is Valentines dumb?

[Aurevbush]

Valentine Z is literally the smartest being in the whole multiverse and nobody should contradict him otherw-ohhhh you mean that kind of Valentine! Oop my bad!

[ImperialRussia]

For some people seems like a Misogynistic holiday

[Novostia]

Valentine's Day is kinda dumb, but Valentine Z isn't dumb at all.

Valentine Z is literally the smartest being in the whole multiverse and nobody should contradict him

I would like to object

[Jabberwocky]

Even my wife thinks it's a bit superfluous

[Giovenith]

I've always found people who complain about Valentine's Day to be infinitely more annoying. There's nothing any more "pointless" or "kistch" or "consumerist" about it than any other holiday.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a lot like complaining about how you hate modern music, people your own age, the color pink, or people being "zombified" by their cellphones: It's a pretentious, judgy habit that people think makes them look smart, observant, and charmingly cynical, but actually just makes look pretentious and judgy.

[Luckyon]

I'm not in love right now so it's not my holiday

[New Mordka]

Valentines is like Halloween, a money wasting holiday.

[Crabaiaia]

I've always found people who complain about Valentine's Day to be infinitely more annoying. There's nothing any more "pointless" or "kistch" or "consumerist" about it than any other holiday.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a lot like complaining about how you hate modern music, people your own age, the color pink, or people being "zombified" by their cellphones: It's a pretentious, judgy habit that people think makes them look smart, observant, and charmingly cynical, but actually just makes look pretentious and judgy.

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

2. As much as I hate to admit it. phones do indeed zombify people, phones were designed to zombify people so that electric and tech companies can make a lot of money from billing from charging the phone or using the Internet.

3. What's wrong with calling out want went wrong in a lot of mainstream stuff, I do like a lot of mainstream video games and music but I too have to admit the flaws are near endless. Calling them pretentious and judgy just for doing so will just allow corporate distributors to get away with trashy content, which is definitely what happened with modern music.

But that's a debate for another time.

[The Blaatschapen]

I've always found people who complain about Valentine's Day to be infinitely more annoying. There's nothing any more "pointless" or "kistch" or "consumerist" about it than any other holiday.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a lot like complaining about how you hate modern music, people your own age, the color pink, or people being "zombified" by their cellphones: It's a pretentious, judgy habit that people think makes them look smart, observant, and charmingly cynical, but actually just makes look pretentious and judgy.

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

2. As much as I hate to admit it. phones do indeed zombify people, phones were designed to zombify people so that electric and tech companies can make a lot of money from billing from charging the phone or using the Internet.

3. What's wrong with calling out want went wrong in a lot of mainstream stuff, I do like a lot of mainstream video games and music but I too have to admit the flaws are near endless. Calling them pretentious and judgy just for doing so will just allow corporate distributors to get away with trashy content, which is definitely what happened with modern music.

But that's a debate for another time.

You just had to prove Giovenith right

[Crabaiaia]

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

2. As much as I hate to admit it. phones do indeed zombify people, phones were designed to zombify people so that electric and tech companies can make a lot of money from billing from charging the phone or using the Internet.

3. What's wrong with calling out want went wrong in a lot of mainstream stuff, I do like a lot of mainstream video games and music but I too have to admit the flaws are near endless. Calling them pretentious and judgy just for doing so will just allow corporate distributors to get away with trashy content, which is definitely what happened with modern music.

But that's a debate for another time.

You just had to prove Giovenith right

I don't get what's right about this argument, yeah I get the hating of color pink and the peers thing but not the modern music and phones thing.

[A-Series-Of-Tubes]

I've always found people who complain about Valentine's Day to be infinitely more annoying. There's nothing any more "pointless" or "kistch" or "consumerist" about it than any other holiday.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a lot like complaining about how you hate modern music, people your own age, the color pink, or people being "zombified" by their cellphones: It's a pretentious, judgy habit that people think makes them look smart, observant, and charmingly cynical, but actually just makes look pretentious and judgy.

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

Find some measure of total views per year of release, to make that case that modern music sucks. It could just be more diverse (wider range of styles and less guided by the Hit Parade which as late as the 70's determined who could make a living in pop music). It could also be that only a small fraction of early-2010's music is still considered worth listening to. You could also check when your samples of older music were first posted, and check your assumption that how good music is, can be judged by how many people choose to hear it for free.

There are so many reasons to doubt what you said, it makes me pretty sure you're wrong. Also "qualitatively fragile" is wincingly cringe ...

[Forsher]

I feel like the question is dumber than the "holiday". And I do mean "holiday" because it's not actually a holiday.

Honestly, this is like a trap to make me write out my edgiest and most contrarian opinions but... it's dumb to care about how you think other people think you should live your life. You want to do it... whatever. You want to not do it... also, whatever. You want me to care about your opinion on it? Well, I expect a three foot essay, personally tailored to me. Why? Because your starting point is this hilarious ditty from Chamber of Secrets that I honestly can't believe I forgot*:

His eyes are as a green as a fresh pickled toad
His hair is as dark as a blackboard
He's really divine, I wish he were mine
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord

the future Mrs Potter, aged 11 In her defence, she was, at the time, possessed by the Dark Lord, hence, I assume, the Death Eater nomenclature. Also, she's a fictional character and this was clearly written as a joke.

Oh, woah, OP was um... a sermon. Yeah, organised religion counts as caring about how you think other people think you should live your life. Do your sermons, OP. I'm going to be over here wondering why only two people responded to my "help me spend some money because I'm tired of lockdowns happening every time I decide to go the library" post on a different site.

*Actually I can. I've only read Chamber of Secrets twice since I've long since lost my copy of the book and this isn't in the movie. Also I read it the first time more than 14 years ago, probably fairly considerably more.

I've always found people who complain about Valentine's Day to be infinitely more annoying. There's nothing any more "pointless" or "kistch" or "consumerist" about it than any other holiday.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a lot like complaining about how you hate modern music, people your own age, the colour pink, or people being "zombified" by their cellphones: It's a pretentious, judgy habit that people think makes them look smart, observant, and charmingly cynical, but actually just makes look pretentious and judgy.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a perfectly valid lifestyle choice

[Crabaiaia]

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

Find some measure of total views per year of release, to make that case that modern music sucks. It could just be more diverse (wider range of styles and less guided by the Hit Parade which as late as the 70's determined who could make a living in pop music). It could also be that only a small fraction of early-2010's music is still considered worth listening to. You could also check when your samples of older music were first posted, and check your assumption that how good music is, can be judged by how many people choose to hear it for free.

There are so many reasons to doubt what you said, it makes me pretty sure you're wrong. Also "qualitatively fragile" is wincingly cringe ...

Well, I would not insult mainstream modern music because, to be fair, some people think it's good, not everyone has the ears of Mozart.

It also isn't very rule-friendly to just call modern music a "piece of s***" or a "f***work" don't you think?

[A-Series-Of-Tubes]

Find some measure of total views per year of release, to make that case that modern music sucks. It could just be more diverse (wider range of styles and less guided by the Hit Parade which as late as the 70's determined who could make a living in pop music). It could also be that only a small fraction of early-2010's music is still considered worth listening to. You could also check when your samples of older music were first posted, and check your assumption that how good music is, can be judged by how many people choose to hear it for free.

There are so many reasons to doubt what you said, it makes me pretty sure you're wrong. Also "qualitatively fragile" is wincingly cringe ...

Well, I would not insult mainstream modern music because, to be fair, some people think it's good, not everyone has the ears of Mozart.

It also isn't very rule-friendly to just call modern music a "piece of s***" or a "f***work" don't you think?

Depends on context. If no one has mentioned it before and you post to say you just heard it from a passing car, I'd say be as rude as you like (towards the song or the car!). If it was in a thread about the artists work, it could get you in trouble (implying you don't like any of their work and have no reason to even post there). If the artist died a few days before, insulting them or their work in an Obituary thread would be a VERY bad idea.

About "classics" though. Those songs that have accumulated a lot of clicks in ten years, are only a tiny fraction of the songs that people listened to then. Their popularity has "stood the test of time" but back then you had no way of knowing what would remain popular and what would just be annoying after 20 times through.

One of the first vinyl LP's I bought was Elvis Costello's This Year's Model. I bought it for the song "Pump it up" which was getting a lot of play on 2-JJ (or was it 2-JJJ by then?). But after listening a few times I didn't think that was even the best song on it. Every song was good. And for some reason radio never "discovers" these great songs, which good artists have plenty of but Soft Cell don't, they just keep playing the same songs from the past. "It was a hit so it must be good, this other stuff wasn't a hit, so ..." and it ruins those songs for everybody. That was a huge drawback to vinyl actually: it wasn't that easy to leave a track out of the playlist. Sometimes artists would put the "designated hit" first one one side, meh.

[Lillorainen]

Well, I would not insult mainstream modern music because, to be fair, some people think it's good, not everyone has the ears of Mozart.

It also isn't very rule-friendly to just call modern music a "piece of s***" or a "f***work" don't you think?

Depends on context. If no one has mentioned it before and you post to say you just heard it from a passing car, I'd say be as rude as you like (towards the song or the car!). If it was in a thread about the artists work, it could get you in trouble (implying you don't like any of their work and have no reason to even post there). If the artist died a few days before, insulting them or their work in an Obituary thread would be a VERY bad idea.

About "classics" though. Those songs that have accumulated a lot of clicks in ten years, are only a tiny fraction of the songs that people listened to then. Their popularity has "stood the test of time" but back then you had no way of knowing what would remain popular and what would just be annoying after 20 times through.

One of the first vinyl LP's I bought was Elvis Costello's This Year's Model. I bought it for the song "Pump it up" which was getting a lot of play on 2-JJ (or was it 2-JJJ by then?). But after listening a few times I didn't think that was even the best song on it. Every song was good. And for some reason radio never "discovers" these great songs, which good artists have plenty of but Soft Cell don't, they just keep playing the same songs from the past. "It was a hit so it must be good, this other stuff wasn't a hit, so ..." and it ruins those songs for everybody. That was a huge drawback to vinyl actually: it wasn't that easy to leave a track out of the playlist. Sometimes artists would put the "designated hit" first one one side, meh.

There is also something essential to factor in, and that's time. Nowadays, the old songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, etc. are all but unanimously considered classics. But back in in the 1960s, there was sure as hell a considerable demographic, probably mostly the older generation, that shrugged these very songs off as unbearable noise. To not go back in time too far (I assume, that most of us aren't old enough to actively remember the 1960s), the chief reason most of us enjoy listening to early 2010s mainstream music is not because that music was objectively so much better than what you get to hear on the radio today, but nostalgia, plain and simple. For the same reason, people think of 1980s mainstream music and think, "That time was so much more awesome than today!", and modern mainstream music has quite started to make references to 1980s music (take songs like Let's Love by David Guetta ft. Sia, or Blinding Lights by The Weeknd), but this is pretty much because 'we' are revering that music in hindsight. In ten to twenty years, we will most certainly remember the music of today and look at it in a way different manner, just like my memories of the early 2010s have a huge impact on how I listen to the music of that time today.

Back to topic, though - no, Valentine's Day is not dumb per se. I myself have been single on literally every Valentine's Day I've seen so far, so I don't really celebrate it, but if others do, it's perfectly fine with me. Sure, it is quite commercialized nowadays, but it's not significantly more commercialized than other holidays. It's simply the time we live in ...

[Adamede]

I've always found people who complain about Valentine's Day to be infinitely more annoying. There's nothing any more "pointless" or "kistch" or "consumerist" about it than any other holiday.

Complaining about Valentine's Day is a lot like complaining about how you hate modern music, people your own age, the color pink, or people being "zombified" by their cellphones: It's a pretentious, judgy habit that people think makes them look smart, observant, and charmingly cynical, but actually just makes look pretentious and judgy.

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

2. As much as I hate to admit it. phones do indeed zombify people, phones were designed to zombify people so that electric and tech companies can make a lot of money from billing from charging the phone or using the Internet.

3. What's wrong with calling out want went wrong in a lot of mainstream stuff, I do like a lot of mainstream video games and music but I too have to admit the flaws are near endless. Calling them pretentious and judgy just for doing so will just allow corporate distributors to get away with trashy content, which is definitely what happened with modern music.

But that's a debate for another time.

It’s pretentious because;
1: That’s a matter of your personal opinion
2: That’s not true
3: Because you act like those are the only truths and that knowing them makes you superior to others.

[Valentine Z]

With that said, whether or not you celebrate it or not, I just want to wish you guys a great day ahead, and here's to hoping that solaces both big and small come your way. ^^ ♥
Whether or not you celebrate Valentine's Day, I just hope you find something nice for yourself along the way, especially during this time with the pandemics.

I might not have a lover, but I just want to spread the love.

I know I had a blast yesterday... though I was just playing games and eating homecooked pasta at home, but hey, solace!

[Crabaiaia]

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

2. As much as I hate to admit it. phones do indeed zombify people, phones were designed to zombify people so that electric and tech companies can make a lot of money from billing from charging the phone or using the Internet.

3. What's wrong with calling out want went wrong in a lot of mainstream stuff, I do like a lot of mainstream video games and music but I too have to admit the flaws are near endless. Calling them pretentious and judgy just for doing so will just allow corporate distributors to get away with trashy content, which is definitely what happened with modern music.

But that's a debate for another time.

It’s pretentious because;
1: That’s a matter of your personal opinion
2: That’s not true
3: Because you act like those are the only truths and that knowing them makes you superior to others.

Hmmm...okay so Corporations CAN get away with trashy content but when indie artists do it, they can lose their profits and collapse altogether

[Crabaiaia]

I never said it that I was superior to others just for knowing it, corporate studios don't even hide it anymore and many can call out the bs

[Torisakia]

Valentine's Day is up there with Christmas as one of the worst holidays.

[Aurevbush]

With that said, whether or not you celebrate it or not, I just want to wish you guys a great day ahead, and here's to hoping that solaces both big and small come your way. ^^ ♥
Whether or not you celebrate Valentine's Day, I just hope you find something nice for yourself along the way, especially during this time with the pandemics.

I might not have a lover, but I just want to spread the love.

I know I had a blast yesterday... though I was just playing games and eating homecooked pasta at home, but hey, solace!

ALL HAIL THE DEAR CAT LEADER!

[Giovenith]

1. Like it or not, modern music has gone a really... how do I put this... qualitatively fragile path you know, how most modern music that gets a lot of views are from the early 2010s?

2. As much as I hate to admit it. phones do indeed zombify people, phones were designed to zombify people so that electric and tech companies can make a lot of money from billing from charging the phone or using the Internet.

3. What's wrong with calling out want went wrong in a lot of mainstream stuff, I do like a lot of mainstream video games and music but I too have to admit the flaws are near endless. Calling them pretentious and judgy just for doing so will just allow corporate distributors to get away with trashy content, which is definitely what happened with modern music.

But that's a debate for another time.

You just had to prove Giovenith right

I could have been worse.

"It's stupid to have a day about love because you should love your partner all the time!"

By that logic, we shouldn't celebrate any holiday, memorial, or special occasion. Christmas? You should celebrate Jesus and/or charity and goodwill all the time! Thanksgiving? You should be grateful for what you've got all the time! Birthdays? You should be appreciative that your friends and family were born all the time! New Years Eve? You should thinking of goal to improve yourself all the time! Fourth of July? You should be proud to be an American all the time! Wedding anniversary? You should be happy that you got married all the time! Veterans/Memorial Day? We should be thanking the soldiers for their service all the time!

Holidays are all, ostensibly, designed to promote some kind of value or virtue. Nobody is deluded enough to think that the existence of a holiday implies that you shouldn't embrace those values or virtues every other day of the year; neither are you, you just pretend to be when it comes to Valentines exclusively. If you're really serious about this "we should do XYZ all the time!" argument, feel free to become a Jehovah's Witness.

"It's so cheesy and kitsch! It makes me wanna puke!"

As opposed to what, the tasteful elegance of running around with cone-shaped hats while patting around rubber bags of your nasty Doritos breath? Slapping orange, black, and purple together while parading around autumnal fruits and twerking to "The Monster Mash" in a cheap rubber Batman costume? Dragging a random ass tree into your living room and covering it in glitter and glass to please a fat man dressed in bright red fur? Getting black out drunk while covered in gold and silver tinsel and big cardboard glasses shaped like numbers? Getting black out drunk again, but this time dressed in all green and pretending to be proud of your 1/16th ancestry from a distant nation you know nothing about besides the fact that they're all gingers and Catholics and something about fairies?

Holidays are supposed to be cheesy and kitsch. That's what makes them fun and notable. I'm so sorry if your only idea of a proper celebration is an Austenian royal ball or some shit.

"It was just invented by a card company to sell more cards!"

So what? Only holidays invented in the distant past are valid? How long do we have to wait before we're allowed to put up some damn decorations? Or do they have to have a "dignified" enough origin, as if we don't all remember how Christmas was just an excuse for the Romans to have drunken gay orgies that got jacked by the Christians as a marketing gimmick (at least until they got sick of it, banned it, and then randomly brought it back in the 1800s)?

This is ultimately just an appeal to tradition. "It's older and we've bought into the excuse behind it for longer, that makes it better and real-er!" Well sorry, I hate the shatter the magic a bit here, but all holidays — much like genders — are just social constructs. If half the world randomly decides that tomorrow is Dinosaur Day and celebrate by running around screeching with their wrists close to their chest like a t-rex, that's just as valid as any other holiday. Every holiday, at some point, was pulled out of someone's ass and then later propped up with stories and justifications that don't really have anything to do with the real reason it was created. It doesn't matter, people should not have to provide you with a morally pure origin story to engage in a celebration, the only good enough reason they need is because they want to. No one date is intrinsically special, if Hallmark can turn February 14th into card selling day because they say so, why can't people turn it into sincere love day because they say so? Nobody is making them buy the damn cards, after all.

"It's consumerist!"

'Kay, how much did all those costumes, candy, turkeys, alcohol, tiny flags, fireworks, and hunks of colorful "Paw Patrol"-themed plastic for your nephew cost again?

Honestly, the only people who have a right to judge others for being consumerist in this society are the Amish. Every time I hear someone getting on their high horse about it, I think of that scene from South Park where Stan's dad makes a lengthy rant about how people with credit card debt are all just idiots who buy stupid crap they don't need, all while making an elaborate smoothie with some huge new blender he bought. Hey Mr. Anti-Flowers-and-Chocolates, how well was that fifteenth anime waifu figurine you bought delivered? How about that recreation of a Medieval sword that you'll never swing at anyone? That library full of video games you'll never play that you only bought because you were seduced by a Steam sale? The PlayStation 5 that you got when your PlayStation 3 works just fine? All those tickets for every new Marvel movie you just had to see in theaters? Teach us, o wise one, the ways of your monastery lifestyle.

The stupid crap that you waste money on to fill the hole in your soul is not any more superior than anyone else's, I promise you.

"It causes fights because women people have such high expectations for it that men their partners can't achieve!"

Sounds like a you problem. Valentine's Day is not a magic spell that brainwashed your girlfriend into acting like a greedy abusive asshole, she acted like a greedy abuse asshole because she chose to act like a greedy abusive asshole. A rational person who is worth your time does not throw a tantrum over not getting a candlelit dinner and diamond necklace right after your work shift just because of the calendar. Stop making excuses for them and reevaluate your relationship, because that's where the problem is, not the holiday.

"What about single people?"

What about them? Oh, because you're single and you don't feel like you can participate, therefore everybody else has to stop what they're doing to make you feel better? What a petty, selfish mentality. That's the mentality of a child whose permissive parents let them blow out the candles on their older sibling's birthday and ride their new bike first because otherwise they'd be jealoooooooous. If this is how you approach events that don't revolve around you, perhaps you are not as much of a victim in your singlehood as you think you are.

Besides, it's not even true that you can't participate. Children who are too young to engage in romance make it about giving love to their family, friends, and teachers. And you can't do that too, why exactly...? Buy your mom some roses. Take your friends out for drinks and dinner (on a non-COVID19 day) and tell them how much you appreciate the way they've been there for you. Volunteer or donate to a charity to express your love for mankind. It's really not that hard to figure something out if you really want to, you just have to choose to want to, instead of choosing to wallow in a self-pitying haze of sexual fantasy.

"YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT SINGLE AND LONELY LIKE ME!!!!"

I've never been with anyone in my life. I get lonely and insecure all the time. The difference is that I don't let those feelings consume me and I don't try to make them everyone else's problem. I don't justify an unwillingness to deal with them with cynical pseudo-wokeness. If you can't do the same, it's time to get a therapist.

FYI: If you're already constantly miserable, falling in love is not going to make you happy. A lover cannot fix you and it's selfish and often abusive of you to expect them to. Your lover will always be their own person with their own needs and flaws, they're not a fairy godmother who can erase your social anxiety, make you feel less fat or skinny, cure your addiction, or be everything you need in human connection. Only you can do the actual work in changing all that, they can support you, but they can't drag your ass across the finish line for you. There is nothing you can't accomplish single that you could with a lover.

Maybe that's your solution right there: Make Valentine's Day about being able to get the point where you can love yourself.

I don't have some grand love for Valentine's Day, it's just an okay holiday for me. What I do have a problem with is people who rag on harmless fun to make themselves feel smarter and deeper. Like I already said, hating Valentine's Day (or really any holiday) does not make you seem intellectual or like you've "seen past the bullshit," just judgmental, jealous, and irrationally obsessive. It's an excuse to give out candy, not a lofty "Brave New World"-esque conspiracy, calm down people.

[Lillorainen]

You just had to prove Giovenith right

I could have been worse.

"It's stupid to have a day about love because you should love your partner all the time!"

By that logic, we shouldn't celebrate any holiday, memorial, or special occasion. Christmas? You should celebrate Jesus and/or charity and goodwill all the time! Thanksgiving? You should be grateful for what you've got all the time! Birthdays? You should be appreciative that your friends and family were born all the time! New Years Eve? You should thinking of goal to improve yourself all the time! Fourth of July? You should be proud to be an American all the time! Wedding anniversary? You should be happy that you got married all the time! Veterans/Memorial Day? We should be thanking the soldiers for their service all the time!

Holidays are all, ostensibly, designed to promote some kind of value or virtue. Nobody is deluded enough to think that the existence of a holiday implies that you shouldn't embrace those values or virtues every other day of the year; neither are you, you just pretend to be when it comes to Valentines exclusively. If you're really serious about this "we should do XYZ all the time!" argument, feel free to become a Jehovah's Witness.

"It's so cheesy and kitsch! It makes me wanna puke!"

As opposed to what, the tasteful elegance of running around with cone-shaped hats while patting around rubber bags of your nasty Doritos breath? Slapping orange, black, and purple together while parading around autumnal fruits and twerking to "The Monster Mash" in a cheap rubber Batman costume? Dragging a random ass tree into your living room and covering it in glitter and glass to please a fat man dressed in bright red fur? Getting black out drunk while covered in gold and silver tinsel and big cardboard glasses shaped like numbers? Getting black out drunk again, but this time dressed in all green and pretending to be proud of your 1/16th ancestry from a distant nation you know nothing about besides the fact that they're all gingers and Catholics and something about fairies?

Holidays are supposed to be cheesy and kitsch. That's what makes them fun and notable. I'm so sorry if your only idea of a proper celebration is an Austenian royal ball or some shit.

"It was just invented by a card company to sell more cards!"

So what? Only holidays invented in the distant past are valid? How long do we have to wait before we're allowed to put up some damn decorations? Or do they have to have a "dignified" enough origin, as if we don't all remember how Christmas was just an excuse for the Romans to have drunken gay orgies that got jacked by the Christians as a marketing gimmick (at least until they got sick of it, banned it, and then randomly brought it back in the 1800s)?

This is ultimately just an appeal to tradition. "It's older and we've bought into the excuse behind it for longer, that makes it better and real-er!" Well sorry, I hate the shatter the magic a bit here, but all holidays — much like genders — are just social constructs. If half the world randomly decides that tomorrow is Dinosaur Day and celebrate by running around screeching with their wrists close to their chest like a t-rex, that's just as valid as any other holiday. Every holiday, at some point, was pulled out of someone's ass and then later propped up with stories and justifications that don't really have anything to do with the real reason it was created. It doesn't matter, people should not have to provide you with a morally pure origin story to engage in a celebration, the only good enough reason they need is because they want to. No one date is intrinsically special, if Hallmark can turn February 14th into card selling day because they say so, why can't people turn it into sincere love day because they say so? Nobody is making them buy the damn cards, after all.

"It's consumerist!"

'Kay, how much did all those costumes, candy, turkeys, alcohol, tiny flags, fireworks, and hunks of colorful "Paw Patrol"-themed plastic for your nephew cost again?

Honestly, the only people who have a right to judge others for being consumerist in this society are the Amish. Every time I hear someone getting on their high horse about it, I think of that scene from South Park where Stan's dad makes a lengthy rant about how people with credit card debt are all just idiots who buy stupid crap they don't need, all while making an elaborate smoothie with some huge new blender he bought. Hey Mr. Anti-Flowers-and-Chocolates, how well was that fifteenth anime waifu figurine you bought delivered? How about that recreation of a Medieval sword that you'll never swing at anyone? That library full of video games you'll never play that you only bought because you were seduced by a Steam sale? The PlayStation 5 that you got when your PlayStation 3 works just fine? All those tickets for every new Marvel movie you just had to see in theaters? Teach us, o wise one, the ways of your monastery lifestyle.

The stupid crap that you waste money on to fill the hole in your soul is not any more superior than anyone else's, I promise you.

"It causes fights because women people have such high expectations for it that men their partners can't achieve!"

Sounds like a you problem. Valentine's Day is not a magic spell that brainwashed your girlfriend into acting like a greedy abusive asshole, she acted like a greedy abuse asshole because she chose to act like a greedy abusive asshole. A rational person who is worth your time does not throw a tantrum over not getting a candlelit dinner and diamond necklace right after your work shift just because of the calendar. Stop making excuses for them and reevaluate your relationship, because that's where the problem is, not the holiday.

"What about single people?"

What about them? Oh, because you're single and you don't feel like you can participate, therefore everybody else has to stop what they're doing to make you feel better? What a petty, selfish mentality. That's the mentality of a child whose permissive parents let them blow out the candles on their older sibling's birthday and ride their new bike first because otherwise they'd be jealoooooooous. If this is how you approach events that don't revolve around you, perhaps you are not as much of a victim in your singlehood as you think you are.

Besides, it's not even true that you can't participate. Children who are too young to engage in romance make it about giving love to their family, friends, and teachers. And you can't do that too, why exactly...? Buy your mom some roses. Take your friends out for drinks and dinner (on a non-COVID19 day) and tell them how much you appreciate the way they've been there for you. Volunteer or donate to a charity to express your love for mankind. It's really not that hard to figure something out if you really want to, you just have to choose to want to, instead of choosing to wallow in a self-pitying haze of sexual fantasy.

"YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT SINGLE AND LONELY LIKE ME!!!!"

I've never been with anyone in my life. I get lonely and insecure all the time. The difference is that I don't let those feelings consume me and I don't try to make them everyone else's problem. I don't justify an unwillingness to deal with them with cynical pseudo-wokeness. If you can't do the same, it's time to get a therapist.

FYI: If you're already constantly miserable, falling in love is not going to make you happy. A lover cannot fix you and it's selfish and often abusive of you to expect them to. Your lover will always be their own person with their own needs and flaws, they're not a fairy godmother who can erase your social anxiety, make you feel less fat or skinny, cure your addiction, or be everything you need in human connection. Only you can do the actual work in changing all that, they can support you, but they can't drag your ass across the finish line for you. There is nothing you can't accomplish single that you could with a lover.

Maybe that's your solution right there: Make Valentine's Day about being able to get the point where you can love yourself.

I don't have some grand love for Valentine's Day, it's just an okay holiday for me. What I do have a problem with is people who rag on harmless fun to make themselves feel smarter and deeper. Like I already said, hating Valentine's Day (or really any holiday) does not make you seem intellectual or like you've "seen past the bullshit," just judgmental, jealous, and irrationally obsessive. It's an excuse to give out candy, not a lofty "Brave New World"-esque conspiracy, calm down people.

Saved for posterity.

[Crabaiaia]

You just had to prove Giovenith right

I could have been worse.

"It's stupid to have a day about love because you should love your partner all the time!"

By that logic, we shouldn't celebrate any holiday, memorial, or special occasion. Christmas? You should celebrate Jesus and/or charity and goodwill all the time! Thanksgiving? You should be grateful for what you've got all the time! Birthdays? You should be appreciative that your friends and family were born all the time! New Years Eve? You should thinking of goal to improve yourself all the time! Fourth of July? You should be proud to be an American all the time! Wedding anniversary? You should be happy that you got married all the time! Veterans/Memorial Day? We should be thanking the soldiers for their service all the time!

Holidays are all, ostensibly, designed to promote some kind of value or virtue. Nobody is deluded enough to think that the existence of a holiday implies that you shouldn't embrace those values or virtues every other day of the year; neither are you, you just pretend to be when it comes to Valentines exclusively. If you're really serious about this "we should do XYZ all the time!" argument, feel free to become a Jehovah's Witness.

"It's so cheesy and kitsch! It makes me wanna puke!"

As opposed to what, the tasteful elegance of running around with cone-shaped hats while patting around rubber bags of your nasty Doritos breath? Slapping orange, black, and purple together while parading around autumnal fruits and twerking to "The Monster Mash" in a cheap rubber Batman costume? Dragging a random ass tree into your living room and covering it in glitter and glass to please a fat man dressed in bright red fur? Getting black out drunk while covered in gold and silver tinsel and big cardboard glasses shaped like numbers? Getting black out drunk again, but this time dressed in all green and pretending to be proud of your 1/16th ancestry from a distant nation you know nothing about besides the fact that they're all gingers and Catholics and something about fairies?

Holidays are supposed to be cheesy and kitsch. That's what makes them fun and notable. I'm so sorry if your only idea of a proper celebration is an Austenian royal ball or some shit.

"It was just invented by a card company to sell more cards!"

So what? Only holidays invented in the distant past are valid? How long do we have to wait before we're allowed to put up some damn decorations? Or do they have to have a "dignified" enough origin, as if we don't all remember how Christmas was just an excuse for the Romans to have drunken gay orgies that got jacked by the Christians as a marketing gimmick (at least until they got sick of it, banned it, and then randomly brought it back in the 1800s)?

This is ultimately just an appeal to tradition. "It's older and we've bought into the excuse behind it for longer, that makes it better and real-er!" Well sorry, I hate the shatter the magic a bit here, but all holidays — much like genders — are just social constructs. If half the world randomly decides that tomorrow is Dinosaur Day and celebrate by running around screeching with their wrists close to their chest like a t-rex, that's just as valid as any other holiday. Every holiday, at some point, was pulled out of someone's ass and then later propped up with stories and justifications that don't really have anything to do with the real reason it was created. It doesn't matter, people should not have to provide you with a morally pure origin story to engage in a celebration, the only good enough reason they need is because they want to. No one date is intrinsically special, if Hallmark can turn February 14th into card selling day because they say so, why can't people turn it into sincere love day because they say so? Nobody is making them buy the damn cards, after all.

"It's consumerist!"

'Kay, how much did all those costumes, candy, turkeys, alcohol, tiny flags, fireworks, and hunks of colorful "Paw Patrol"-themed plastic for your nephew cost again?

Honestly, the only people who have a right to judge others for being consumerist in this society are the Amish. Every time I hear someone getting on their high horse about it, I think of that scene from South Park where Stan's dad makes a lengthy rant about how people with credit card debt are all just idiots who buy stupid crap they don't need, all while making an elaborate smoothie with some huge new blender he bought. Hey Mr. Anti-Flowers-and-Chocolates, how well was that fifteenth anime waifu figurine you bought delivered? How about that recreation of a Medieval sword that you'll never swing at anyone? That library full of video games you'll never play that you only bought because you were seduced by a Steam sale? The PlayStation 5 that you got when your PlayStation 3 works just fine? All those tickets for every new Marvel movie you just had to see in theaters? Teach us, o wise one, the ways of your monastery lifestyle.

The stupid crap that you waste money on to fill the hole in your soul is not any more superior than anyone else's, I promise you.

"It causes fights because women people have such high expectations for it that men their partners can't achieve!"

Sounds like a you problem. Valentine's Day is not a magic spell that brainwashed your girlfriend into acting like a greedy abusive asshole, she acted like a greedy abuse asshole because she chose to act like a greedy abusive asshole. A rational person who is worth your time does not throw a tantrum over not getting a candlelit dinner and diamond necklace right after your work shift just because of the calendar. Stop making excuses for them and reevaluate your relationship, because that's where the problem is, not the holiday.

"What about single people?"

What about them? Oh, because you're single and you don't feel like you can participate, therefore everybody else has to stop what they're doing to make you feel better? What a petty, selfish mentality. That's the mentality of a child whose permissive parents let them blow out the candles on their older sibling's birthday and ride their new bike first because otherwise they'd be jealoooooooous. If this is how you approach events that don't revolve around you, perhaps you are not as much of a victim in your singlehood as you think you are.

Besides, it's not even true that you can't participate. Children who are too young to engage in romance make it about giving love to their family, friends, and teachers. And you can't do that too, why exactly...? Buy your mom some roses. Take your friends out for drinks and dinner (on a non-COVID19 day) and tell them how much you appreciate the way they've been there for you. Volunteer or donate to a charity to express your love for mankind. It's really not that hard to figure something out if you really want to, you just have to choose to want to, instead of choosing to wallow in a self-pitying haze of sexual fantasy.

"YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT SINGLE AND LONELY LIKE ME!!!!"

I've never been with anyone in my life. I get lonely and insecure all the time. The difference is that I don't let those feelings consume me and I don't try to make them everyone else's problem. I don't justify an unwillingness to deal with them with cynical pseudo-wokeness. If you can't do the same, it's time to get a therapist.

FYI: If you're already constantly miserable, falling in love is not going to make you happy. A lover cannot fix you and it's selfish and often abusive of you to expect them to. Your lover will always be their own person with their own needs and flaws, they're not a fairy godmother who can erase your social anxiety, make you feel less fat or skinny, cure your addiction, or be everything you need in human connection. Only you can do the actual work in changing all that, they can support you, but they can't drag your ass across the finish line for you. There is nothing you can't accomplish single that you could with a lover.

Maybe that's your solution right there: Make Valentine's Day about being able to get the point where you can love yourself.

I don't have some grand love for Valentine's Day, it's just an okay holiday for me. What I do have a problem with is people who rag on harmless fun to make themselves feel smarter and deeper. Like I already said, hating Valentine's Day (or really any holiday) does not make you seem intellectual or like you've "seen past the bullshit," just judgmental, jealous, and irrationally obsessive. It's an excuse to give out candy, not a lofty "Brave New World"-esque conspiracy, calm down people.

Bashing a holiday is part of the fun, don't you think, not every holiday is butterflies and rainbows, I had Chinese New Year (which is a school-closing holiday here in the Philippines) wasted by a 30-minute quiz, yet I never called my teacher selfish. She ruined my holiday but I let it go regardless, same thing should be done for Valentine's Day. If you want a holiday to go well, well bad news, holidays never go well, regardless of the illegality of it, some businesses and schools may shove work up people's mouth, some people may simply bash because they got their day ruined by that.

[Crabaiaia]

But yeah, I agree with you, Giovenith, holidays are supposed to be fun but regardless, illegal or legal, some will find a way to ruin it