I've been watching a lot of financial reports recently, either on MSNBC or FOX News, and notice that the financial pundits love to talk about commodities. In particular, I want to discuss two of them that I think are pretty interesting. The first one that they talk about often, is gold. Gold is a precious metal that is mined in Africa, particularly South Africa, and will cost you between $780 and $795 for a bullion, which is around 31 grams. This isn't a lot of product for the price you have to pay for it. Regardless, people do it. The second commodity is diamonds. Diamonds are considered the hardest substance on the planet and are the result of millions of years of pressure in the Earth. They are beautiful to a lot of people, and similarly, this product will cost you a pretty penny to buy. I thought I would take a look at how the Facebook community views these two commodities.
Blood Diamonds (Found by searching "Diamonds")
This group is a very good representation of most of the groups on Facebook that come up upon searching for the word diamond. It appears as though people have become very aware of the struggle that is associated with diamond mining since the movie, "Blood Diamond" came out featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. In order to get a fuller understanding of what the Facebook group is trying to achieve, we can look at the Description:
The aim is to shed light on the injustices of the small, west-African country of Sierra Leone. Conflict diamonds mined and traded by rebel groups have been the source of murder and mutilation.
The Description is well articulated by the group's creator, Harlem Espanol of the Kitchener, ON network. I don't think that anyone would disagree with Espanol on this matter; nobody wants to see death for unnecessary reasons.
There is YouTube video that is sited as the website in the Contact Information. The YouTube video is entitled, "Freetown VS Cashmoney," and is about the diamond trade in Africa. Perhaps one of the most jarring items in this group is the picture used. It is a picture of a young black woman, who is on the verge of tears and is holding her arms in a position to cover her mouth with her hands. The only problem is that the women does not have any hands. It is quite an emotional depiction, and incites emotion that I am sure Harlem Espanol wants the group member to associate with Blood Diamonds.
There is some interesting banter that is going on in the Discussion Area as well. In one of the discussion areas, entitled, "The root of the problem.." Ashley Nicholson of the SUNY Fredonia network makes the following comment:
I agree cory, but what do you plan to do about it besides blog? Id love for someone to take action other than listen to peope my age talk about how wrong the whole situation is.
And of course, if you have taken steps, my foot shall reside in my mouth.
I think Ashley reminds us all of a very good point here. It is very easy for those of us who are hundreds of miles away from the conflict to sit back and theorize about the best course of action, but it is a completely different thing to actually take action. I think Ashley Nicholson sends an important message here.
The Wall has also gotten a lot of activity. The most recent post happens to be a very powerful one from Ikoli Bongongo from the Democratic Republic of Congo network. Bongongo provides the group with a poem about diamonds:
Spectrum,
a beam is dissected.
what will blind thee?
What will taint thee?
what will move thee?
At your sight
lost an'given,
weaken an' strengthen
even not the redness of life spilled
nor the redness of a cupped joy overflow.
not the echoes of frighten children
nor the unpleasant scent of lifelessness.
As the sun rises,sons search for a glimpse.
out of pain
you appeared Adamas αδάμας.
This is a very heartfelt poem. I think it tries to put into perspective what a diamond really is. Essentially it is just a precious, old stone, but people will lose their lives over it. The group is made up of 1,076 people, and is but one of many groups that promotes knowledge about blood diamonds. I think it is key to take the message provided by Ashley Nicholson in remembering to do something, and not let this travesty continue.
Ari Fuckin' Gold - You Absolute Legend (Found by searching "Gold")
I suppose I had this one coming when I went onto Facebook and searched gold. Rather than finding groups like I thought, "I wish I had a gold toilet," or "Gold is cooler than Silver," I get none other than Ari Gold, one ofthe crew in the smash HBO hit, Entourage. The Description, as told by Shankul Agrawal of the Monash network provides us with some more information:
what would entourage be without him?
haha his quotes get better by the episode.
so this group is for all those fans..
Lets hug it out bitch.
I really enjoy the end of that Description, when Shankul recites the "Lets hug it out bitch" line that Ari Gold has become famous for.
Who are some of the people that make up this group though? By looking at the Related Groups, we can get a better sense. One of the first groups that is important to knowing the contents of this group is, "WISCONSIN: OUT DRINKIN' YOUR STATE SINCE 1848!" I think we can take from this that people in this group are from Wisconsin. Fair enough. It also happens that some members of this group are in a Related Group called, "Addicted To Entourage." That is a no brainer I suppose.
The Discussion Area has a lot of interesting topics, most notable "the classic quotes." Daniel French of the Monash network wrote, "We are gonna get drunk with Russell Crowe and we're gonna head-butt some goddamn kangaroos." Katja Lieb, also from Monash, wrote, "(to Lloyd) You look like Michelle Kwan in drag. Why don't you do a triple fuckin' axle over to the phone and try Cameron again?" There are 2,180 people who are a part of this group, and it is just a sampling of the many Ari Gold groups that you can join. Choose wisely!
These are two interesting commodities in the world, Gold and Diamonds, but have very different conotations on Facebook. I have to imagine that the prevailing views on Facebook depict the way that society associates these words also. Blood Diamond has come into the limelight because of a blockbuster movie, but I'm sure that there is similar conflict surrounding gold. Moreover, the association to Gold is an Entourage character, and not even the actual object. Remember to be cognizant of the things you hear, but also of the things you don't hear. You will be better off. Be smart. Be aware. Be the solution.
This post was originally written by The College Answers University of Michigan · Organizational Studies · 17 Oct 2007
