Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Further on Valentines Day

Commentary by Nancy Gibbs, as heard last evening on "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." This is a 4:30 mp3 file converted to wmv format.



What she said.
Committed to the Inter-tubes by on

8 comments:

  1. Bag Blog10 February, 2009 11:20

    Once again, this is how I feel about Christmas. At least VD is a choice. Christmas is more of a mandate, but by whom? At VD, you have only your lover to give a gift to or express your love. Christmas makes you feel obligated to give gifts to people whether you like them or not. If you decide not to celebrate VD, no one thinks anything of it, and maybe will even applaud you. But try not celebrating Christmas in the conventional methods. People get downright upset with you and think you must be crazy. If VD is celebrating a saint, who is Christmas celebrating - St. Nick? “Valentines has as much to do about love as the Easter bunny has to do with resurrection." And what does Santa Clause have to do with the birth of Christ? But if you enjoy such stuff, knock yourself out.

    Gosh, I seem to be ranting today.

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  2. Buck10 February, 2009 11:42

    You can rant ALL ya like, Lou. And, once again, I've never given a lot of thought to Christmas in this manner. I'm not brave enough to buck the system, however much I'd like to, where Christmas is concerned. I'll continue to limit my objections to the usual, customary, and reasonable "Bah Humbug!" ;-)

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  3. Unknown10 February, 2009 18:59

    So here we go again - more disingenuous and entirely too easy complaining. Well, Buck, you know how I feel on this subject. Geez, people. Fine, don't buy a card, don't buy chocolates, and don't buy a diamond. And while you're not buying that stuff, pipe down, for Pete's sake. There is nothing in the world more tiresome and useless to me than incessant griping, and the holidays - all of them, pretty much - have become the trendiest time to do it.

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  4. Buck10 February, 2009 19:10

    It's less about "the holidays" and more about a social phenomenon, in my book. Did you listen to Ms. Gibbs' essay in its entirety? Her main points, and ones with which I agree, is V-Day contains a tremendous amount of social pressure to conform and cheapens love, as most of us know it. I think the subject is something that is most definitely in-bounds for discussion. You see complaints... I see an exchange of views.

    I cannot emphasize this enough: Valentines Day AIN'T a holiday. It's a guilt-fest and a Hallmark marketing opportunity.

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  5. Unknown10 February, 2009 19:29

    I see the "exchange of views," as you call it, as a social phenomenon at least as big as the holiday itself. I'm no particular v-day supporter, but the great cliche of simplicity that has become calling v-day a "Hallmark Holiday" is a boring and tired pastime in my book.

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  6. Gordon Scott10 February, 2009 20:01

    My wife works with programmers from India. Valentine's Day was an unknown concept there a few years ago. But with a lot of their folks working here, they've taken it back home with them. One of her friends is getting married on Feb. 14, and it's not a coincidence.

    They have some interesting marriage customs there. Even among the upper classes, arranged marriages are still the norm.

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  7. Bag Blog11 February, 2009 07:05

    Gordon, As a parent, I kind of like the idea of arranged marriages :)

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  8. Buck11 February, 2009 11:52

    Gordon: Interesting! And it all goes to show there are silver linings... no matter HOW dark the cloud.

    Lou: THAT made me grin.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.

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