POKEY HOORAY
Feb. 14th, 2002 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I'm writing hurriedly because I woke up late and then had to field another tech support call from my dad (he once again started hitting return at the end of every line of his essay, despite the fact that I had already told him not to on two separate occasions. This makes three.), so this is really really clumsy logically. But ah well.
Begin rantthing:
Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday.
Believe it or not, I'm not saying this out of bitterness. I, er, actually don't have a reason to be bitter this year. For the first time in my life. But anyway, that's not important. What is important is this: Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday.
Valentine's Day is all about love. Not love for your family. Not love for your friends. Love only of the romantic sort. This is not to say that everyone takes it that way; far from it. However, whenever we think of the holiday, we associate it with romance. Whenever the greeting card and flower and candy companies exploit it, they do it in the name of romance. How many commercias have you seen that say 'do something special for your best friend this Valentine's Day'? I haven't seen any, but then, I only watch about four hours of TV a week.
Valentine's Day is not only almost entirely about nothing but romantic love, it's also couched in the most ridiculously consumerist appeals. You love her, eh? Then you MUST buy her things! Yes, you must! Otherwise it's obvious that you don't really love her! Flowers, candy, why stop there? Add two or three shiny trinkets from the jewelry store and THEN maybe your protestations of love will be believable!
Dumb. D U M B. How much you love someone is not measured by how much you spend on them.
Neither is it measured by how much attention you pay to them on a day when someone else has declared that you need to do such a thing. Or, to put it another way, why do we single out this day for telling people we love them? Why this day in particular? Shouldn't we be doing that ALL THE TIME? I refuse to tell someone I love him just because Hallmark told me to. I'm going to tell him that I love him EVERY SINGLE DAY, because, oddly enough, I do love him every single day. Oddly enough, I don't need a calendar and a million commercials and popup ads to remind me that I need to appreciate him. And appreciation cannot be measured in dollars. Well, er, not this definition of appreciation, anyway.
I sadly didn't have enough money to celebrate this "holiday" the way I wanted to. Ideally I would've sent a little something to all my friends, a dinky little stuffed toy or something, the latest tacky Hearts And Flowers Day knickknack. This is because I like to subvert the holiday. I call it Hearts And Flowers Day because that's what it has become and I like to draw attention to that. I redefine its message of love to be love for all the cool people I know, because that isn't what the industry wants. Nobody buys diamond necklaces and bouquets of roses for their friends. Well, eccentric billionaires excluded. But average people don't.
And now I've gone and lost my train of thought. I need to get ready for school anyway. And after school I get to come home and chill, because it appears that my previously-scheduled tech support session with dad at his house is not going to happen. Fine with me; I prefer staying home to going places anyway.
So in conclusion:
Valentine's Day is a stupid excuse for a holiday.
And now, a silly webtest!

Which Star-Crossed Marvel Lover Are You?
...hmm... *looks at her hair; looks at Rogue's hair; looks at her own hair again*
o_O
I'm amused.
Begin rantthing:
Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday.
Believe it or not, I'm not saying this out of bitterness. I, er, actually don't have a reason to be bitter this year. For the first time in my life. But anyway, that's not important. What is important is this: Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday.
Valentine's Day is all about love. Not love for your family. Not love for your friends. Love only of the romantic sort. This is not to say that everyone takes it that way; far from it. However, whenever we think of the holiday, we associate it with romance. Whenever the greeting card and flower and candy companies exploit it, they do it in the name of romance. How many commercias have you seen that say 'do something special for your best friend this Valentine's Day'? I haven't seen any, but then, I only watch about four hours of TV a week.
Valentine's Day is not only almost entirely about nothing but romantic love, it's also couched in the most ridiculously consumerist appeals. You love her, eh? Then you MUST buy her things! Yes, you must! Otherwise it's obvious that you don't really love her! Flowers, candy, why stop there? Add two or three shiny trinkets from the jewelry store and THEN maybe your protestations of love will be believable!
Dumb. D U M B. How much you love someone is not measured by how much you spend on them.
Neither is it measured by how much attention you pay to them on a day when someone else has declared that you need to do such a thing. Or, to put it another way, why do we single out this day for telling people we love them? Why this day in particular? Shouldn't we be doing that ALL THE TIME? I refuse to tell someone I love him just because Hallmark told me to. I'm going to tell him that I love him EVERY SINGLE DAY, because, oddly enough, I do love him every single day. Oddly enough, I don't need a calendar and a million commercials and popup ads to remind me that I need to appreciate him. And appreciation cannot be measured in dollars. Well, er, not this definition of appreciation, anyway.
I sadly didn't have enough money to celebrate this "holiday" the way I wanted to. Ideally I would've sent a little something to all my friends, a dinky little stuffed toy or something, the latest tacky Hearts And Flowers Day knickknack. This is because I like to subvert the holiday. I call it Hearts And Flowers Day because that's what it has become and I like to draw attention to that. I redefine its message of love to be love for all the cool people I know, because that isn't what the industry wants. Nobody buys diamond necklaces and bouquets of roses for their friends. Well, eccentric billionaires excluded. But average people don't.
And now I've gone and lost my train of thought. I need to get ready for school anyway. And after school I get to come home and chill, because it appears that my previously-scheduled tech support session with dad at his house is not going to happen. Fine with me; I prefer staying home to going places anyway.
So in conclusion:
Valentine's Day is a stupid excuse for a holiday.
And now, a silly webtest!

Which Star-Crossed Marvel Lover Are You?
...hmm... *looks at her hair; looks at Rogue's hair; looks at her own hair again*
o_O
I'm amused.
Regarding aspects of Feb. 14...
Date: 2002-02-14 03:24 pm (UTC)At least it isn't as wholly manufactured as, say, Sweetest Day (though from what I've gathered, that holiday seems to be more widely applicable to any number of loved ones and friends, so in that sense might be seen as a step-up from Valentine's Day. Hmmm.)
Historical fact: The current holiday can trace it's roots to a Roman tradition. February 15 was the day of the Roman feast of Lupercalis, wherein Roman men and women would apparently draw marital partners for the coming year by lottery. ("The number is B65893." "No! Not Tiberius Calcius!")
There are other noteworthy things to commemorate on Feb. 14, anyway. Today marks the 27th anniversary of the death of Pelham Grenvilel Wodehouse, for example. In his memory, I've been trying to quote him to various people today. In that spirit...
"In this life it is not aunts that matter but the courage that one brings to them." (The Mating Season, 1949)
(Interestingly enough, seems Hallmark and others always fail to mention the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Pity, as that's a much neglected promotional angle.)
Re: Regarding aspects of Feb. 14...
Date: 2002-02-14 04:42 pm (UTC)I mean, it's already all full of hearts... and what are hearts full of, pray tell? Chocolate! No, wait, not chocolate. Hmm. I think I'm confused...
Re: Regarding aspects of Feb. 14...
Date: 2002-02-14 08:55 pm (UTC)Re: Regarding aspects of Feb. 14...
Date: 2002-02-14 04:42 pm (UTC)Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I love to kill Panzers,
and especially you.
Re: Regarding aspects of Feb. 14...
Date: 2002-02-14 04:44 pm (UTC)Re: Regarding aspects of Feb. 14...
Date: 2002-02-14 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-14 06:46 pm (UTC)Ryl, whose only Valentine's gift was not getting a cold from her boyfriend
no subject
Date: 2002-02-14 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-15 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-15 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-15 04:27 pm (UTC)