Ban Valentines Day?

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Some countries have banned their shops from selling Valentines Gifts.



Do you think this holiday should be dismantled everywhere?

 

[DrLeftover]

Considering the expectations built up in women by their friends and the media for an ever larger, more elaborate, and more meaningful gift every year.



YES.



And I believe the reference from The Glossary is appropriate here.

Valentine's Day (Saint), Be My Valentine

( Note: my asking Dok for this entry sent him off on a sermon about how we insist on celebrating fictional holidays and about how there are half a dozen St. Valentines. I told him to shut up and write it down. He did. Deep )



According to the Catholic Encyclopedia there are three martyrs whose feast day is 14 February. Additionally, the various Orthodox Churches list up to seven saints with that name, two of which have feast days in July. Just as there are several dates for Christmas, everything from 6 December to various dates in January, when Christ was most likely born in October.



We owe what we consider as the romantic holiday to Geoffrey Chaucer's poem The Parliament of Fowls:

And there was not any bird that is created through procreation that was not ready in her presence to hear her and receive her judgment. For this was Saint Valentine's day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate.



Before Chaucer (1340? - 1400) there was no such association between romance and the fourteenth of February.



Today the holiday is perpetuated by the manufacturers of various gift items who build up the expectations of women who then coerce their male friends into giving them ever more spectacular (and expensive) gifts on the day, and if they do not, there is hell to pay. Much as it is in the best interests of various outfits to ramp up the expectations of children for gifts on that day in December.



So, exactly what does be my Valentine mean? From the historical documentation on individuals by that name celebrated on that day, it must mean the person who says that wants you to either build them a church, or to die for them in a most unpleasant way. Romantic, no?



See: Romance, Love, Flirt, Courting, and related.

 

[Cranos]

I don't see any reason for banning it. First of all, let people have a little bit of freedom. I can understand you ban stuff like drugs, alcohol or guns to protect people against it but Valentine's Day is going a bit over the top imo. Besides, it's never been such a craze here as far as I can tell. Only the golddiggers expect big, expensive gifts and you really don't want to be in a relationship with that kind of person. Other girls love it when you just do or give something thoughtful, or if you make something yourself. That is, if they want anything at all. I know a lot of girls who think it's just a fake holiday made up by the media to make us spend even more.



Also, even if they ban the stupid hearts and chocolats, people are just going to find other gifts to give their partner.

 

[beowulf]

just like all the other 'occasions' it really been hyped up just to make money for companies like Hallmark!

 

[Bluezone777]

I always saw it as one of those dumb holidays that is only there so businesses can make money off of it. I mean really, do you really need someone telling you that you need to do special things to show love towards a loved one on a certain day?



Should we simply not bother showing any love at all except on a certain date? Of course not as love should be an all year round thing as money and material possessions are not needed to show that you love someone. That's the way I always saw it at least.



I don't see the need to ban it though.

 

[fiona1964]

I don`t bothered with Valentines Day as it cost to much i don`t even send out a card as it is a waste of cash

and if your partner does not know you love then with out a card once a year then there is some thing wrong with the relationship

By ex knew i loved him when we were to together with out given each other a card

 

[Durandal]

To me, all I see is a bunch of logical fallacies here (other than Cranos). The 'holiday' is taking blame for things it isn't responsible for. Yes, it is hyped up, but there's no obligation to be a consumerist and engage in the hype. The 'unrealistic' expectations of people are to blame because of the respective people, and not the holiday. While I think love should be a constant that is practiced on all of the 365 - I don't think it's a problem to have the availability to celebrate an extra special day, where people go above and beyond for those closest to them. If it's turned into a rampant plague devoid of meaning and rife with consumerism, it's because you, me, and we let it become so. To me, the day should actually be the opposite, a special day of inter-relationship intimacy. A special day for two individuals to celebrate each other, and not the mass social thronging it has become. To eliminate the ability to buy gifts for such a day (really it is the theme that is being sold, not the actual concept of a gift, anything can be a gift, not just something red and shiny) is fruitless and alienating people that want to emphasise the theme of the day. All of which can be done without engaging in a capitalist clusterscrew.

 

[Evil Eye]

Durandal made a good point... I don't really care either way though.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I don't like that they exchange valentines cards in school (at least its a tradition around here). The parents have to go out and buy a bunch of cards for their kids to hand out. If their kid does not show up with any cards to hand out, then that makes them the bad guy that day.



Although I had a teacher one year that had us make Valentines cards and we weren't allowed to bring any store-bought ones. She seemed to have the right idea.

 

[DrLeftover]

If you don't think it's a big deal.... forget it one time.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

If you don't think it's a big deal.... forget it one time.

Have you?

 

[Durandal]

I don't like that they exchange valentines cards in school (at least its a tradition around here). The parents have to go out and buy a bunch of cards for their kids to hand out. If their kid does not show up with any cards to hand out, then that makes them the bad guy that day.



Although I had a teacher one year that had us make Valentines cards and we weren't allowed to bring any store-bought ones. She seemed to have the right idea.

Yeah, at first the commercial thing started out in school when I was younger - but it was optional, it wasn't required. Later on, it was encouraged to make them in class...and then after the early grades, anyway, it stopped as a childish little thing.

If you don't think it's a big deal.... forget it one time.

...and...?

 

[Evil Eye]

We don't have to do it at all in school.

 

[Cranos]

We had this thing going on in school that you could buy a rose for someone and it would be delivered on valentine's day. The profits went to a charity. But in no way was it expected of you to buy one.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Yeah, at first the commercial thing started out in school when I was younger - but it was optional, it wasn't required. Later on, it was encouraged to make them in class...and then after the early grades, anyway, it stopped as a childish little thing.

Of course it is optional but the kid that came with nothing was the outcast that day.

 

[Durandal]

Of course it is optional but the kid that came with nothing was the outcast that day.

Well, at my school, they actually had 'backups', for the kids who couldn't or didn't get some and wanted to participate. It was the whole 'Everybody Wins' kind of mentality that screwed up a good portion of our generation.



The turnout though actually was remarkably low where I lived - it was about a 50/50 split between participants and non-participants.



Oh well, the special one I made for Heather in the First Grade, she liked, so that's all that matters.