Actually, when you buy a diamond, your money isn't "going to some billionaire in South Africa" at all. It is going to the person you bought it from. And there isn't just one billionaire in South Africa who owns every diamond! Diamonds come from Russian and Canada and South Africa and even the good old US of A!
And no, Hollywood isn't the cause of women wanting diamonds; that credit goes back to a Medieval king ( a France one, I think, but perhaps an English one ) who gave his betrothed a diamond ring. American women have wanted and gotten diamond engagement rings long before movies were ever even thought of and long before the movie industry moved from N.Y.C. and Chicago to California.
Both men and women, from time immemorial have worn jewelry, most of it containing precious and semi-precious stones, from the start of recorded history. Diamonds were introduced somewhat later, but many, many centuries before America, let alone Hollywood, ever existed! Trying to blame Hollywood, for people's wanting to wear jewelry containing diamonds is patently ridiculous; not to mention completely erroneous.
So perhaps Hollywood didn't originate the idiotic idea, but they sure gave it a major boost. Do you realize that the movie "Diamonds Are a Girl's best friend" was little more than a feature length marketing gimmick?
And of course I realize that South African billionaires are not the only diamond barons in the world, but they are the major ones. If you cannot understand an obvious figure of speech, you are the slow learner.
As for "understanding women," if you think the key to a healthy relationship is to buy them off with something that is bound to lose its value as soon as a man-made version becomes economical, you still have a lot to learn, haven't you -- both about women *and* investing.
The idea that exceedingly expensive diamond (and ONLY diamond) engagement and wedding rings are a MANDATORY custom is a fairly recent invention of De Beers.
I have a female friend and when I asked her if, say, I was asking someone to marry me and her favorite color was blue, and I got her a huge and expensive sapphire engagement ring instead of diamond, she reacted like I was suggesting using a plastic ring from a crackerjack box.