The Hope Diamond
and humans' obsession with the macabre...
That’s pretty cool, right? The Hope Diamond apparently shows its “evil curse” if you expose it to ultraviolet light and turn the lights off in the room, it will glow a deep dark red. Other blue diamonds will glow blue, blue/green. Not the Hope Diamond. It’s a deep intense red that lasts several minutes… apparently.
Also, apparently, the Hope Diamond is a huge attraction at the Smithsonian. People line up for it, they crowd around it, they really want to see this impressive diamond that has cursed so many people that have had the nerve to possess it.
I find the rumors about it interesting, but what I cannot grasp is the human need to be defiant in the face of so many deaths to believe that they are the exception. So far… no, no they haven't been, and yet people still are entranced by this stone. First and foremost, it looks cheap to me. I know, it isn’t, it is the very definition of expensive, but frankly, I find the setting to be lazy and unimaginative. I think that it is as impressive as this:
While it may be real, it is also ugly. It is the ultimate in ostentatious, but it is also a massive waste of time and money. Let me disabuse any of you that think diamonds are valuable. They are not.
See this?
That is an impact crater in Russia. It is estimated to contain trillions of karats of diamonds. Russia is the main supplier of diamonds to the internationally famous Debeers. When it was time to renegotiate their contract Russia thought that Debeers wasn’t being exactly fair so it gave them an ultimatum.
Agree to our terms, or we flood the market with so many diamonds that everything that you have in your vaults will be revealed for what they are… nothing more than glass baubles without a scintilla of actual value. Debeers is a huge company, they have a lot of assets, and they have a lot of influence. They caved immediately. Why? Because the value of diamonds is manufactured. It isn’t real. It is built on a complete lie that has been perpetuated by generations.
Not the point though. I just thought you should know how silly diamonds are, so you can save your money. The point is the idea of the curse surrounding the red glowing diamond that apparently kills people. The curse interests me more than the diamond, but apparently not in the way that the curse interests others. I see the curse and think, “Huh, that’s weird.” Apparently a bunch of neurotypicals see the curse and think one of two things:
“I gotta get me some of that”
Or
“It won’t happen to me because I’m super duper special and stuff”.
I have thoughts about this. I get being intrigued by something that is apparently all murdery and stuff. It’s fascinating to think about all the people that died in terrible ways when it comes to this diamond. I’m with you there. Where we part ways it seems is the desire to have any part of that nonsense.
Let’s think about this for a moment. There aren’t too many reasons that someone would want to own that diamond.
Status. They think that owning the diamond makes them some kind of big shot. I mean… maybe, but if you’re dead, that’s not a winning endorsement of your quién es más macho display now, is it?
They think that they are the exception to the rule. Why though? Why are you the exception? It’s been associated with a lot of terrible death and destruction of families at the seams. What makes you stand out among the rest? Yeah, nothing, that’s what I thought. Sit down and stop being an idiot.
They want to defy the diamond’s curse… because if it’s real, their intentions mean f*ck all to the result. It doesn’t and I would tell you to sit down as well, but you’re the type that is going to chase after this sort of thing (you’re buying a haunted doll on eBay right now aren’t you) so nothing I say is going to make a difference to your dumbass.
People might think this is exactly what would attract a psychopath. No fear, high status (I have no idea why people think that matters to us but here we are), and it's interesting. Nope. Here’s the thing, as I mentioned, diamonds aren’t valuable. I don’t chase after windows, so I am not going to chase after diamonds. They are of the same value to me.
First, I have had people think that the way to my heart is through expensive displays and all I can tell you is that I find them boring. Both the person and their stupid antics.
Second, I have no idea what is real in this world, which means that I have no idea if curses are real. What I do know is how I want to live my life, and that is really really well. I like my life, I like doing things, and I dislike inconveniences. Why on earth would I have any interest in purposely inviting misery into it because of… well… see stupid reasons 1-3.
What amazes me is that this is not only common with neurotypicals, people still flock to see this worthless piece of rock and fantasize about possessing it. Do you also fantasize about possessing a Gaboon viper and allowing it to roam around your apartment/house?
I mean… I get that they have one of the deadliest venoms in the world, and it will kill you faster than you are likely going to be able to call for help, but who knows? It might learn to love you, trust you, and never bite you ever… so why not have it just roaming free… all the time… where you walk, sleep, and eat?
What’s that? Because that would be stupid? Yes, yes it would be. You never know if and when it will bite you, but if it does, the bite will remove everything that you hold dear faster than you can comprehend what you brought into your life. Why would that ever be worth it?
It isn’t, but plenty of y’all think that taking the chance on things that have a high reputation for being terrible choices is a good idea. Why invite unnecessary misery into your life for the sake of a possible thrill? As I said, Gaboon vipers are pretty interesting to look at and usually pretty chill as well because they’re lazy.
That is until they aren’t, and you’re riding that cytotoxic and cardiotoxic venom wave, and wishing that you hadn’t named him George.
How interesting; according to the Wiki page on the Hope Diamond, its alleged curse was likely devised as a marketing ploy a la Blair Witch project. There's a list of the previous owners there along with their ages and causes of death, and it all looks standard fare indeed. It also debunks some of the alleged tragic deaths that were associated to its history.
They also claim these sorts of rumors are actually not unusual as a way to add mystique and perceived value to what ultimately are baubles with subjective value only. And as you aptly mention, diamonds in general were arbitrarily made valuable by what can effectively be regarded as speculative rumors.
A modern age version of this phenomenon can be found in retro videogames; every now and then you'll catch news waves of how a boxed first edition cartridge of video games like Super Mario 64 were sold for six figures, and when digging deeper into it, it typically becomes clear that whole situation was likely a speculative marketing ploy to artificially inflate the price of old cartridges, in order to inflate their market value. Same for cryptocurrencies in general (and NFTs in particular), which were likely devised as a highly sophisticated modern day technologically flavored Ponzi scheme.
I find it really fascinating how these thrilling stories stoke the imagination of people so intensely in a way that moves huge amounts of money, which in turn keeps the world moving . I find the meta aspect of this stuff even more fascinating than the actual stories - why the heck do people get so hung up on these stories? Maybe because they appeal to primal goblin-brain-type emotions like greed and fear and lust?
Would love to read your speculations about such matters, in a future article. Here you outlined the "what"; why now outline the "why" in another occasion? Good stuff, well done!
I agree that diamonds are over-glorified rocks.
I do get the whole "curses aren't real" mindset, though. The Bermuda Triangle was supposedly cursed. It includes an incredibly popular tourist destination. There's so much fear-mongering noise out there. The Mayan calendar is ending so the world might end? That didn't happen. I might worry about snakes if I'm wandering through the woods. If I'm in my bedroom and nobody said they brought snakes into my house, then I don't worry about snakes. It's just extra energy expended, carefully checking under the sheets for predators before settling down for the night.
Part of it may be that hypervigilance is stressful. I hate long-acting amphetamines, also. Always worrying feels bad, man. Part of it may be that hypervigilance is status lowering. But part of it is that there are a literally *infinite* number of things in this world I can worry about. So remaining sane involves sifting the real threats from the illusory ones and not worrying about those things which are likely bullshit. Sure, there will be some false positives and false negatives in my list. But in a Bayesian sense, unless something might be made of radium and giving all its owners cancer, I assign a a pretty low probability to the notion of something being 'cursed.'