Rob Fox
A newly engaged woman who was thrilled to officially be spending the rest of her life with her partner — the love of her life, her soulmate — did what pretty much anyone would do after being proposed to. She posted her engagement ring to social media. Of course, for every action on the internet there is an insanely unequal and opposite reaction.
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The woman’s joy was met with derision. With petty mockery. With flippant cruelty. You know, internet stuff.
All the jokes made at the woman’s expense had to do with her engagement ring, its lack of a stone, and its shape. (Admittedly, it looks a little bit like a paper clip, but who cares?)
The woman’s picture of her engagement ring was posted in the Facebook group “That’s It I’m Ring Shaming”. (The post has since been deleted.) It contains every bit the mean high school girl type of stuff you would expect. The group had a field day with the ring. They said it looked like the old paper clip assistant from Windows 95. They said it looked paper clip rings they made in grade school. They got a lot of mileage out of the paper clip stuff, really.
A few observations about this whole situation.
1. If you’re in a Facebook group for anything there’s a better than good chance your engagement ring is, itself, trash. You’re not royalty. You’re not a Kennedy. You’re not even one of the Clintons on the far side of the family tree who’s still dwelling deep in the Ozarks. Your hubby got the crackerjack toy on your hand at the mall. The woman at Kay Jewelers who sold it to him probably got grease from the Auntie Anne’s pretzel she bought forty feet away on it. If any of these women in this Facebook group showed up to a party on the Upper East Side and tried to flaunt their ring they’d be laughed out of the penthouse. More specifically, they’d throw themselves off the balcony.
The people in this Facebook group are, collectively, every Target shopper who somehow convinced themselves they’re actually a regular on Fifth Avenue instead of one medical bill away from praying to God their debit card doesn’t get declined at Walmart. You’re the richest girls at a high school in rural Ohio. You are the house chardonnay at Applebee’s. Get some perspective, ladies. Also a soul.
2. Engagement rings are a ripoff. Diamonds are too. This tradition should be killed more swiftly and mercilessly than Osama Bin Laden. This couple had the right idea. This Facebook group has an idea so wrong it’s on par with starting a Facebook group dedicated to posting videos of its users punting puppies.
3. I’m going to backtrack just a tad here. This Facebook group is still awful, but almost entirely because it’s semi-public. I get it. Everyone needs to vent. Everyone needs to say terrible things sometimes. That’s what a group text is for. And that’s fine. But sheesh, keep it private. Don’t be mean to strangers with thousands of other strangers. That’s too much.
