An aware and informed consumer is, for all intents and purposes, a consumer without culpability, right? I want to be aware and confident in knowing that I will do the right thing. That I will buy the right thing; however, I struggle with the connection between the object in a store and the painful origin it most likely holds.
When consumers snatch up their purchases only discover that these same goods contributed to civil war, to genocide, to rape, to rebel leaders and their radical campaigns, they (the consumers) are held accountable. I know I have purchased things that I feel pretty damn shitty about, but was it not the deceit of corporations that led to these issues? There’s very little redemption in knowing this since the circumstances prevail.
You’ve heared of conflict diamonds. Kanye West made two songs about his ambivalence…and then replaced his bottom teeth with the ostentatious stones. I wonder if they’re conflict-free. I doubt his dentist thinks so.
Ever heard of conflict gemstones? Yeah, that’s a thing. Conflict electronics? Also a thing. Despite my efforts I feel guilty and exploited. I don’t want to fund civil war and/or fuck people over. I don’t want to support an economy that irrevocably destroys natural resources to increase revenue. I sure as hell won’t support an industry that promotes diamonds as a homogenized bling encrusted representation of love. Diamonds are allotropes of carbon mined by poverty-stricken, war torn communities and processed by children in bondage. Maybe the customer isn’t always right, but I know for sure that this is bullshit.
