secrets and lies
As fas as I am concerned, The Dial will never come out. Here is my latest article, a little late, but still a good one.
Valentine’s Day is a horrible sham. I’m not just saying that because I have nobody to love me, it is a legitimate fact. Through my ample amounts of research, I have concluded that the modern version of Valentine’s day is an abomination. It has become over commercialized in a way that only the American greeting card industry could pull off. The very meaning of the holiday is a wonderful bit of fallacy, perverted into something more meaningful than it actually is by people who know little of what they are talking about. The origin of this holiday is actually quite contrary to popular belief.
We’ve all heard the stories about the supposed St. Valentine. It was he, in the face of a ban on marriages, who acted in the name of love to arrange secret marriages. It was he who made a mockery of Emperor Claudius II by performing these services and was promptly executed on February 14. Supposedly, this is why we celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on this date. But this supposed man, who supposedly performed illegal marriages was not St. Valentine. In fact, this man never even existed. He is merely a legend, created to give meaning to an otherwise meaningless day of the year.
There may be those of you who believe that February 14 is actually the Catholic feast day of St. Valentine. There may also be those of you who are completely wrong. February 14 has not been the official feast day of St. Valentine since 1969. Until then, that date celebrated two separate St. Valentines, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. In addition to those two, the Catholic Church recognized eleven more St. Valentines and one St. Valentin. The feasts of these Valentines were eventually dropped and February 14 is officially the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, two men who are in no way named Valentine and in no way associated with love.
The modern holiday that we now know as Valentine’s Day was most likely imported by British settlers in North America. Back in the days of old, the British would send each other love notes on this seemingly random day, most likely due to Geoffrey Chaucer’s association of the day with love. This connection parlayed itself into a multibillion dollar industry that has somehow created a monopoly on love. According to the Greeting Card Association, over one billion Valentines are sent each year world wide and averaging around $2.50 each, that’s over two billion dollars for one totally made up holiday. It’s that kind of monopoly that makes me sick, the monopoly on love.
As far as I’m concerned, Valentine’s Day is possibly one of the most pointless holidays in the entire year. You can tell it is made up solely from the fact that we don’t even get the day off from school. A holiday celebrating love is so completely useless that I find it impossible to endorse, yet there is no way to stop it. The engine of corporation is speeding ahead with reckless abandon and either you get on the bus, or get labeled a heartless, love-hating bastard until the end of time. Nobody wants to be the kid who hates love, even if you hate exploitation of the masses with a fiery passion So when you buy your valentines this year remember, you are only fueling the machine.
Valentine’s Day is a horrible sham. I’m not just saying that because I have nobody to love me, it is a legitimate fact. Through my ample amounts of research, I have concluded that the modern version of Valentine’s day is an abomination. It has become over commercialized in a way that only the American greeting card industry could pull off. The very meaning of the holiday is a wonderful bit of fallacy, perverted into something more meaningful than it actually is by people who know little of what they are talking about. The origin of this holiday is actually quite contrary to popular belief.
We’ve all heard the stories about the supposed St. Valentine. It was he, in the face of a ban on marriages, who acted in the name of love to arrange secret marriages. It was he who made a mockery of Emperor Claudius II by performing these services and was promptly executed on February 14. Supposedly, this is why we celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on this date. But this supposed man, who supposedly performed illegal marriages was not St. Valentine. In fact, this man never even existed. He is merely a legend, created to give meaning to an otherwise meaningless day of the year.
There may be those of you who believe that February 14 is actually the Catholic feast day of St. Valentine. There may also be those of you who are completely wrong. February 14 has not been the official feast day of St. Valentine since 1969. Until then, that date celebrated two separate St. Valentines, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. In addition to those two, the Catholic Church recognized eleven more St. Valentines and one St. Valentin. The feasts of these Valentines were eventually dropped and February 14 is officially the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, two men who are in no way named Valentine and in no way associated with love.
The modern holiday that we now know as Valentine’s Day was most likely imported by British settlers in North America. Back in the days of old, the British would send each other love notes on this seemingly random day, most likely due to Geoffrey Chaucer’s association of the day with love. This connection parlayed itself into a multibillion dollar industry that has somehow created a monopoly on love. According to the Greeting Card Association, over one billion Valentines are sent each year world wide and averaging around $2.50 each, that’s over two billion dollars for one totally made up holiday. It’s that kind of monopoly that makes me sick, the monopoly on love.
As far as I’m concerned, Valentine’s Day is possibly one of the most pointless holidays in the entire year. You can tell it is made up solely from the fact that we don’t even get the day off from school. A holiday celebrating love is so completely useless that I find it impossible to endorse, yet there is no way to stop it. The engine of corporation is speeding ahead with reckless abandon and either you get on the bus, or get labeled a heartless, love-hating bastard until the end of time. Nobody wants to be the kid who hates love, even if you hate exploitation of the masses with a fiery passion So when you buy your valentines this year remember, you are only fueling the machine.
posted by Justin at 9:30 PM
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