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Speaker 1: So Matt, are you proposing? Um, you said you were.

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Speaker 1: You said you wouldn't do it like this on the podcast.

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Speaker 1: All right, all right, well, well, luckily for everybody involved,

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Speaker 1: it turns out that you are my friend already a

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Speaker 1: married man. You got me, okay, all right, well, well

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Speaker 1: that's probably better for everybody. I wanted to ask you.

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Speaker 1: It's been on my mind for a while. I want

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Speaker 1: to ask you when you got married, did you feel pressured?

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Speaker 1: Uh not by not by your lovely spouse. It was

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Speaker 1: a friend of mine as well, Like did you feel

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Speaker 1: pressured by society to get a diamond? I felt the

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Speaker 1: pressure of that which creates diamonds upon carbon. Uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're there. Yeah, I don't even know how to state it.

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Speaker 1: At the time when I got married, there was no

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Speaker 1: other option. The There was the possibility to get a sapphire.

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Speaker 1: I think, like maybe if you were if you were

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Speaker 1: just out there enough, you could get a sapphire instead

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Speaker 1: of a diamond, but you had to finesse it right,

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Speaker 1: like yeah, okay, your pr had to be really good,

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Speaker 1: and then then the pressure internally from the spouse was, yeah,

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Speaker 1: let's go with the diamond. Oh yeah, well yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that that makes sense, and you know, sometimes, as they say,

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Speaker 1: you have to one must pick their battles. But it's

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Speaker 1: interesting when we say that you had to have good

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Speaker 1: PR if you were going to go for a sapphire

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Speaker 1: or some other precious stone, because there is a tremendous

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Speaker 1: amount of money time and as we'll see, blood poured

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Speaker 1: into the ongoing PR campaign to make people feel like

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Speaker 1: they have to have a diamond. And in this week's

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Speaker 1: classic episode, we dive deep into the story of diamonds

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Speaker 1: and how these stones became associated with meanful moments in

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Speaker 1: people's lives and what, perhaps most importantly, the consequences of

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Speaker 1: that successful marketing have been for people around the world.

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Speaker 1: Outside of you know, our wallets, your wallet, my mom

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Speaker 1: at First Sure from UFOs, two, ghosts and government cover ups.

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Speaker 1: History is riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back

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Speaker 1: now or learn the stuff they don't want you to now. Hello,

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Speaker 1: welcome back to the show. My name is Matt and

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Speaker 1: I'm Ben, and today we have a very special guest

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Speaker 1: with us, ladies and gentlemen. We'd like to introduce you

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Speaker 1: someone you probably already know if you have checked out

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Speaker 1: any How Stuff Works podcast. That is Lauren vogelbaumb. How's

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Speaker 1: it going, Lauren? Not too bad? How about you guys,

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Speaker 1: it's going pretty well. Yes, and nice to see you

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Speaker 1: in here with us, Yeah, with our super producers, and

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Speaker 1: I like, I like what you guys do at the

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Speaker 1: studio for for this podcast. It's kind of bright and

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Speaker 1: cheery when I'm in here for Forward Thinking. But there's

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Speaker 1: kind of this miasma rising up from the floor grains,

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Speaker 1: which I didn't even know that we had, So that's

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Speaker 1: very fancy. Yeah, that's the miasma switch over there by

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Speaker 1: the on error, like I missed it. So, Lauren you are.

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Speaker 1: You are a numerous podcast with how stuff works. Right currently,

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Speaker 1: I am on Forward Thinking and then I'm also onto

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Speaker 1: video shows, which you know because you're on them with

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Speaker 1: me Ben brain Stuff and also What the Stuff. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and recently you did a fantastic brain Stuff episode about

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Speaker 1: uh diamond rings, which inspired us to uh to ask

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Speaker 1: you to come and beyond this podcast. And I don't

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Speaker 1: know about you, Matt, but I'm super excited that she's here.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I got to watch the video a couple

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Speaker 1: of times now just to make sure I understood some

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Speaker 1: of the facts, because I think you laid out a

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Speaker 1: lot of the things we're going to talk about um

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Speaker 1: in some disturbing detail. Yeah. I was trying in the

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff episode to be really straightforward about it. The

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Speaker 1: episode was about why diamonds appear in engagement rings so frequently,

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Speaker 1: because that was not always the case, and as it

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Speaker 1: turns out, it's due to advertising. And I have a

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Speaker 1: lot of feelings about it that I could not put

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Speaker 1: in that episode because, Yeah, we were trying not to

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Speaker 1: piss everyone on YouTube off entirely. I wanted to present

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Speaker 1: the facts right, Yeah, and we I think there was

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Speaker 1: a there was a definite diplomatic tone to to that episode,

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Speaker 1: but we wanted to delve into some of the dirty secrets,

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Speaker 1: the things you might not know about diamonds, and what

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Speaker 1: show better than stuff they want you to know for

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Speaker 1: this and what guest host better than our resident diamond expert. Now, okay,

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Speaker 1: no pressure, Sure, thanks, thanks. Let's get into the science

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Speaker 1: of what a diamond is. Just to set up some

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Speaker 1: background here, A diamond is nothing more than highly compressed carbon,

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Speaker 1: the stuff that makes up you and me and all

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Speaker 1: of the life that lives on this planet that can

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Speaker 1: be considered living at least that we know of and

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Speaker 1: on this planet. Yeah, it's a if we want to

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Speaker 1: get fancy, yeah, if we want to get fancy. It's

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Speaker 1: a meta stable allotrope of carbon, which is what you

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Speaker 1: should say if you want to look like a nerd

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Speaker 1: at the jewelry store. And we'll talk about we'll talk

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Speaker 1: about whether you should go to a jeweler at some point.

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Speaker 1: Let me get that again. Meta what is it? Meta

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Speaker 1: stable allotrope of carbon? Meta stable. That means that it's

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Speaker 1: really crystallized. Okay, so it's crystallized um. Yeah, which is

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Speaker 1: part of the big the big draw for diamonds, right. Well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're I mean, they're super awesome when you get down

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Speaker 1: to it. They are crystallized a hundred miles below the

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Speaker 1: Earth's surface under these tremendous pressures and temperatures um and

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Speaker 1: I can say the numbers out loud, and two or

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Speaker 1: four takes at least uh it's four hundred and one

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Speaker 1: hundred and thirteen pounds per square inch and temperatures of

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Speaker 1: above uh four hundred degrees celsius, which equals out to

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Speaker 1: about seven degrees fahrenheit, which is really warm. Yes, it's

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Speaker 1: not chili. No, it's actually the fact that diamonds are

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Speaker 1: made from carbon. As a kid, this was always really

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Speaker 1: interesting to me because I don't know about you guys,

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Speaker 1: but had my spider sense tingling when I first learned

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Speaker 1: that diamonds were may have carbon as a child, and

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Speaker 1: I thought, wait, isn't carbon just everywhere? Is it? Is

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Speaker 1: it just me? Or is this an Emperor's new clothes situation?

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Speaker 1: And then I didn't think about it for years. But

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Speaker 1: it's weird because diamonds are the most popular gym, right,

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Speaker 1: and uh, while they're often for trade as a very

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Speaker 1: rare commodity, what we're going to find out is that

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Speaker 1: that is not entirely uh the case, and that's not

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Speaker 1: the case. It's just flat not and well, well it

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Speaker 1: was before the eighteen seventies or so yes, in eighteen seventies,

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Speaker 1: specific thing happened that blew the market right open. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and we're going to find out what that thing is.

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Speaker 1: So as gems go, diamonds are actually the most common.

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Speaker 1: And it sounds weird, but if you think about it,

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Speaker 1: there's a reason why seventy of brides in the US

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Speaker 1: where a diamond ring. Right. That's the stat that I

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Speaker 1: didn't just make up. It comes from a guy named

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Speaker 1: Kenneth Gassman, who is president of the Jewelry Industry Research Institute,

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Speaker 1: which is a what A what a when an institute

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Speaker 1: when a weird job? To explain what do you do

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Speaker 1: work at the institute? I would just say the institute ever,

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Speaker 1: all of them, just no matter what it is, any institute.

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Speaker 1: All right, So well, let's go ahead and talk about

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Speaker 1: the elephant in the room, then, two beers. What's what's

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Speaker 1: up with de Beers? Well, de Beers is a company

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Speaker 1: that controls much of the world's diamond supply in their

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Speaker 1: South Africa based company, and well, they it's interesting we

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Speaker 1: refer to them a lot as the cartel, the the

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Speaker 1: De Beers cartel, and this is fascinating been I wonder

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Speaker 1: if you could go into a little bit about why

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Speaker 1: we call them the cartel because they're diamond cartel met right,

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Speaker 1: Because they're they're a bunch of people, a bunch of

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Speaker 1: separate groups almost, that came together to form this thing.

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Speaker 1: That's what we we've talked about cartel's before, and you

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Speaker 1: have to imagine it when we talk about conspiracies. A

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Speaker 1: lot of times we I know, I'm going a little

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Speaker 1: off book here. Sorry, but we we talk about groups

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Speaker 1: of people who conspire together to get things done that

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Speaker 1: may or may not be above board, and this group

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Speaker 1: really just meets those qualifications really well. Yeah we should,

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Speaker 1: we should. Yeah. So we also know that this group

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Speaker 1: de beers although they get a lot of bad press

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Speaker 1: and they get a lot of good press, I assume, uh,

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Speaker 1: they are just inundated in the conspiracy world because of

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Speaker 1: their founders, Cecil Roads or maybe it's pronounced Cecil. I

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Speaker 1: imagine he was. He was a British fellow. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: so it was Cecil. Yeah, oh that's great. Okay, Well,

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Speaker 1: now I like him more so he sure if you should,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if I should. That's kind of an

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Speaker 1: arbitrary reason. But he didn't just start divers Uh no,

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Speaker 1: well okay, So in eighteen seventy eight, deposit of diamonds

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Speaker 1: was discovered in South Africa, and this was the first

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Speaker 1: time that a large number of diamonds had ever been

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Speaker 1: found anywhere before then. You had to pan them individually

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Speaker 1: out of rivers. It was backbreaking, silly work because like,

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Speaker 1: who knows where a diamonds going to show up? Nobody, um,

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Speaker 1: And that's why that's why they were so valued, because

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Speaker 1: there weren't any of them basically anywhere. Um. And then

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this this mine opened up. There

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Speaker 1: was a huge boom similar to the gold boom here

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Speaker 1: in the United States, and uh, this this dude, this

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Speaker 1: British dude, Cecil Roads moved in and uh started buying

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Speaker 1: up all of this property around South Africa, including the

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Speaker 1: farm of two brothers by the names of Diedrich and

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Speaker 1: Johannes de Beer. Yes, yes, where the name comes from. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Cecil started out renting some pumping machines to people, and

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Speaker 1: as he began playing this real life monopoly game acquiring land,

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Speaker 1: he uh he started to work with these people to

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Speaker 1: uh to I guess maybe the right word at this

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Speaker 1: point is to develop the mining infrastructure, right and uh

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Speaker 1: along the way, Cecil at a very busy life. So

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Speaker 1: those of you who are familiar with Cecil roods probably

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Speaker 1: want us to mention the founding of Rhodesia, the land,

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Speaker 1: the racially motivated land grabs. Uh, the let's see what else,

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Speaker 1: the rhodes Scholarship, the various secret societies that this man

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Speaker 1: is accused of either being a member of or founding himself. Uh,

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Speaker 1: some of those accusations holds, some holdsome truth, right, the

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Speaker 1: racism and stuff, and other ones have yet to be proven.

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Speaker 1: Is probably the nicest thing we could say about them.

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Speaker 1: But this we know he met those brothers, right and

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Speaker 1: he uh, he said, guys, diamonds, I see, I see

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Speaker 1: you have a nice little farm there. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: I'd like to own that. And then he did. Um,

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Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not sure. Actually I've not heard the

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Speaker 1: story of how de Beers became the name of the company. Uh. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think it's found in the partnership because Cecil partnered

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Speaker 1: up with a couple of other people. Currently believed the

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Speaker 1: Beers is still owned by the Oppenheimer family. Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: purchased it in nine in fact, so that was a

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Speaker 1: little bit down the road. Now. Something that you mentioned, Lauren,

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Speaker 1: that I think we kind of really have to hit

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Speaker 1: on here is that diamonds were not all over the place. Um.

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Speaker 1: I mean, at least you couldn't just go out and

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Speaker 1: get a bunch of diamonds anywhere. And what they did

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Speaker 1: they found this huge amount of them. So they had

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Speaker 1: to they had to find a way to sell these things, right,

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Speaker 1: because they're they're cool gems. They look really shiny and pretty,

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Speaker 1: and people like those things. But you've got to find

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Speaker 1: a reason that some that ex wealthy person is going

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Speaker 1: to want to buy one of these and for a

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Speaker 1: lot of money, because you're spending quite a bit of

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Speaker 1: money to get them out of the ground. Um, it's

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Speaker 1: not easy. I would not want to do it personally.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, no, it's yeah. We're we'll get into that too.

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Speaker 1: And one of the coolest things we're gonna talk about

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Speaker 1: is the story of how diamonds became a necessary part

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Speaker 1: of the everyday life. Yes, a conspiracy is a foot

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Speaker 1: not a theory, and and actual conspiracy. So we know that.

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Speaker 1: We know that the Bears was enormously successful and and

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Speaker 1: funny thing. I feel so bad for those brothers because

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Speaker 1: they sold their claim so they didn't get any benefit

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Speaker 1: from this massive global entity. I wonder what their grandchildren

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Speaker 1: think about it. They're probably so tired of hearing that question,

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Speaker 1: you know, and say, oh oh oh, de beers, Right,

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Speaker 1: you're one of those people, so you want to buy

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Speaker 1: me a drink? And they're likely yeah, they probably quit

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Speaker 1: drinking because of that question. But the we know that

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Speaker 1: the company itself was enormously successful. When Cecil Rhodes died

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Speaker 1: in nineteen o two, de Beers controlled around nine of

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Speaker 1: the world's UH diamond market. But where did this market

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Speaker 1: come from, Matt, As you said, it didn't really exist

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Speaker 1: prior to eighteen seventy. And we know, as as we

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Speaker 1: said that they are fairly rare. They certainly were not

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Speaker 1: considered the hallmark of love and commitment or whatever that

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Speaker 1: they are considered to day. So so you think about it,

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Speaker 1: they they stumbled upon this treasure trove of diamonds, this

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Speaker 1: giant box of the open vel diamonds. Well, what are

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Speaker 1: we gonna do with all these? So they've got a

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Speaker 1: massive amount of supply but very little demand, well relatively

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Speaker 1: little demand. At the time, I mean, up until say

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Speaker 1: the end of the First World War, things were going

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Speaker 1: really well for them. They were controlling the market very carefully. Um.

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Speaker 1: They were consolidating all of these smaller diamond corporations leading

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Speaker 1: up to them controlling of the world's UH supply of it,

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Speaker 1: and brought all of this together into such a successful

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Speaker 1: business model that was just insidious and shiny at the

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Speaker 1: same time. Um brilliant, you might say, Uh, um, I've

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Speaker 1: already used that pun I apologized guys um that was

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Speaker 1: in the video as well. But but yeah, so it was.

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Speaker 1: It was going along like gangbusters right up until a

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Speaker 1: whole bunch of world market kind of things lead to

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Speaker 1: diamonds decreasing in popularity pretty intensely. Uh. They were considered

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Speaker 1: such a rivilty. In between the First and Second World Wars,

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Speaker 1: there were depressions going on all over the world that

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Speaker 1: no one wanted to buy these things. Right. The idea

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Speaker 1: would be, if you have any scratch at all, then

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Speaker 1: you should be spending it on something that is a necessity.

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Speaker 1: So diamonds became this um the domain of the super wealthy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: only if you have enough money to throw just literally

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Speaker 1: throw away at this diamond h Yeah. Yeah. A very

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Speaker 1: important person who will come up in conversation very shortly

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Speaker 1: said that at the time, diamonds were considered just absolutely

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Speaker 1: money down the drain. Yeah. Yeah, it's so funny how

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Speaker 1: diamonds are viewed now. Just that idea, right, yeah, because

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Speaker 1: so we all know a tail as old as time

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Speaker 1: you meet somebody, you fall in love and you say, hey,

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Speaker 1: let's make this official. Here's some jewelry, let's do stuff

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Speaker 1: I don't know how it works. I'm just so uh so,

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Speaker 1: where where did this come from? We know they weren't

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Speaker 1: common beforehand. People wanted gems that seemed more exotic, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think sapphires, opals, and rubies the most popular engagement

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Speaker 1: stones before the nineteen Yeah? What what what happened to that?

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Speaker 1: It turns out that the concept of a diamond engagement

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Speaker 1: ring or a wedding band is not some ancient tradition

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Speaker 1: dating back to days of yore and living in caves. No,

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Speaker 1: it's the work of one one ad agency. I'm pretty

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Speaker 1: impressed by. Actually, yeah, should I should even say the

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Speaker 1: name of the ad agency theater? Or should we get

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Speaker 1: into that later? If we say it three times, they

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Speaker 1: appear before us. Right, Okay, let's not then, let's just

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Speaker 1: be judicious. Go ahead, say it all right once, but

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Speaker 1: not three times in a row. N w airs and sons,

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Speaker 1: Now they were fascinating. There's If you go on archive

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Speaker 1: dot org, you can find a couple of I guess

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Speaker 1: it was. I can't tell what the intent was for

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Speaker 1: these pamphlets or these short books that they put out,

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Speaker 1: but one of them was I can forget the name

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Speaker 1: of but it was about their advertising technique, and you

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Speaker 1: can look through this whole book and it teaches you, well,

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Speaker 1: really it's more like just somebody kind of boasting about

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Speaker 1: how awesome they're ad agency is. That's what it feels

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Speaker 1: like to Well, it goes into numbers and how big

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Speaker 1: they are and all the great advertisers that they control.

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Speaker 1: But it's fascinating to get an insight on this company

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Speaker 1: and you can kind of see they're thinking almost just

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Speaker 1: by reading a couple of these pamphlets on how they

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Speaker 1: worked the diamond business. They were already really famous by

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Speaker 1: the nine thirties for doing this deep market research and

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Speaker 1: uh and pulling in psychological research as well, and it

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Speaker 1: was creepy, it was. They were really good at what

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Speaker 1: they did. And so when de Beers found themselves in

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Speaker 1: this tight spot. I believe it was the heir to

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Speaker 1: the Oppenheimer empire, and he was like twenty nine at

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Speaker 1: the time something like that, like definitely under the age

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Speaker 1: of thirty, and he like went and had a business

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Speaker 1: lunch or something with the head of n W Air

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Speaker 1: and set up this deal to have Air look into

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Speaker 1: how they could sell diamonds. Yeah, because there was a

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Speaker 1: problem the business was still going, but it was stagnating,

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Speaker 1: and the markets affected by the war were heavy blow

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Speaker 1: to two beers because so few people would actually buy diamonds,

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Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, only some ten percent of US engagement

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Speaker 1: rings of the time bore diamonds, and that was a

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Speaker 1: fancy ten percent. And additionally, the total number of diamonds

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Speaker 1: in the United States had declined almost in the United

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Speaker 1: States since the close of World War One. UH. Europe

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Speaker 1: at the time torn apart by war or has burgeoning wars,

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Speaker 1: depending on which country you're looking at. UH, and so

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Speaker 1: it they couldn't be a die and market anymore. They

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Speaker 1: were busy trying to stay alive, and the beers and

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Speaker 1: mastered the supply side, but the beers needed to get

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Speaker 1: this UH to create the demand as well. And so

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Speaker 1: the clever folks at in w Air did their weird

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Speaker 1: market research thing, which again I totally agree with you guys,

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Speaker 1: it's so creepy, especially for that time period. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: if you think about it, it it was actually a fairly

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Speaker 1: on the surface, a fairly simple process. They would they

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Speaker 1: would go out and just get basically the lay of

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Speaker 1: the lance. Ask people, Hey, what do you think about diamonds?

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Speaker 1: So what's your perception of diamonds. Let's talk about who

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Speaker 1: would own a diamond? Where where should a diamond go?

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Speaker 1: And after talking to people, they found that they were seen,

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Speaker 1: like we said, as a luxury item, something that only

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Speaker 1: someone very rich would have. UM. So they figured out

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Speaker 1: that they definitely wanted to market to the US. UM

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Speaker 1: Like hardcore. They wanted to just go all in and

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Speaker 1: we're going to sell diamonds to these Americans no matter

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Speaker 1: if they like it or not. UM. And again primarily

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Speaker 1: because we as we discussed, Europe was now engaged in

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Speaker 1: the beginnings of World War two, so they really targeted

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Speaker 1: the U s and they targeted the US mind, the

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Speaker 1: American mind. UH. And here we have I think now

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Speaker 1: it's time to bring our one of our protagonists, or

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Speaker 1: maybe she's more of an anti hero uh into story.

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Speaker 1: There is a young copywriter who changes the world and

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Speaker 1: makes the probably the most successful ad campaign in modern history.

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Speaker 1: I know is rated as the ad campaign of the

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Speaker 1: century UH in two thousand. But but who are we

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Speaker 1: talking about? Francis Garrity, a young ad woman who had

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Speaker 1: actually just been hired in nineteen forty three by nw Air.

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Speaker 1: She is she is the person. You can read an

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Speaker 1: amazing story about her in New York Times. She's the

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Speaker 1: person who is racking her brain thinking what do I do?

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Speaker 1: How do I how do I convince people that this

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Speaker 1: thing they absolutely don't need is necessary? Oh? Yeah. She

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Speaker 1: was hired to UM to replace a woman who had

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Speaker 1: just left nw air and at the time women were

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Speaker 1: hired to sell things to women. It was considered a

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Speaker 1: job that only a woman ad copywriter could possibly do

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Speaker 1: UM and she was paired with with another lady of

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Speaker 1: her publicity named Dorothy dig Dignam. Yeah, she's a she's

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Speaker 1: really cool because she had this This is the lady

359
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Speaker 1: who had a list of questions that guys would ask

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Speaker 1: her about women, like stupid questions like her dude co

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Speaker 1: workers would come up and be like, is this an

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Speaker 1: inverted pleet seem And she just kept a list of

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Speaker 1: these like under her typewriter. She considered this great market

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Speaker 1: research for things a woman is supposed to know. And

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Speaker 1: these two people formed this dynamic duo, changing the US

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Speaker 1: and then later the global perception of diamonds. So the

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Speaker 1: piece of trivia here that you should walk away with

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Speaker 1: is that Francis Garrity ladies and gentlemen, is the woman

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Speaker 1: responsible for a diamond is Forever? Yes, she wrote that

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seven. Um they were she had been on

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Speaker 1: the on the team since ninety three, working with n

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Speaker 1: W Air and Beers. However, they were looking for a

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Speaker 1: kind of an all encompassing slogan and she kind of

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Speaker 1: jotted it down by the bedside one night, realizing that

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Speaker 1: she had failed to come up with anything that day.

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Speaker 1: And when in the next morning and presented it to

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Speaker 1: the team and nobody cared. Everyone everyone was like, was like,

378
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Speaker 1: that kind of sucks, but I guess it's the best one.

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Speaker 1: Let's go with it. Whatever. More Martini's I imagine is

380
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:52,360
Speaker 1: what go That's so funny. Now some of these ads

381
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Speaker 1: that were developed around that time are pretty out there.

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00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 1: Oh they're great, They're so beautiful. Yeah, that's that's so

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Speaker 1: enshining for We have a we have a couple queued

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Speaker 1: up that we were hoping ladies and gentlemen you would

385
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:09,360
Speaker 1: enjoy hearing. And again, this is just a piece of history.

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Speaker 1: I don't think people write ads this way anymore, at

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Speaker 1: least not in English. There there's some magazine ads that

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00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:19,160
Speaker 1: I think have longer copy, not along these lines. Though

389
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,679
Speaker 1: not along these lines. Net do you want? Do you

390
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,000
Speaker 1: want to read one for us? Sure? So there's one

391
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,360
Speaker 1: here called the Star of Hope, and I'm just gonna

392
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Speaker 1: read it for you. The engagement diamond on her finger

393
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Speaker 1: is as bright as a tear, but not with sadness

394
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,360
Speaker 1: like her eyes. It holds a promise of cool dawns together,

395
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,720
Speaker 1: of life grown rich and full and tranquil. It's lovely

396
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,479
Speaker 1: assurance shines through all the hours of waiting, to kindle

397
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Speaker 1: with joy and precious meaning at the beginning of their

398
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:56,359
Speaker 1: new life, to be bravo beautiful. Yeah that's cool. Maybe

399
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,800
Speaker 1: I was wrong about diamonds, man, I think I need some.

400
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, the My reading is not going to be

401
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 1: quite as dramatically interpretive as as yours. Come. Don't sell yourself.

402
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: You can do this. This this one was called Majesty

403
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 1: of Love, told in starlight. Yes, all right, I'm on board.

404
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: In flaming glory, King le Leo stands exalted at the sky,

405
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: a starbright and monarch. Lovers look too as they dream.

406
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: Even before sears first sighted, this royal symbol, one star,

407
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Speaker 1: was formed in the earth to someday shine for you.

408
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,959
Speaker 1: Your engagement diamond with noble fire reflects the greatness of

409
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Speaker 1: your love and all its majesty man. And that's where

410
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: I had to stop transcribing because I was laughing too.

411
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,640
Speaker 1: It's beautiful writing. Actually, it's just what I'm noticing here

412
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 1: with both of these. It's really nice. It's a different time. Yeah,

413
00:24:58,080 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 1: I mean, if someone had written that to me, I

414
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:01,639
Speaker 1: would have. But like, I'm not sure why you're selling

415
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 1: me stuff, But that's really nice. Thank you didn't know

416
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 1: you cared. So this yeah, this capitalized on this thing.

417
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,159
Speaker 1: They said, Okay, if a diamond doesn't have an intrinsic

418
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:16,919
Speaker 1: physical value, right, it's not ductile like gold. It's uh

419
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,440
Speaker 1: it is uh widely used in industrial applications, but not

420
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 1: so much at the time. They just had a boatload

421
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: of diamonds, several boatloads of diamonds, and they said, well,

422
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:29,399
Speaker 1: how do we convince people we need these. We do

423
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: it with this, this flowery language. We give you an

424
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 1: emotional attachment, this love or this diamond becomes a symbol

425
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 1: of love. And they said, wait, wait, wait, wait, people

426
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 1: break up though, yeah, I know, even in the forties

427
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 1: people broke up, so we've got to make sure that

428
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,640
Speaker 1: they don't resell these diamonds. Yeah, we can't have them

429
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,119
Speaker 1: just flooding the market again afterwards. Yea. By controlling the market,

430
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,359
Speaker 1: you have to control the after sale as well. Yes,

431
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: it's worth more if they keep them forever. Ah, yes,

432
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 1: because you wouldn't want to throw away grandma's engagement ring. Right,

433
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 1: that's a precious family heirloom. It means way more to

434
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 1: you than it could possibly mean if you tried to

435
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: sell it back, which is lucky because if you do

436
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 1: try to sell a diamond back, you're not really going

437
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: to get any money for it, right. Yeah. It's it's

438
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: like buying a boat or something. You lose so much

439
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: value as soon as you leave the store. Uh. The

440
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: so the agency saw a tremendous success. Uh. And Beers

441
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:35,120
Speaker 1: of course saw a success in between. H The sales

442
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:40,400
Speaker 1: in diamonds in the United States, which was tumbling downward,

443
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:47,920
Speaker 1: increased by yeah in what in four years? That's crazy? Oy? Yeah.

444
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 1: From I can imagine those meetings, like the top company meeting,

445
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 1: there's like, oh, well, great job everyone, Bonus for you,

446
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: bonus for you, bonus for you. I hope Francis got

447
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: something because she she was she was later going to

448
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: be instrumental in this right. She she reportedly did not

449
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,680
Speaker 1: see a whole lot of success during during certainly her

450
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 1: her time at n w AIR. I've read and and

451
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: this mayor may not be apocryphal. I haven't like double

452
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,160
Speaker 1: checked and found primary sources. I haven't talked to her

453
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: because she passed away, but um, but she, Yeah, definitely

454
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: hit that glass ceiling that was so common, especially for women,

455
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,159
Speaker 1: especially in at agencies agencies at the time, which is

456
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 1: a shame, because they had some brilliant and innovative ideas.

457
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,639
Speaker 1: And I believe it was the publicist who started saying,

458
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: if we'll get the little ones rather the the less

459
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: moneyed customers by getting them to emulate the big ones, right,

460
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 1: oh right, Yeah, she uh really pushed diamonds to be

461
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 1: to be rented out or not even rented but just

462
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 1: loaned out to celebrities and socialites and people like that

463
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:04,080
Speaker 1: for photo shoots and engagement shoots, for movies, for the

464
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 1: red carpet, anything like that. Pretty brilliant. Yeah, she wrote

465
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: a newspaper article that would describe celebrities, but it was

466
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 1: totally diamond advertisement column. She was she was writing under

467
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: a fake name. Yeah. Yeah, it was like diamond dot

468
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:24,199
Speaker 1: or something. Wow. Yeah, as you said, a little a

469
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,119
Speaker 1: little bit heavy handed, but by god, it worked. They

470
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: also created the four seas criteria and that's uh one

471
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 1: of the clarity clarity, cut, color, and carrot weight. Yeah,

472
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,600
Speaker 1: that actually wouldn't come into play until the nineteen sixties,

473
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: and that was because another mine was discovered in Siberia

474
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 1: and because they realized that the conditions were kind of similar.

475
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: So they had all of these people out looking for

476
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: minds in Russia around that time, or I suppose the

477
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: USSR as it was then in history. Oh, yes, that

478
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: was We've I love that time. It's very interesting time.

479
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 1: And I bring up the topic of these Russian or

480
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 1: Soviet minds because the diamonds that were found in these

481
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 1: minds were very much smaller than the South African diamonds.

482
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,240
Speaker 1: They I mean relatively tiny, and so they had this

483
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 1: huge influx of very small diamonds. People had previously been

484
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 1: taught to buy bigger and bigger diamonds as the more

485
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 1: worthwhile ones, and so now they were like, how are

486
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 1: we going to get people to buy these tiny things?

487
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: And they were like, well, a small diamond can still

488
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: be worth just as much if it's really uh quality. Okay, Okay,

489
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: they changed the criteria for the valuation of the stone. Okay.

490
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 1: But anyway, another thing happened in the sixties in Japan,

491
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: which was kind of a Western culture invasion that was occurring.

492
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 1: So there's a whole another market that de beers could

493
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: look at and go, hey, let's exploit this one now, guys. Yeah,

494
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 1: post war, they they started expanding throughout Europe and Japan.

495
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: They saw enormous success and they would repeat heat um

496
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 1: the success of their US market in half the time. Geez,

497
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: and guys, we know it might sound like we're being

498
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: a little bit snarky and maybe think that we're giving

499
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 1: two beers this short end of some figurative stick. I

500
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:20,120
Speaker 1: will say that we have several proven horrible things, and

501
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: horrible is a fair word. So let's talk just a

502
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,959
Speaker 1: little bit about the uh, the actual diamond conspiracies right

503
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 1: really quickly. Before we get into the conspiratorial part, I

504
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:34,960
Speaker 1: just have to say, because there's some really dark things

505
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 1: in here, and it makes me feel pretty terrible about

506
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: my previous actions. Um, but as most of you know,

507
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: I am married. I got married in two thousand nine,

508
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 1: and I did buy a diamond ring for my wife

509
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 1: and I. It was when I bought it. It It was

510
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 1: right around the time of the crash in two thousand

511
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 1: seven two eight, and there was a diamond business going

512
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 1: out of business in the mall where we used to work,

513
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 1: and it was like eight percent off. Oh I remember

514
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: this eight percent off, and it's I think, I don't.

515
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 1: I mean, I bought this thing for nothing, and it

516
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: was a fairly large Like there's no way I could

517
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 1: have afforded this diamond unless it was this, you know, cheap,

518
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: and even then I had to spend way more money

519
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 1: than I should have on it. But the numbers I've

520
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: seen are like one percent retail markup. That's insane to me.

521
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: And I was. I felt tremendous pressure, not only from

522
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 1: society but not necessarily from my wife and her family,

523
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 1: but just I felt like I had to get something

524
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 1: that would make her feel like she's worth more, right,

525
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 1: I mean, and and I don't know how much of

526
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: that WULD put on myself. But still it's crazy to

527
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: think that I could have saved that money or done

528
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: you've done something else with it? Work, well, we could

529
00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: have used that money for our house that we ended

530
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 1: up I I mean, it's just really it's really interesting

531
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,240
Speaker 1: when I look at myself and how I was somewhat

532
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 1: a lot manipulated, were totally suckered into more wing suits. Well, okay,

533
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 1: two things before before you move on. First of all,

534
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 1: it's you and like of the U S population, And

535
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,760
Speaker 1: that's a relatively low estimate, like I've seen it as

536
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 1: high as so you are not alone in this um

537
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 1: and and too. This is something of a side note,

538
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,480
Speaker 1: but I but I forgot to mention it earlier. Another

539
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,719
Speaker 1: interesting thing that happened with marriage in the nineteen thirties

540
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 1: and forties that I think possibly helped helped diamonds boom

541
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 1: out was that m marriage laws were changing. Okay, previous two.

542
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,200
Speaker 1: Then there was a law in place in most states

543
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 1: that allowed women who had been engaged I if the

544
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: engagement broke off, they could sue their ex fiance for damages.

545
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 1: By damages, I mean they had maybe had premarital sex

546
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: and then she would be less marriageable and so a

547
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 1: lady kund sue. Um. Those laws started being stricken down

548
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,959
Speaker 1: in the nine thirties and forties, and so uh, I

549
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 1: think that that it was a happy chance for de

550
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:19,560
Speaker 1: beers that these diamond engagement rings were suddenly seen as

551
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 1: assurance of value. Yeah, and insurance insurance absolutely yeah, And

552
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 1: you're you're absolutely right and with this, with this market,

553
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: and I don't know, I I think you guys are

554
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: right because it has to be somewhat of a happy accident.

555
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 1: You can't we can't say that the Beers somehow changed

556
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: marriage laws, you know, and they just happened to be

557
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: around at the same time. And uh, maybe they did.

558
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: You guys have won money in the right hands. Oppenheimer

559
00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,479
Speaker 1: was a big, big, powerful family, yes, and still are

560
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 1: to this day. Uh. And now we can talk about

561
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 1: some of the ings that the Beers has done in

562
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: the past and in the future to get a diamond

563
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 1: from the ground to you if you were a person

564
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: buying diamonds. They do restrict access, we know that to

565
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: ensure a higher price for stone. And they do it

566
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 1: through a very interesting I think interesting is the fair

567
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: work the very interesting method. H. There are fewer than

568
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,759
Speaker 1: two d people or uh entities that come buy these

569
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 1: uncut diamonds. The Beers does uncut diamonds, and uncut diamonds

570
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 1: are not that impressive, right, Yeah, it looks like the

571
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:35,719
Speaker 1: courts almost like it could be just a crystal. Yes.

572
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:40,160
Speaker 1: So these people who these two hundred and that rarefied air,

573
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 1: they're called site holders, and they purchased the diamonds through

574
00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 1: something called the central selling organization, which is a thing

575
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 1: that the beer zones. Right. They sell a parcel of

576
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 1: these uncut diamonds to one of these site holders. The

577
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:57,200
Speaker 1: site holder then sends the diamonds to a cutting facility,

578
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,760
Speaker 1: and then it goes to distributors. And then you get

579
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: the advertisement which is so famous in our neck of

580
00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 1: the woods. Uh, you get the Shane company guy? Right, Yeah,

581
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,279
Speaker 1: do you want me to do? And I know, I

582
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,399
Speaker 1: know that I'm putting you on the spot, but it's

583
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,839
Speaker 1: a really good one. Alright, Let's say, let's see if

584
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,840
Speaker 1: I can find him the Shane Company. Now you have

585
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:26,239
Speaker 1: a friend in the diamond business. You're killing it with

586
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 1: the voices today. That right, man, I'm trying really hard.

587
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:32,320
Speaker 1: I'm trying to impress you guys. Well it is working cool.

588
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 1: So uh So we we have this this strange business model,

589
00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 1: and it is so successful that even other diamond producers

590
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 1: who are not associated with the beers. There are a few,

591
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,480
Speaker 1: uh in Russia and Australia are still affected by the

592
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,839
Speaker 1: prices set by this Cso you've got to understand that

593
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:57,080
Speaker 1: the actual supply that's just out in distribution is so smaller,

594
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,880
Speaker 1: so much smaller than the actual umber of diamonds that

595
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,879
Speaker 1: are ready to be sent out if they need be.

596
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 1: So I mean, what do they just have giant warehouses

597
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 1: full of them? No way, Yep, yes they do, like

598
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:16,279
Speaker 1: Indiana Jones style. Yeah, top men. Yeah, the there is

599
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 1: a warehouse in London that just has a lot of

600
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:24,680
Speaker 1: uncut stones waiting for that distribution period where they talked

601
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,800
Speaker 1: to to the site holders who will later send stuff

602
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,760
Speaker 1: to the diamond cutters. Now, one of the big things

603
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: that if you're listening to this now you probably tuned

604
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,720
Speaker 1: in expecting to hear, would be some of the facts

605
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 1: about blood diamonds or conflict diamonds, which is the less

606
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,759
Speaker 1: sensational term. But what are they? What what's going on

607
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,800
Speaker 1: with these? Well, like we said earlier, the process of

608
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 1: collecting and getting diamonds out of the earth is not

609
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,839
Speaker 1: an easy one. It's not a glamorous one and it's

610
00:36:55,880 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 1: not a high paying job in any way whatsoever. It's

611
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 1: it's not really easily mechanized either No, this is done

612
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,040
Speaker 1: by hand, and it's done in places that a lot

613
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 1: of times have been destabilized or are just not stable. UM.

614
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:13,960
Speaker 1: I should have put that the other way, if they're

615
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: not stable or they've been destabilized. But yeah, they there

616
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:21,359
Speaker 1: is conflict in that area. A lot of it's in

617
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:26,919
Speaker 1: South Africa at least originally, especially that's where it was done.

618
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:33,440
Speaker 1: So this this idea here is that these diamonds sales

619
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 1: are fueling local militious or what would essentially be terrorist

620
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:43,240
Speaker 1: groups right and UH, Separatist factions are able to garner

621
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:48,080
Speaker 1: control of a mind and then sell the uncut stones

622
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,879
Speaker 1: under the table to unscrupulous suppliers who then give them

623
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:56,719
Speaker 1: cash that these groups will use to buy more weapons. Typically,

624
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,879
Speaker 1: I mean they're not buying wingsuits. It's the same black

625
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,520
Speaker 1: market situation that we've talked about a lot over their podcast,

626
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,840
Speaker 1: especially like the drug trade. Black markets that are created

627
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: when something is outlawed. But in this situation, there's nothing

628
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,440
Speaker 1: that's outlawed. It's just you've got a lot of guns

629
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:15,399
Speaker 1: and you can take control over an area. UM. It's

630
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 1: a very dangerous situation near a lot of these minds,

631
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: UM and a lot of the you don't really know

632
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 1: if the gems that you're getting, Like before this thing

633
00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:28,839
Speaker 1: that we're going be about to talk about, you didn't

634
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,280
Speaker 1: know if the gems you're getting are clean. Let's say

635
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: we're not. Arguably still don't. Oh sure. Well there was

636
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,120
Speaker 1: a there was a big I believe, media blitz that

637
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: occurred in what the yeah, um that brought this to

638
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:47,399
Speaker 1: the public's attention. And of course, of course Beers wasn't

639
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 1: really happy about loss of sales. I'm sure they were

640
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:55,280
Speaker 1: also not happy about loss of life. Maybe they didn't

641
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 1: know that this kind of thing was going on. Yeah,

642
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're heartless. Yeah, but so they got

643
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: together with the u N and created, uh this this

644
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:14,080
Speaker 1: Kimberly process. Yeah, that's the way of authenticating a diamond

645
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,640
Speaker 1: and saying this came from a legit mind that and

646
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:21,759
Speaker 1: it was not used to fuel atrocities. I think that

647
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 1: they should call them legit diamonds, not conflict free diamonds. Yeah, yeah,

648
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,239
Speaker 1: because you still immediately think of the conflict and we

649
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,640
Speaker 1: should start working for airs. You guys are just the

650
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 1: Beers directly. You've got some great ideas. You know, we

651
00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,239
Speaker 1: call them clear conscience diamonds. I don't know. I like that. Yeah,

652
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,799
Speaker 1: I get the yeah. Yeah. And also it's one of

653
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:46,239
Speaker 1: the four seas clear right now it's five season. Well

654
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 1: now we're now we're becoming the bad guys here. The

655
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,080
Speaker 1: thing with the Kimberley process is that it does not

656
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 1: track individual stones, attracts batches of stones, and it has

657
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,080
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism. You will see you will see

658
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:08,160
Speaker 1: ratings as high as of diamonds being conflict free. Now

659
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,120
Speaker 1: thinks that the Kimberly process. But it hinges on what

660
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 1: you define. Uh, it hinges on your definition terms. Right,

661
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 1: maybe maybe all of the bad batches of conflict diamonds

662
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,879
Speaker 1: are in that warehouse in London. Maybe they can till

663
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 1: they can pass. It must be like customs till they

664
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:28,959
Speaker 1: can pass customs under assumed diamond identity. That's what it is.

665
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 1: I'm joking around. But but but but it is a

666
00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:37,160
Speaker 1: really unsettling issue. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm being so

667
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 1: jokey about it. This is a horrifying reality. It's it's

668
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 1: it's almost impossible I find to to not kind of

669
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 1: be light about this sort of thing, just so that

670
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,439
Speaker 1: I'm not in here just sobbing onto the microphone cover,

671
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,520
Speaker 1: especially when I think about the diamonds that are on

672
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 1: my wife's finger. So yeah, well they you know it's

673
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:03,400
Speaker 1: doing something, but candidly speaking, the the effects are middling

674
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,560
Speaker 1: and into at least if you listen to the critics.

675
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 1: In fact, one of the nonprofit groups that's created the

676
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:14,160
Speaker 1: Kimberly process, this place called Global Witness, they're not going

677
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 1: to participate in it. In two thousand eleven, Yeah, they

678
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 1: said they're out of it, and they called it an

679
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: accomplice to diamond laundering. Because, yeah, the weakness of the

680
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:28,080
Speaker 1: Kimberly process is that it depends upon paperwork and bureaucracy

681
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 1: in some of the easily most corrupt areas of the world.

682
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:35,759
Speaker 1: So how much do you have to pay somebody to

683
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 1: stamp your diamonds and launder them? When you own a

684
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:45,240
Speaker 1: diamond cartel, you have money to do it. So yeah, Also,

685
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:50,000
Speaker 1: diamond launderer just sounds like a cool job. I like that. Uh,

686
00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 1: And I am going to Matt. I feel like I've

687
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:55,080
Speaker 1: unfairly put you on the spot asking you to do

688
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: some voices, So I'm gonna do Leonardo DiCaprio from Blood

689
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:04,439
Speaker 1: Diamonds so I've been waiting for this. They have a wood.

690
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:07,920
Speaker 1: The people looked me and them too. It means what

691
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,439
Speaker 1: mining Nifrica. That's it. That's all I got. That was great,

692
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 1: Pretty than my Leonardo DiCaprio. Do you have a Leonodo

693
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 1: to cap? That's okay? All right, Well, if you want

694
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,279
Speaker 1: to play them in surprises with it, we we could

695
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,840
Speaker 1: definitely use some lighthearted stuff in as we said, a

696
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:31,440
Speaker 1: very a very heavy and difficult issue because the conflict diamonds,

697
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:35,600
Speaker 1: or the the price that people pay in human life

698
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 1: doesn't stop at the mine in India, where the vast

699
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 1: majority of the world smaller diamonds are cut. It depends

700
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 1: upon child labor. There's no way around that. And that's

701
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 1: because of the size of the diamonds, right, and because

702
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 1: their tiny hands are the best getting Oh that's okay, yep,

703
00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:57,439
Speaker 1: that's okay the truth. Yeah, And there are all kinds

704
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,720
Speaker 1: of effects on kids who work in this kind of field,

705
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:03,799
Speaker 1: if you won't even call it that. There's all kinds

706
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:07,920
Speaker 1: of things like severe eyestream motion injuries, long infections from

707
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:14,279
Speaker 1: inhaling diamond dust when they're cutting diamonds. And those are

708
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,200
Speaker 1: just a few of the things that that these children

709
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,399
Speaker 1: are affective with and and that's that's freaking depressing. Yeah,

710
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,400
Speaker 1: our Valentine's episode is turned out to be kind of

711
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: it down there, you guys. So the Beers also has

712
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 1: some legal issues. They can't exist in countries with antitrust laws, which,

713
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 1: although comcasts may not have heard, the United States still has. Uh.

714
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:39,000
Speaker 1: The the antitrust laws in the United States, while not perfect,

715
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 1: do UH create a large obstacle for de Beers, which

716
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,799
Speaker 1: is why you see it working through intermediaries, retail jewelers.

717
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,319
Speaker 1: You see those vague ad campaigns. There was one where

718
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:54,319
Speaker 1: there's just two silhouettes meeting and only over the range

719
00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:58,200
Speaker 1: is visible, which I thought was pretty cool actually. Uh.

720
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 1: Numerous academics also accused of Beers of either accidentally supporting

721
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:08,400
Speaker 1: conflicts in Sierra Leone, South Africa other areas of the continent,

722
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:16,640
Speaker 1: or purposefully destabilizing an area to gain control of a mine. No,

723
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 1: you don't like it. I don't like it one bit. However,

724
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:27,279
Speaker 1: the Beers was in US courts as recently as two

725
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,480
Speaker 1: thousand and four when they pled guilty to price fixing

726
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:35,239
Speaker 1: in an effort to get into the United States. Uh,

727
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:38,280
Speaker 1: and you'll be glad to know, Matt, that the United

728
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 1: States remains the biggest single market in the in the

729
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:44,920
Speaker 1: diamond business. Oh well, good, well I'm not the only sucker.

730
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:49,440
Speaker 1: Thank you. Also learned for your reassurance earlier. There's one

731
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,400
Speaker 1: other thing we should talk about, though, and that's the

732
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:55,520
Speaker 1: future of diamonds, right, which which is going to be

733
00:44:55,600 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 1: changing due to the advent of synthetic diamonds. Lab created

734
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 1: diamonds are pretty nifty and probably conflict free. I mean,

735
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,080
Speaker 1: there might be people arguing in the lab, but I

736
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:10,680
Speaker 1: don't know how far they went with it. Through a

737
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:15,319
Speaker 1: process called chemical vapor deposition, Uh, these these diamonds can

738
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:20,600
Speaker 1: be created to a point where they are as good

739
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,520
Speaker 1: as a natural diamonds, so much so that the differences

740
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 1: are indiscernible. It can even be more pure more. Uh,

741
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:30,240
Speaker 1: it can be created better. We can make them better

742
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:33,920
Speaker 1: and were seductive. Right. And the coolest thing to me

743
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:36,760
Speaker 1: is that we can recreate those pressures and the heat

744
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:40,719
Speaker 1: that exists so deep in the earth. Yeah yeah, um.

745
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:44,640
Speaker 1: And traditionally I think this process has been used for uh,

746
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:48,920
Speaker 1: scientific diamonds, because diamonds are are tremendously useful in certain

747
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:55,600
Speaker 1: lab applications. Mostly involving lasers and cool pep stuff like that. Yeah. Uh,

748
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,359
Speaker 1: and the lower quality ones are the ones that you're

749
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,720
Speaker 1: going to see on a on a all or something

750
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 1: like that. You probably don't need to turn to a

751
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:06,840
Speaker 1: lab to create a diamond good enough to grind up

752
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: and put on a saw blade, but maybe you should.

753
00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 1: Maybe that would really be better for all of us.

754
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:14,520
Speaker 1: And and the prices are starting to come down. I

755
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 1: think as this technology uh improves, improves is a good word, yes,

756
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:24,560
Speaker 1: And so hopefully I'm personally crossing my fingers that this

757
00:46:24,600 --> 00:46:28,360
Speaker 1: will be able to create a second market, or I

758
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 1: guess a third market, because there's a second market of

759
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:35,040
Speaker 1: of vintage diamonds, right, Yeah, the heirlooms you find an

760
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 1: estate sales in the culture I would say is arguably

761
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:45,240
Speaker 1: shifting away at least slightly from diamonds. And I remember

762
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 1: I had the conversation with my wife before purchasing a

763
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,320
Speaker 1: diamond whether or not we should get a diamond because

764
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,799
Speaker 1: of things like that movie that we kind of made

765
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,759
Speaker 1: fun of, but the Blood Diamonds movie and awareness that

766
00:46:56,840 --> 00:47:00,360
Speaker 1: was created around that time. Uh, for me, it least

767
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:05,239
Speaker 1: and maybe my generation, we almost didn't get one. But

768
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,320
Speaker 1: then we did. Also, I wasn't making fun of that movie.

769
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:12,759
Speaker 1: I watched it this week earlier. Nice, Okay, Okay, I

770
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:14,960
Speaker 1: just don't why. I don't want people to feel like

771
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 1: I'm unfairly dismissing Blood Diamond, and on this show we

772
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:23,399
Speaker 1: do try to be fair. This leads us to some

773
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:30,640
Speaker 1: interesting questions two beers. The organization itself, um has has

774
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:35,759
Speaker 1: clearly and provably done terrible things in the past. But

775
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:41,600
Speaker 1: is the Beers wrong for convincing the world that they

776
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:45,120
Speaker 1: need this thing that they don't need? Is that wrong

777
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:51,080
Speaker 1: or is that business flat out not? Okay? Um, Well,

778
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:55,840
Speaker 1: I mean it's very clever business. It's mind blowing lee

779
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,400
Speaker 1: impressive what they have done with this commodity that was

780
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 1: previously worthless that is now on the finger of a

781
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 1: near countless number of people around the world. Yeah, it's

782
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:09,360
Speaker 1: kind of like lobster. You know how people used to

783
00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:12,960
Speaker 1: hate lobster was food for orphans. Yeah. Yeah, Well in

784
00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:15,520
Speaker 1: certain areas where where there was too much, too much

785
00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:18,840
Speaker 1: lobster going around, you know, its servants had to had to.

786
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 1: There was a law that was placed in New England

787
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,960
Speaker 1: and way back in the day that was like y'all

788
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:26,879
Speaker 1: cannot service lobster more than like three times a week

789
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 1: for serious because you start to get that rabbit starvation

790
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:33,280
Speaker 1: that's all you eat. But I guess that's a podcast

791
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:35,239
Speaker 1: for a different day, along with many of the other

792
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:39,759
Speaker 1: conflict resources on the African continent, including if you were

793
00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:42,600
Speaker 1: listening to this on a smartphone, some of the stuff

794
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:47,360
Speaker 1: inside your phone as you hold it right now. I

795
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:48,920
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know where we go from there,

796
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,440
Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, I'm like, yeah, the world is terrible.

797
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,040
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, okay, so let's let's bring it up. Lauren.

798
00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,280
Speaker 1: We want to thank you so much for coming onto

799
00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 1: our podcast. Where's the best place as for people to

800
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:04,799
Speaker 1: catch you in in the meantime? Um in general, you

801
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:09,120
Speaker 1: can go to brain Stuff Show dot com or just

802
00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com and my pictures up there,

803
00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:16,680
Speaker 1: the one with the bangs. You'll find me and you

804
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:19,440
Speaker 1: can find learn on YouTube dot com slash how Stuff

805
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 1: Works and YouTube dot com slash brain Stuff Show. Oh yeah,

806
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:28,279
Speaker 1: and uh f w thinking dot com. So yeah, like

807
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:30,680
Speaker 1: we said, you're pretty much everywhere on the internet. Yeah,

808
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:33,520
Speaker 1: and thank you guys so much for for having me

809
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:36,080
Speaker 1: on the show. This has been so much fun In

810
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,840
Speaker 1: a depressing way. Oh yeah, we're gonna have to go

811
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:44,279
Speaker 1: look at some photos or puppies or something. But baby hedgehogs, yeah,

812
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:47,359
Speaker 1: baby hedgehogs. They're great. Really, that's the go to now.

813
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:51,920
Speaker 1: So if you want to send us an uplifting picture

814
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:56,080
Speaker 1: of acute animal. If you enjoyed this podcast, well I

815
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,799
Speaker 1: don't know if enjoyed is the right word, but if

816
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:01,839
Speaker 1: you thought this podcast us was worthwhile, then please let

817
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 1: us know. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter.

818
00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: You can check out every single podcast we have ever

819
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:09,839
Speaker 1: done on our website. Stuff they don't want you to know.

820
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:13,040
Speaker 1: Dot com Man, that's a long name. That's the best one, though,

821
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,200
Speaker 1: is it? Every time we say it. I part way

822
00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:18,839
Speaker 1: through saying it, I go wow, I'm still saying that name.

823
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:22,600
Speaker 1: It's got such authority. It's just it's so huge. Yeah,

824
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:25,239
Speaker 1: it will crush you with its lettery might lettery MT.

825
00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:29,040
Speaker 1: I like it. And that's the end of this classic episode.

826
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:32,960
Speaker 1: If you have any thoughts or questions about this episode,

827
00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:35,399
Speaker 1: you can get into contact with us in a number

828
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:37,400
Speaker 1: of different ways. One of the best is to give

829
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 1: us a call. Our number is one eight three three

830
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:43,160
Speaker 1: st d W y t K. If you don't want

831
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 1: to do that, you can send us a good old

832
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:50,279
Speaker 1: fashioned email. We are conspiracy at i heeart radio dot com.

833
00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:52,560
Speaker 1: Stuff they don't want you to know is a production

834
00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:55,680
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

835
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,680
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

836
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:00,080
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite show t