First of all, I’d like to say that I’ve been watching jpmetz videos obsessively since I found out about them. I friggin’ love jpmetz. But I didn’t link the following video to tell you about jpmetz (whom I love) but, rather, because at 2:30 in the video, she makes a really good point about Valentine’s Day: it is a greeting-card holiday that was created “to pick up a slump in the economy in the beginning of the second quarter.” I think most of us know that Valentine’s Day isn’t some srs bsns real holiday, but for some of us, knowing that it’s a manufactured holiday that was designed to make us spend money puts us off the holiday. After all, as @EmZeeGee tweeted earlier, people stay in love without participation prizes. Valentine’s Day has always felt super bogus to me, and while we celebrate it a little, we’ve never really taken it seriously.
Hearing it put that way, I really want to hate Valentine’s Day, despite the fact that I have a permanent valentine–single people hate this holiday even more, and for obvious reasons. But I think we’re looking at it all wrong. I think that, as a nation, we can and should learn to love Valentine’s Day.
I don’t know about you, but I like shopping. When I’ve had a job, I’ve liked to be employed. I like to be able to order flowers when I want to send flowers, and buy greeting cards when I want to buy cards. I enjoy my favorite restaurants and sometimes I like to book a hotel room for a romantic getaway. Also, I really, really like candy. Most businesses that really benefit from Valentine’s Day–for some businesses, it’s their major moneymaker–I enjoy throughout the year for various reasons. And they’re not doing so well this time of year, friends. The retail business has a pretty big dry spell between Christmas and Easter. Add that to the general problems we’re having with the economy, and well, this is no time to boycott Valentine’s Day.
As much as I may rant about corporate culture and consumerism and consumption, I appreciate that that the capitalist system also has its benefits. After all, if you took all of the unnecessary products that we buy just because we want things and made them go away, a lot of people would suddenly be unemployed. Because of competition in the marketplace, we’re able to choose the best products at a particular price point instead of probably making do with something that’s subpar (if it’s even for sale at all) in a system with no competition. Everyone keeps talking about job creation, and only one thing creates jobs: demand. More demand for a product or service means more people who have to be hired to produce, sell, ship, advertise, install, service, and field customer service calls related to that product. To get America back on its feet, those who can must spend (responsibly). And Valentine’s Day wouldn’t have been created without a need for customers to get out and spend money this time of year.
So get out there and support your favorite businesses this Valentine’s Day. If you’re embittered about the love aspect, think of it as a valentine to your favorite store, or to yourself; it’s an investment that will help keep the products that you love on the shelves. After all, this isn’t really a holiday about romantic love; that’s just the most convenient thing they could think of to get us to buy stuff for each other. Or, you can think of the red of Valentine’s Day as the red in Old Glory, waving in the breeze, reminding us that we need to do our patriotic duty to help get our country back on her feet: shop our brains out. Responsibly, and in moderation.
[Greengeekgirl in no way advocates spending money that you don't have on things that you don't need.]
