales, according to the carefully crafted research and study from world diamond industries. However, some critics say that the real number could be as high as 20%!!! Since there is no way to trace the origin of a stone once it is cut, even the most sophisticated chemical analysis would fail to achieve this noble goal—eradicating the profit from blood diamonds, it should not be a surprise to see the stone which made some girl’s day could be the one that contains a bloody history, a history full of amputations, child labors, mass murdering and genocide, and the war that caused over 3 million death and over 6 million people displaced in Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo and other Africa nations.
Diamond is the only item that one can carry in a naked body with value worth millions. The diamond industry proclaims, A diamond is forever!!! I wonder if the true reason for some women or men for that matter, to love diamond is because it resembles love, or really, let’s face it—it resembles a portable and liquidity wealth, and the influence of power it implies?
Love is something much deeper than skin, can we wear love instead of diamond?
Diamond is only an overly inflated piece of rare mineral, it reflects nothing without light, it is worth nothing if no one is admiring.
We don’t need diamond to proof we are worthy, the light of our hearts will make anything we touch shine, and turn everything golden, or shall we say, diamond?
也许我们对待钻石界铺天盖地的老鼠会形式的攻势，也应该采取像对待60年代开始流行起来的滚石音乐（Rock&Roll）一样，当成是一种自然流行，自然消亡的现象而已，理解这只是一种商业产品，和我们心底的那种特殊感觉没有任何关系。如果有人给我们买了钻石，除了尽情欣喜像一个小女孩刚刚得到的一个盼望已久的布娃娃之外，我们大可不必认为这个钻石给自己带来的感动胜过其他任何东西，也更要防止自己误将购买的价钱当成感动的度量--这小玩具带来的感动和其他生命中的感动也许并不能相提并论， 那些由于知道了一个人爱着自己十年二十年而不变的感动，那个能够为自己舍弃舒适安逸的生活而与自己风雨同舟的人，那个为爱而走天涯的人，那个每天呵护着自己的温馨，甚至那首给自己写的，曾令人流泪的小诗，一段回味无穷的隽永话语，一段令人难忘的友情。。。
就像应该对待其他任何流行起来的东西一样，我们也不必采取完全绝弃的态度--这个世界有人喜欢滚石乐，也有人喜欢古典，更有人喜欢轻音乐一样，喜欢钻石也无可厚非，不喜欢也没有什么，因为自己的价值并不在于身上可以去掉的东西值多少日元。。。
However, if we really need something to serve as a reminder how unsafe this world is, we don’t need to wear a diamond to feel that, there are plenty things around us already…
If I have to select something “forever”, I would say, Tattoo is forever!
Ok, throw some bricks at me, or better yet, some precious stones at me, I am not living in a glass house…
