Beyonce; Journalists take on journalism & Tiffany yellow diamond

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

From John Jeffay:
The topic - reporting. Subject - diamonds.
It brings to mind the concept that some people prefer antique diamonds because they want to avoid conflict diamonds.

"The woke world has, to my mind, gone mad with its ultra-sensitivity to racial prejudice and discrimination, which holds Beyonce accountable in some way for diamond-mining practices of the 1870s. But then again, maybe Tiffany and Beyonce did get it badly wrong. Maybe having a black woman adorned with a white man's trophy does send out all the wrong messages. Maybe the Tiffany Yellow Diamond can never shake off its painful association with colonialism. The trouble is that sometimes, when you're looking for easy answers, you can't trust a journalist."

Beyonce a<b></b>nd the Tiffany "Scandal" - IDEX's Memo

www.idexonline.com

 

[heididdl]

I don't how to respond .

 

[yssie]

Oh for goodness sake.
Mr. John Jeffay, please don't feed the trolls.

 

[LightBright]

Just last week “woke journalists” also tried to smear Jay-Z and Beyoncé (and Tiffany) for using a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting in that same Tiffany Advertisement. They said Basquiat would have found it “problematic at best” for two powerful and influential black superstars to feature Basqiuat’s art front and center in a global Ad campaign, seen by millions. Like, the “woke people” are trying to posthumously own and re-imagine the motivations of Basquiat who worked so hard to become recognized. Sure, obscurity was his intent, eye-roll.

I think this is simply Woke Culture trying to impose their ideas about oppression and historical injustice on art objects. The purpose is to control (through social coercion) what people think, say and do. People are afraid to be judged through that lens which is being given credence by media and politics. IMO, telling two of the most successful artists on the planet, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, what they are supposed to do, represent, wear, and how they are supposed to think about art and beauty is outrageous.

I looked up this historic diamond in response to the criticism. The original crystal was mined in 1877 in South Africa, bought by Tiffany & Co., studied for a year then cut by a young man; George Frederick Kunz (age 23); who was already and would eventually be a pioneer in mineralogy and gemology. The cutting house Kunz used for the Tiffany Diamond was located in Paris, and the outcome was a new type of cut which Kunz invented, and a legendary yellow diamond. Kunz would spend his life at Tiffany studying and educating about newly discovered gem types, collecting and publicly displaying ancient art objects made from gems and writing hundreds of papers for the industry. (Yes, that Kunzite.) He was also one of the many public figures advocating for NY City to preserve its parklands and create beautiful public spaces. This was the time when our country was building beautiful cities.

So, the history surrounding the Tiffany Diamond is also the story of artisans, scholars and tradespeople, who collectively brought passion, beauty, innovation and devotion to their art and the world. This was history too, let’s not forget it.

 

[AprilBaby]

Maybe they are right. Beyoncé touting the diamonds mined on the backs of African people making almost nothing seems wrong.

 

[LilAlex]

People do all sorts of ethically-suspect things for money. The celebrity endorsement juggernaut is just one tiny corner of this -- but seems to be one that people disproportionately care about and can easily wrap their heads around. So there is a lot of band-wagoning there.

There are obviously far worse things in the world than who endorses which gems -- hence the now-expected trivialization with the "woke" label in the original post -- but "there are obviously far worse things in the world" is a pretty poor defense.

 

[MollyMalone]

"Journalists take on journalism & Tiffany yellow diamond"
"woke journalists"

The Sun and The Daily Mail are hotbeds of "woke" journalists?? So far as I can tell (not that I spent much time with Google on this), The Sun was the first major media outlet to broadcast Beyoncé's "disappointed and angry feelings" purportedly described by "a source close to the singer." (The Daily Mail picked up the story, attributing it to The Sun, and embellished it in typical DM fashion.)

Beyonce 'angry' after unwittingly wearing £22.9million 'blood diamond'

BEYONCE was said to be “disappointed and angry” last night after a £22.9million gem she was pictured wearing was compared to a “blood diamond”. She became the first black woman, and only the fourth…

www.thescottishsun.co.uk

Well, guess what, John Jeffay (the author of that IDEX article) is a syndicated journalist with The (Scottish) Sun -- which may explain why he did not provide a single link or name one of the multitude of journalists he claimed "were looking to make mischief and create a scandal."

John Jeffay | The Scottish Sun Journalist | Muck Rack

Find John Jeffay of The Scottish Sun's articles, email address, contact information, Twitter and more

muckrack.com

Which puts the conclusion of his IDEX piece -- "never trust a journalist" -- in a whole new light, don't you think?

 

[LightBright]

I read two articles by journalists, One at NBC News and one in a Philadelphia paper. And based on those articles, Twitter and Instagram commentary. But to be honest, not a lot of a firestorm here is USA.

 

[MollyMalone]

I ready two articles by journalists, One at NBC News and one in a Philadelphia paper. And based on those articles, Twitter and Instagram commentary. But to be honest, not a lot of a firestorm here is USA.

Yeppers, with very rare exception, everything I saw via Google that is US-based was either on social media or on aggregators like YahooNews not purporting to be independent journalism. The NBCNews.com piece is in its Opinion section with the author described as a journalist-critic; the Philadelphia newspaper one didn't show up in the initial pages of my Google search -- maybe it was a reprint of a Washington Post columnist's Sorry, Beyoncé, but Tiffany’s blood diamonds aren’t a girl’s best friend ? That's the most mainstream media piece I saw, and it's clearly labeled Opinion.

But the UK press certainly has had a field day with it!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

From the Guardian:
They bang on about her Mum rising to her defence.
and as with the Woke Guardian - always the editorial:

"Ultimately, however, the real issue here is not really Beyoncé’s personal ethics. It is the calculated way in which it seems that brands such as Tiffany’s use issues such as racial justice and women’s rights to try to burnish their reputations. The real issue is the way in which corporations want us to view progress as consisting of a more diverse 1% rather than a more equal society. Sorry, but as the backlash to Beyoncé’s campaign demonstrates, a lot of us aren’t buying it."

And from the original article:
"Tiffany may be trying to rebrand, but it has badly misjudged the ethos of the moment. Its campaign does not celebrate Black liberation — it elevates a painful symbol of colonialism. It presents an ostentatious display of wealth as a sign of progress in an age when Black Americans possess just 4 percent of the United States’s total household wealth. If Black success is defined by being paid to wear White people’s large colonial diamonds, then we are truly still in the sunken place."

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

oh i hate the Guardian
it makes my lip curl

 

[DAF]

I've read the article and I'd like to point out that how this diamond was mined does not meet the definition of "Blood
Diamond". Just poor labor practices, in my opinion. It doesn't negate the fact; however, that slave or underpaid labor was morally wrong.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I've read the article and I'd like to point out that how this diamond was mined does not meet the definition of "Blood
Diamond". Just poor labor practices, in my opinion. It doesn't negate the fact; however, that slave or underpaid labor was morally wrong.

That is true.
Slaves and slavery were a major issue perpetrated by many of our white ancestors.
It is amazing what comes up when you put words into google!

15 American landmarks that were built by enslaved people

Four hundred years have passed since the first enslaved people arrived in the US. Here are some famous buildings that would not exist without them.

www.businessinsider.com.au

 

[MollyMalone]

From the Guardian:
They bang on about her Mum rising to her defence.
and as with the Woke Guardian - always the editorial:
* * *

Well, The Guardian piece is clearly labeled Opinion [appears in boldfaced red on the web page] , written by one of their columnists:

What is ultimately at stake in the Tiffany diamond row? It isn’t Beyoncé’s ethics | Arwa Mahdawi

The backlash to the singer’s new advertising campaign has revealed a longstanding truth – that the whole diamond industry is hugely suspect

www.theguardian.com

* * *
And from the original article:
"Tiffany may be trying to rebrand, but it has badly misjudged the ethos of the moment. * * *

That's from a Washington Post columnist (not one of their reporters), to which I referred previously -- and it too is clearly labeled Opinion in the Opinions section:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/26/beyonce-tiffanys-blood-diamonds-necklace/

In contrast, Jeffray's article for IDEX leads one to believe that there was a widespread cabal of journalists "spin[ning] a whole tale of woe, making a very big thing out of small thing." (The reason I went to Google is because I had no recollection of what he was reporting as seeming fact.)

He is guilty of the same kind of shoddy journalism he decries in his opening paragraph:

Never trust a journalist. For at least two reasons. The first may surprise you. They tell the truth. The trouble is it's not the whole truth. Those who value their jobs will not knowingly tell an outright and deliberate lie. But they may well miss out facts that get in the way of their story. The second reason is that they are highly skilled at weaving a tiny fragment of information into front page sensation.​

What hypocrisy.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

He is guilty of the same kind of shoddy journalism he decries in his opening paragraph:

​

What hypocrisy.

Molly I think he may have turned over a new leaf.
This weeks story is horrific:
"This week it's the way the world's media has reported - or failed to report - the diamond mining disaster that has cost 12 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The toxic spill of diamond tailings in upstream Angola literally turned tributaries to the Congo River bright red. Thousands of fish floated to the surface. Hippopotamuses died. Thousands of people living near the river were poisoned. And the water, polluted with heavy metals, is now flowing towards the Congolese capital Kinshasa, home to 12 million people................"

Keeping Quiet about a Deadly Diamond Disaster - IDEX's Memo

www.idexonline.com

 

[caolsen]

Molly I think he may have turned over a new leaf.
This weeks story is horrific:
"This week it's the way the world's media has reported - or failed to report - the diamond mining disaster that has cost 12 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The toxic spill of diamond tailings in upstream Angola literally turned tributaries to the Congo River bright red. Thousands of fish floated to the surface. Hippopotamuses died. Thousands of people living near the river were poisoned. And the water, polluted with heavy metals, is now flowing towards the Congolese capital Kinshasa, home to 12 million people................"

Keeping Quiet about a Deadly Diamond Disaster - IDEX's Memo

www.idexonline.com

Here’s a much less suspect write up on the Congo mine debacle than the first link.

Angola mine leak causes 'unprecedented' pollution in Congo rivers, researchers say

A suspected leak of heavy metals from a mine in northern Angola is causing an "unprecedented environmental catastrophe", affecting some 2 million people in Democratic Republic of Congo, researchers at Kinshasa University said on Friday.

www.reuters.com

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Beyonce has again been photographed wearing the iconic Tiffany Diamond

Tiffany Controversy: Beyonce Wears THAT Diamond Again

www.idexonline.com

 

[Cerulean]

Beyonce has again been photographed wearing the iconic Tiffany Diamond

Tiffany Controversy: Beyonce Wears THAT Diamond Again

www.idexonline.com

How’s a girl to say no to a diamond that BIG?

 

[denverappraiser]

The joke may be on Tiffany's. I can't find what they paid, but they've had this dog languishing in inventory for 144 years. They don't do sales but maybe it's time to try SOMETHING a little different to nudge it on down the road.

 

[denverappraiser]

Supposedly Charles Lewis Tiffany paid $18,000 personally in 1878. He had it cut in-house by George Frederick Kunz, another famous character from their history. I've seen estimates of $30M currently (seems low, but you know how appraisers are) which would make an ROI of about 5%.